Jean Batten: The Garbo of the Skies - by Ian Mackersey

Time for a book review, I know these aint really all that regular on here but this book is definitely worth one.  It is one of those books that I have no idea why I even picked it up, it was at one of my visits to the secondhand bookstore in Napier and outside the shop is a box or two of free books.  One day as I was leaving I looked down and saw a spine that said Jean Batten, so I picked up, had a quick flip through and decided why not.  Now I do not remember studying Jean at school, I knew she broke some record flying, but I don’t know what made me think I wanted to read the book.  Anyhow I grabbed it and it sat on my to-be-read shelf for quite a while till recently when I decided I would give it a go, and yes I’ll admit I was thinking I would read a chapter or two and get bored then send it to the Lions book sale.

Now, and I don’t feel bad admitting this, I was super pleasantly surprised when right from the start I was hooked.  Ian Mackersey has written it so well, and it just flows so easily.  It does not feel like a typical biography, it does not just boringly list facts or achievements while pretending its being written as a story.  Don’t get me wrong, it is full of facts and quotes but they are not laid out in a boring way.

I can also admit that I learnt quite a bit reading this book.  Those of you that know me may be surprised by this but I had no idea that Jean’s first record breaking flight was in a biplane, I know shocking aye.  You would think I would have known that one, but nope, learnt it while reading the book.  I also didn’t know that she broke more than one record, knew of the UK to NZ one, but that wasn’t her first one, and not the biplane one sadly.  The biplane one was UK to Aus and it was her third attempt that was successful.

There were some things I learnt that I wasn’t so super happy to learn as well.  Jean did whatever it took to achieve her goals, and in some cases it included leading men on to use them financially and then discarded them when she either found someone with better financials or they had run out of their usefulness.  I am not very ambitious so I do not understand anyone just using people to get what they want so I felt kinda uncomfortable finding out that Jean had no issue with it.  She also believed she was destined to be great and break records so it was owed to her. 

            Sadly Jean also didn’t really have any friends, part of this I think was because she never really let anyone in and only seemed to listen and care about her mum.  But another part of it (I think) is because she used those that could be friends, she would go and stay with them for a week or so and months later she would still be there without having contributed anything towards bills or food, and in many cases not having helped with any chores either.

I did feel quite sorry for Jean though, she seemed to lead a very lonely life.  I don’t know if she was happy with her life alone, but if she was then good for her.  Her flights would have been very lonely, no radios in those old planes, and maybe she got used to this and loved it.  She sure did live a rather spectacular life, with amazing adventures and some very very tough and sad moments as well.  The saddest thing about her life, in my opinion, is that it took two years for those that knew her to become concerned enough about her silence to start looking for her, and it then took three more years of searching to find what had happened to her.  Admittedly this was later in her life and it wasn’t the first time she had gone off to be alone, and she had told people she wanted to be alone for a while, but still two years before anyone started to look to make sure she was ok, that makes me sad.  

So yeah, really enjoyed this book.  I loved that the author didn’t sugarcoat anything and didn’t try and make Jean seem like a polite caring person when she wasn’t.  I also loved that the author personally helped with the search to find out what happened to her so the book wasn’t left with a we have no idea what happened ending.  I am not sure if I think Jean Batten is a great role model for young people, I mean sure her achievements were awesome but the way she got there could have been better.  Not that the next book I am reading is going to provide me a good role model either lol, it’s on Minnie Dean who is the only female ever hanged in NZ.  So super learny books for me at the moment :)

Bear friends

So I decided to have a play around with iMovie and made what I think is a kinda cool movie of my good friends, just the stuffed ones at this stage :)

I would love to say that Fishy was nice and patient while waiting for this (and therefore him) to feature on my blog, but that would be a total lie lol.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy my random playing around as much as I enjoyed creating it :)

Oh and song credit is Garth Brooks (not a shocker there lol)

Have you missed me???

Have you missed me?  Aww shucks, you make me feel so loved hehe.  I am definitely enjoying Level 2 more than I did 3 and 4.  Mostly cos life is mostly back to normal for me, work is back to how we were (if you ignore the signing in and the sanitiser) and other than lines outside some shops most seem to have calmed down, and other than pre-booking for Jarks things there were pretty much the same again which is cool.  And more imptly my diary is back to having stuff in it, which is great.  Some things are not back to normal, Lions are not meeting just yet and one of my book clubs isn’t either though I have suggested a non-book club catch-up this wknd for those of us who are keen, which it turns out is quite a few so yay.  My other book club I didn’t make it to in the wknd cos Bro was visiting, another yay.

