Holidays!

Noodle out for a rare 'stretch of legs'!

My out of office is on and tomorrow we set off on our normal road trip down to the Dordogne. We have been anxiously watching the news given the mercurial situation with Covid. With only 24 hours notice the government pulled a U-turn on Friday and put Spain on the quarantine lists as well as postponing some of the lockdown easement measures. With cases rising again in Europe and a number high still across the US and the developing world, it's clear that no-one feels we are out of the woods yet. Face coverings are now compulsory in all indoor settings and we are getting used to shopping trips where you try and be as quick as possible so you can breathe properly again. While I can understand this and appreciate the need for caution, I find it hard to reconcile the measures with the data. I spent an engrossed half hour on Saturday morning (I'm such a geek) reading the latest reports from the ONS which said (for the week ending 17 July) approx. 10,000 people died in the UK, of which 303 died of Covid. That's 3.3%. In care homes it was a slightly higher 5.1%. I know that's still high if the deaths are preventable but I still worry the hidden long term damage will be far greater. 

Anyway, rant over - I clearly need a break from 5 months spent looking at all this very closely. Too much time spent worrying about the appropriate balance between health and the economy, as well as how we balance between the young, who have their whole lives ahead of them and are disproportionally affected in so many ways by the decisions our governments are making, and the older generations who are at greater risk, but for whom the sacrifices we are asking of them appear to be far less. What I am sure of is if we end up in a place where back to school is in jeopardy in September I shall quite literally weep. I've held it together balancing home schooling and home working up to this point, I cannot face it continuing into another term. It's neither fair nor feasible for it to carry on, and I say that as a family at the best end of the spectrum - goodness knows what it's like at the other end. 

So, onto happier subjects! This weekend we have mainly been packing as well as swapping the kids sheds around. Abi wanted the pod as there is more room for her collection of stinky rats (there are now 7 of them), and Izzy spends half her time at the bottom of the garden getting away from us all so it made sense for them to swap. This meant having a major clean up / disinfecting of the bottom shed to get rid of the rat smell (actually mostly in their cages rather than the shed itself) as well as cleaning out all of Izzy's nail polish rubbish (about a thousand false nail tips) - where do they get all this rubbish from?!?

They are both very happy with the result. Izzy slept in her shed last night and much to our surprise then was up before us this morning (6:30am) - she said she was awake anyway and wanted to watch the sun rise. Obviously this is not the normal routine - both kids now sleep in for hours - and having had breakfast and a chat she had to head back to bed for a nap - like when they were babies. She says she never sleeps but I don't know whether I should believe her - and quite frankly I'm too tired in the evening to stay up until they are both asleep - I can't keep my eyes open beyond 10:30pm!

Right - got to go - need to check they have actually packed the essentials. The forecast is high thirties and there is a real risk we will arrive with them having a bag full of hoodies and jeans - standard uniform now. Holidays here we come!