We didn’t do a lot really, mostly just chilled and caught up.  We wandered up Te Mata Peak on Saturday morning, sadly my preferred routes were closed off due to tree felling so we had to mission up a different way, which was much more direct and didn’t take anywhere near as long as I had figured we would take.  It turns out that running on the flat streets in Hastings really doesn’t help you when it comes to climbing that not even very high peak :( guess I either need to drive to somewhere hilly to run, or I need to go walking on Te Mata Peak more.  I also showed Bro my nicely painted room, he is the first person to have seen it since it was painted.  And yes I am aware he helped me paint it but he never saw it with the tape off and my stuff in it.  Is a tad sad that it has taken this long for someone to come and see it, but then I have to remind myself that the government banned all you lovely people from coming to see my room cos they are just plain mean lol.

Other than work and Bro visiting, in Level 2 I have caught up with a friend for coffee (we had a great catch-up and then general chat), I have been to see my hairdresser (she liked the cut I gave myself over lockdown and just tidied it up where it needed it), had a Theatre HB Board Meeting (so good, and awesome hugs and catch-ups were had), went to the optometrist (to find out how much more screwed my eyes are than last time), caught up with my friend Steph and saw her new baby (new as of about 2 days before lockdown), and this evening I saw Steph (a different Steph) for a massage, which always takes longer than the hour cos we end up chatting lol.  So it’s been a great start to Level 2 so far :) 

Oh and I also created a pic of Dave the Dinosaur and Penelope the Pixie hanging out for our website hehe (and by created I mean I found two seperate pics and worked my magic to make them one and overlapping so they look like they are hanging out)

Dave the Dinosaur and Penelope the Pixie

Te Mata Peak

All credit for this pic goes to Mother Nature lol

Level 3 Lockdown Day #16

Well done everyone, we have made it to the end of lockdown.  Well I think it is the end of lockdown as such cos although we are still not back to normal there is a lot more freedom to do what we normally would be doing in Level 2.  I already have a couple things in my diary woot woot.  Have a theatre board meeting next week and am catching up with atlst one friend this wknd, am waiting to hear back from another.  We also are letting our broadcasters back into the studios from tomorrow, first booking is at 8:30 lol, Heiko couldn’t wait and I don’t blame him.  And as much as I love Ken it’s a yay that he won’t be my only company lol.

I must admit I am looking forward to things being more normal.  I know we still need to be careful, which I am sure most of us will be, but it will be nice to know that if I want to go for a drive I won’t get into trouble for it.  And that I can go to see friends in Napier.  And that I can wander into the shops if I want to browse before buying something.  It’s a nice feeling.  Also means the roads will be busier for when I am running but they have been getting busier in the past few weeks anyhow so it’s not a major.

Sometimes I think it was better before people like Bluebird and TipTop figured out the gluten free thing.  You may think that sounds weird to be saying that, but let’s take Bluebird and look at it properly.  Before Bluebird figured out the gluten free chips I would only have say a third of a bag at a time, cos although the other brands are definitely edible they are not quite as moreish.  Bluebird comes along and not only are their gluten free chips a tad on the expensive side, but they are amazing and totally worth the extra cost, just saying! And to all you out there who think I may be a frugal and possibly weird cos I won’t spring for something like wi-fi, well it’s because I like to be able to afford the really good gluten free stuff.  I mean if I have to eat this food I might as well have the best tasting of it hehe.  Anyhow back to Bluebird, along they come with their gluten free chips and you try to put the bag away after only eating some, but good luck with that, you will just reopen it and keep on munching, well if you are anything like me you will lol.  If you are wondering what started this pondering let me just say that I had dinner, was full enough but wanted to just have a snack, and now am almost one bag of chips down.  Good thing I bought two packets lol

Not quite sure what else to say, would say I haven’t done much last night or tonight but if we are literal then I have built a house, a lighthouse, a fence, most of a sunset and most of an ocean.  Yes I’m doing a jigsaw hehe.  Thought I would have started one earlier on in lockdown but was bored of all mine cos had just recently done pretty much all of them, but I got this one at mum and dads in the wknd (got dad to order it from one of his magazine things a while back) so now have a new one to do so yay :)

Plan to sort out the spare room this wknd, but have been thinking that since about Easter.  There is a clear path to the windows, with an off shoot to the wardrobe with the coats in it, so it’s not like it’s unusable.  But the couch is rather full of stuff so now that people can visit people again and I’m hoping some people come visit me, I really should make it so they can stay the night if they want to… Maybe, though, seeing as visitors are actually now a reality it will happen.  I do have one less thing in there to tidy though, knew I was smart leaving the overlocker at mums hehe.

Today was a pretty good day at work.  I say pretty good though all day both Ken and I were thinking it was Thursday and had to keep reminding each other that it wasn’t.  Threw me a couple times when I thought the wrong show was playing cos it was a Wednesday show not a Thursday show lol.  Plus someone took all the batteries out of our clocks :( that was just a cruel mean joke, not cool at all!  But I did spend a chunk of the arvo playing around with making headers for our website and some stuff for our Facebook page which was fun.  On our website we have headers that say when certain shows are playing, I normally make a few new ones every few weeks or whenever I have time and remember to do so.  Well today I made a few, and actually made a note of which ones I had done so I don’t end up with double-ups, and I will just save them and change them round every few weeks but if I’m busy atlst I won’t have to make new ones.  Also played around with trying different programmes for making the squares of coming up shows that we put up on Facebook.  May sound like nothing much but my personal laptop had the most user friendly for what I was doing programme but I don’t want to be doing them at home cos that aint fun, and the programme I was using previously at work was frustrating and irritating so I experimented and downloaded a few to try, played around with a couple online and then found one that does what I want super awesomely, even better than my laptop one so I am stoked as.  It was definitely worth the couple hours of playing around that I did.  Yay for slow days occasionally I guess.

Anyhow bring on Level 2 and a return to an almost normal life and no spike in Covid-19 cases.  I definitely do not want to go back into lockdown at all.  At this stage this is the end of the Lockdown Diary, however I am aiming to check in every week or so to let you all know how I am going, will see how busy I get though.  And when Cleo and I go on roadtrips or do something exciting there will of course be a post with pics shared.  

If you’re wondering the lockdown dairy has exactly 25,500 words (!) and is 36 pages long.  Well done all of you for getting through it with me, thanks :) hope you have enjoyed it.  I have enjoyed writing it, and it has given me something to do, which I have needed some days.

PS. Hey all, Penelope the Pixie here, just thought I would sneak in and say hey :) Dave the Dinosaur and me have convinced Jilly to give us our own time slot so every Sunday morning from next weekend we are going to saying hey to you all.  If 7am is too early for you, you will be able to listen to our show on the website pages cos we also convinced Jilly to do that for us.  I think she likes us.  And if you want to request any songs or stories or if you have any jokes we can tell just send them to Jilly and she will pass them along cos she is awesome like that :)  

See ya :)

Level 3 Lockdown Day #14

I think life might be going back to being more normal, and not just because we are heading to Level 2 slowly over the next few weeks, but because when I went to the supermarket today there was no queue and I also got pretty much everything on my list.  I didn’t manage to get gluten free chicken gravy but that is hard to find in normal circumstances, and there was no gluten free flour though this is not on my list as other people have got me some cos they are awesome.  I hope this is a sign of good things coming not just a lull cos the takeaway places are open again.  I am not sure if I will keep going with the fortnightly shopping or not.  Normally I duck in after work and pick up what I want for the next day or so, and if my list on the bench of other stuff (baking, cleaning, toiletries etc) is big enough then I do a special shop for that stuff and use that as a time to stock up on other stuff I may want.  Other than running out of fruit doing it fortnightly aint really all that bad, just means you gotta be more prepared, and have a semi organised pantry so you have somewhere to put all the groceries lol.

Today was a very quiet day at work.  I only had one broadcaster to phone and record and I chatted with her too.  Phillipa is one that I think is very sane and understands how most people work.  Her show is Health Matters and an example of why I think she is sane and understands us average people is today we were discussing good habits food-wise in particular and she said you don’t have to cook a proper fancy dinner, it can be something simple, all in one pot, or microwaved frozen veges and something simple with it.  She also said that if you are having a pre-prepared microwave meal full of preservatives even just adding some frozen veges to it when microwaving it makes it a much better meal.  And she then pointed out that you should not focus on the things you aren’t doing (like cooking proper dinners) and should focus on what you are doing (like adding some extra veges), and I think that is pretty awesome cos most people will have lazy or off days and I don’t trust people that imply you should always be onto it and super healthy.  

            A way to tell that my day was very very quiet is that I printed off a list of all the people who are subscribed to our monthly-ish newsletter, and printed off a list of all our broadcasters (after updating it) and started updating the newsletter subscriptions.  I removed the really old people who don’t look at the newsletter any more, made sure that everyone on the list is in the right category (some ex-broadcasters are still in broadcasters group, while others that have started a show haven’t been added to the broadcasters group), and tomorrow I will add in the ones that are missing.  So yeah, super lots to do lol.  It is a good thing in a way as I have been wanting to tidy it up for a while so in some ways now being quiet is a good thing.  I also filled in some more time in the midnight-6am slots with shows from the archives, I think I am down to only having a few hours to do each weekday early morning now.  Finding the shows to put in the spare spaces aint that hard or time consuming, but setting them up play and adding them to the schedule takes a bit of time, and it’s something you don’t want to rush cos it could either not play, or it could play and no-one knows to tune in, or it might play but if I haven’t made a note of it on my spreadsheet we don’t get the credit for it which is the whole point.  Last month we were very much down on our 36c first run hours, however our repeat runs were up and our general playlist hours were well down, which is a woot woot for me cos it means I’m filling in gaps good hehe.

I was motivated to do stuff when I got back from mum and dads ystdy, and I was hoping that that would last a few days, however it appears that it is already faded.  The most I can claim to have done after work today was pull out the two pairs of shoes I’ve decided I don’t need no more cos I don’t wear them, and send pa a pic of a job I want his help with when he visits.  I have done some crocheting but since I did that while watching tv I don’t really think it counts.  So yeah, seems the motivation is gone already.  Kinda sad it didn’t last any longer.  Will be interesting to see if it slowly, or fastly, returns under Level 2.  I have a vague feeling it may be gone for good, well except for the odd moment, mostly cos it was kinda on the way out before lockdown so I highly doubt it will make a magical reappearance lol.

I am over promos for traveling and touristy shows on tv, I feel like it is unfair for them to be playing when there is no way we could go on a holiday to the places they are showing any time soon.  I know the shows have been filmed and as there are no new episodes being filmed for shows tv has to play something but surely they can pick something other than travel shows.  Maybe I am the odd one out, and no one else cares or they even enjoy watching them, but I feel like they are a cruel form of torture.

I had something else I was going to say, but my brain has switched off and some NRL show is on which is way more interesting than trying to figure out what my brain was thinking.  Plus there is apparently only 17 days to go till NRL restarts woot woot, would quite like them to update their app so I know when my boys are scheduled to play, but I spose I should have learnt how to be patient by now, haha like that will ever happen.  Haha watching this show and I was just thinking ‘man I would love to be paid to just talk about random stuff’, ummm JB you already are being paid to talk about random stuff with random people lol.

Anyhow, am off to go get my yummy as dairy free gluten free vegan friendly chocolate honeycomb ice cream which, sorry guys, but it totally trumps sitting here typing random thoughts for you to read.  Plus if I want to stay under 25,000 words I best stop now just in case I get chatty in the next couple of days lol

Level 3 Lockdown Day #12

Well my soul is feeling much better, and much happier, and nowhere as fragile as it was feeling.  No offense to Ken, he is a lovely man, however sometimes a girl needs more than just her boss, she needs her family.  And in this girls case she decided that she needed her parents.  The cracks were not only starting to show, but were getting larger and deeper by the day.  I know that travel in Level 3 is essential travel only, and this was essential.  For me to still be here, in the bubbly happy form you have all come to love, at the end of this lockdown drama there was an urgent need for parental love in-person, and many many hugs.  So on Thursday Cleo and I popped over to Mangakino, her for Bodecia and Febe’s company and me for mum and dad company and hugs.  And Glenny is chilling with Big Ted at the moment, he has said hi to Willis-E and Brown Bear as well (hey look Fishy, so many bears named and you still don’t feature :p).  

The driving over also helped mend my soul.  I don’t know about you but there is something about driving and good music cranked up that nothing can beat.  It doesn’t matter how good your stereo is, and I have had many dance parties at mine with my awesome stereo, there is something about the act of being on the move while singing at the top of your lungs with your bear chilling beside you that is just a basic human requirement, atlst it is for me.

It has been a lovely stay with mum and dad.  I have enjoyed not having to cook dinner, not even had to think about what to have for dinner.  I have very much enjoyed having someone to talk to in the evenings and the day, and even when it has been quiet (there has been a moment or two for those who don’t believe mum and I can have moments of not talking) it’s been nice knowing that there is someone else there, or someone to lean on while your on the couch reading or watching tv (Dad is a great person to lean on, if you didn’t know, but he’s mine, just saying).

            I worked a bit ystdy and today as I didn’t technically take leave for Friday, but just worked a bit more during the week and then was available by phone for if Ken needed me for anything.  Is quite handy being set up to work from home as does allow me to do things like this but it is still not as fun as working from work.

            Dad has pottered, like he is so good at doing.  And he has helped with the crosswords I brought over.  Sadly though, for most of them, his helping was in his handwriting so you can tell that I am not as smart as I would like to claim lol.  Mum’s helping was in my handwriting so I can take credit for her input hehe.

I am heading home tomorrow, although Ken said I could have longer off work if I wanted it is still nice having the routine of semi normal life going.  That and working from work is just plain easier than working from a distance.  Atlst I have fixed all the issues that cropped up while I was working from home, so if I ever have to again it should be a bit smoother.  Not that I am going to ever again but for the odd long wknd it is something I will keep in mind.

Went for a run today, and I just want to say there are way more hills in Mangakino that there are in Hastings.  There were parts of the run where I was rather stuffed and it was a hard slog, and yes I walked some parts but never for very long so I am pretty happy with my effort.  I saw some nice looking houses, some not so nice looking houses, some rather weird looking house, quite a few houses for sale, a couple caught my eye and I slowed a bit to have a good look hehe.  Also found the fire station, kindergarten (a very bright yellow, and not in a good way I don’t think), school, swimming pool, sports grounds, St John building (couldn’t see an ambulance in there tho), and made it to the lake.  It was a rather long route to the lake hehe but it was worth it.  Got quite a few waves from people either driving or chilling on their front porches which was cool.  Even managed to run up about 2/3 of the hill back from the lake so I was pretty happy with that.

Level 3 Lockdown Day #9

Now I have thought the following quite often, but it seems much more relevant at the moment - if we could marry businesses I would totally marry Jarks.  There is more than one reason, cos come on if you are getting married it should be for more than one reason lol, mainly they just cook amazing food, total num num.  Also they are super friendly and friendly is impt in a partner.  And Jilly Jarks would be such a cool name, no one can argue with that lol.

Found my old Radio School stuff, and boy can I just say that if that was my best stuff I sure have come a long way lol.  Haven’t exactly practiced to become better or anything, I think I just have more confidence and care less about what others may think and that has made me better.  Now I just go with the flow and if I make a mistake I just go with it, back then I would have edited it out or redone it.  And if I was in commercial radio maybe I would still have to sound super excited about every single thing, but thankfully I do not.  I just have to sound happy and interested which is super easy.  Anyhow, have decided that as a treat I will take Ken my skite tape lol, I think he will get a kick out of it.  That and the NZ Music Doco that I made on a now completely forgotten but back then band that I loved.  That one was pretty good, probably cos I re-voiced and edited it lots.

Today at work there were many funny bits, to my mind atlst.  Made another Kidnappers Kidz, lol Penelope the Pixie just cracks me up every time, not only voicing her but listening back when I have amended my voice to be hers :) Definitely the best character I have created I think.  She came about cos Dave the Dinosaur (aka Ken) needed a new ad a while back and so his friend Penelope the Pixie came in to voice it and tell all the kids about the great show her friend did.  Then Dexter (aka David from Theatre HB) came in and took over Kidnappers Kidz and all the fun (for us) disappeared.  But since we have been in lockdown and broadcasters aren’t allowed in Dave and Penelope have been holding down the fort (yay hehe).  

            Also makes me giggle at the two different ways there are to make prerecorded shows, well in general, for the music ones.  You can just wing it, make it up as you go along and either say stuff off memory, or read it on Wikipedia (or somewhere else online) before hitting record then say it off that memory.  And if you make a mistake that’s not too major just correct and keep going, no bothering with over editing or anything, so long as it sounds natural and not too hideous it’s all good.  And then there is the research, write notes, record and if make a mistake re-record, edit very well and make sure it is super smooth way.  Guess which one is me and which is Ken? Lol, if you got that wrong you really don’t know me as well as you should haha.  I am definitely the wing it one lol.  Live is a different story of course.

            As we edit Ken and I both tend to have the awesome habit of talking out loud of what we are doing (delete, import audio, ok, etc) and singing to the songs as you make sure they blend in well after and before the speaking bits.  This is impt to know for the next part which is why I am mentioning it.  This afternoon when Ken and I were busy editing, him a NZ Music Month Special and me Kidnappers Kidz, we were doing our singing along and it was rather funny cos, completely by accident, he would sing a snippet from a classic NZ song from the 60s or 70s and then I would sing a snippet from a kids tune, then him a NZ song, then me a kids tune etc.  Lol it was rather hilarious.  Then quite by accident we both sang ‘file, import audio’ at the same time, and yes we both sing it the same way.  I think it might be time that we get some more people in our bubbles lol.

It is rather chilly this evening, and was today too for that matter.  I currently have a hot water bottle and a blanket; the heater is warming up my bedroom for when I go to bed.  We are meant to be dropping down to 2 overnight, brrrrr.  Guess winter really is coming.  Sadly though we didn’t get the thunderstorms we were promised today, both Ken and I were sad when we realised the sun was out for good.  Cleo didn’t mind though, cos she got to go out today, I didn’t wanna risk getting drenched on the way home.  I think she had fun chilling with Ken’s car all day, was some company for her atlst.

In one of the tv shows I am watching at the moment, the main chick has the worst dress sense ever.  In half the scenes I can’t even focus on what I should be focusing on because what she is wearing is just so bad.  She has newly come into lots of money, and was just a poor-ish person before that.  I can’t tell if she is meant to be very fashionable and fashion is just bad or if she is meant to dressing bad and we are meant to know that it is bad… I wouldn’t have a clue.  All I do know is that if she is meant to be fashionable all I can say is I will stick to jeans and hoodies thank you very much lol

Level 3 Lockdown Day #7

Look at that, a whole week of Level 3, aka Lockdown with Takeaways, completed.  Well done us.  I would love to say that’s one week closer to normality but hey, we have no idea when that will be so it’s not really is it.  It’s just one week down.  

You know how ystdy I said I had two people to record and one was a reschedule from last week, well Ken actually did that one (yay) and I got two others.  One I may have tuned out a little on, whoops.  She is one of those alternative health people that I don’t believe in what they do so I struggle to pay attention sometimes as I think it is all wishy washy and fake.  She totally believes it though so I spose that is the main thing.  And atlst she does the show herself which is good, I don’t have to come up with questions to ask.  The other show was our Philippine one, and Leah normally does it all on her own and sometimes rings and chats with Jesus (Gary) Domingo who is the Philippine Ambassador, however as we are doing all the shows by phone she did her part by phone then I rang and chatted with Gary which was cool.  Have met him, he came into the studios last year, and he is such a lovely guy.  Was cool getting the update on how the Philippines have been affected by this virus as well.  Sadly it seems that many of the Filipinos in NZ will have to leave soon as they are on work visas but aren’t earning due to lockdown, and a criteria of the visas is that they are working.  I suspect there won’t be much work for them back home either somehow, which is sad.

Glenny has enjoyed this evening, mostly cos I was trying to find a story to read for the kids show this coming wknd so obviously had to read a few of them to see which ones read best out loud and which ones are fun to listen to, and fun to read.  We have narrowed it down to two…. Not sure which one will do, might record them both and have one up my sleeve in case I need it next wknd, or maybe I will use both.  Who knows.  Guess those listening on Saturday morning will find out lol.  And yes one of the books that made the short list may technically be my brothers book but since it is in my house I fully think it is now mine, and I am pretty sure that I have thought it was mine (along with others that someone wrote his name in) for a while now lol.  The other story that made the short list, if you are wondering, used to be Dad’s but he gave it to me so it is legit mine :) hehe.  And yes I do have plenty of books that are mine, but not all the good ones were mine so I just claimed the ones I wanted, cos seriously me and Glenny read them the most anyhow so we figure that they should stay with us :)

Aint really done much else today.  Went to work, took Ken some Banana Loaf I made ystdy and he agreed that it was rather moreish.  It is definitely not lasting more than a couple of days, but then it runs the risk of going stale if it stays around too long and we would hate for that to happen.  Other than recording a couple shows, I did the invoicing (will send them out tomorrow as Yvonne does the statements for me and she was having technical issues today), caught up on editing and just the normal day-to-day stuff.  Ken and I caught up on our rather blah wknds, I must admit non-lockdown Monday’s are way more fun cos you have decent catch-ups to be had.  I did manage to miss the heavy rain we had today, no idea how I missed it but Ken also didn’t point it out.  He waited till we were leaving and when I saw the rather wet ground and commented on the fact it musta rained to say ‘oh yeah it was pouring down and you didn’t notice’ with a laugh.  As he knows I like the rain I think this was rather mean.  It did explain why he offered me a ride home in case of rain though lol.  I chose to walk home as I figured the rain was over and I was right, been no more rain and the sun even poked it’s head out while I was walking home.  

I am now going to start a new crossword.  HB Today are putting extra puzzles in the papers at the moment, including big crosswords (I like the big ones cos the chance that I will know an answer goes up the more clues there are lol), so Doffy and I have been doing them together.  Almost like old times, but I send him pics of how it is going as we go through and he gives me a few answers each time, till I concede and let him just finish it lol.  But since they are all being done in my handwriting I’m pretty sure that means I am the one finishing them cos I am super smart :) hahahahahahahahaha :)

Level 3 Lockdown Day #6

Well we made it through the wknd.  Gotta say this wknd was worse than the previous lockdown wknds, to me atlst it was.  I think it is because during the week I got to go back to semi normal and got to go to work which was real good.  Yet ystdy when I woke up I was back to being alone and not being able to do what I wanted to do.  

Friday was a good day, Ken and I decided we had to finish early cos it was a beautiful sunny day and there is little to be happy about somedays so we would take it where we could.  I could have gone for a run or something when I got home, but I didn’t.  Complete lack of motivation is all I can say.  

Saturday I spent the day moving with the sun.  It was that nice, not too hot, just pleasantly warm sunshine and since today and the next few days are forecast for rain I figured it was my duty to enjoy the sun and to make the most of it.  That and no motivation to do anything.  I did finish two books though, so I technically achieved something lol.

Today I decided to not do anything as I didn’t want to risk getting rained on.  Well that was my excuse, in reality I think motivation has just given up and gone on holiday.  So I’ve spent the day doing very little, but I was fully justified as the rain has just arrived, so see it did rain lol.

I ordered Jarks for dinner last night and have decided that I shall try and order from them once a week as my contribution to supporting local.  I say try cos I normally want them on a Sunday but they are shut on Sunday’s, nothing new as they were always shut Sunday.  I got a pizza and chips (my usual when I’m on my own cos then I get leftovers for the next day hehe), and I got a bonus small piece of brownie which totally made my day.  Not sure if I got the bonus brownie cos everyone is, or if its cos they have my details saved as I have made quite a few bookings with them in the past.  I don’t mind either way, it was a lovely surprise which I am just super happy about.  It is definitely the small things at the moment that make a big difference I think.

On Friday my heart was broken, well not really but the expression seems to fit.  Was chatting with some of the theatre folk and one of them mentioned that the theatre wouldn’t open again till level 0 when things were back to normal.  Now it is probably something everyone already knows, everyone except me, which is why it was said so casually but I was not aware that there was a level 0.  In my mind things were going to go level 2 then back to normal.  Finding out about that extra step, which could be a very long one, just threw me a lot.  Shattered my already rather fragile bubble.  Atlst I am I able to visit my family for support, oh wait a minute, no I can’t cos we live in a dictatorship, which is pretending to be a voted in government when they didn’t actually get the majority of the votes.  Yeah, can you tell someone is not super happy with things at the moment.  I know there is a virus going around but there are times when I think getting sick and maybe dying would be a better option than what I have at the moment.  Atlst Cleo is ready to go for a wander when I have had enough and just need to go get some family time.  I don’t really want to break the rules but hey, sometimes a girl just has to do what a girl’s gotta do.

Anyhow to end on a bright-ish note, get to go back to work tomorrow woot woot.  Being the start of the month I have to do invoicing, so not my favourite job but altst it’s something to do and will keep me occupied for the morning.  I also think I am recording a couple people via phone so that will be good.  One I was meant to do last week but her baby had just woken up and was making a bit of a drama in the background, so we rescheduled for tomorrow.  Can’t remember who the other one is, but am sure I will be reminded tomorrow haha.  Also have some shows to edit so will have plenty to do, and company while I do it which is the best part, yay for Ken lol.

PS this diary thing has over 20,000 words in it now.  Hopefully we are back to normal enough that I don’t need to keep writing this before I get to 25,000