Overland and Borders

Slept for 11.5 hours without moving according to my Fitbit! Even when I got up I could barely open my eyes but these bloody 15k steps were banging on my brain. Had the laziest morning with hubby, catching up on the news. “Only” 490 odd people died yesterday which is down on the day before. It’s still not really hit home much up here although we are still in lockdown at home. We are so lucky not to know anyone who is really badly affected. Only a few people we know have actually caught it. We have to be so careful continuously washing our hands especially if we get mail, milk etc delivered. Any contact with anyone outside the two of us is a potential risk. My cousin posted on FB that her wee boy wants to know when this new world will be unlocked so we can go out and see what’s there. We will never take going for a coffee for granted again.

So by lunchtime I managed to get Craig out for a dog walk with me! All 5 of us went out for our daily exercise. Walked through the fields to keep away from folk and let the dogs run about mad!

We came home and had lunch and the dogs had a wee lie down! Pretty sure I crocheted for the rest of the day. The rainbow has become a sign that people in a house are healthy so I made a rainbow granny square!!

More movies tonight…. what else is there to do??!? Didn’t meet the 15k steps but that is ok… I was so zonked!!

So the day starts with my bid to attempt 15k steps… again… my body aches… my legs ache but I need to lose 4 stone or thereabouts. No pain no gain is ringing in my ears! It’s a lovely morning so I decide to try the supermarket again before dog walks. This time I get in to Home Bargains at Johnstone and pick up all the washing powder, fabric conditioner etc that we need thinking that I’ll get to a supermarket after 10 so I can buy hubby some beer. No, that is not gonna happens for the second day in a row!!! Aldi is queued our the front door and round the corner, Morrison’s has a bigger queue that yesterday and so does Asda. So I give up and head home with what I have. Then Calaidh and I set off towards Scot Plants with AirPods in and music playing… until a van drives up beside me and I jump about 6ft in the air… scrambling to get Calaidh off the road! Note to self, turn volume down. This is a a lovely walk and lots of the hedgerow down here has been burnt to encourage fresh vegetation. I decided this morning to have a fascination with old gates!! Jeezo how bored are we in this lockdown??

God knows why really but I thought there was a beauty to them.

When I get home Craig is in the shed rebuilding the inside and he’s in his element. Lockdown has encouraged a lot of people to catch up on diy, well those that are no longer working. I potter in the greenhouse then start tidying up all the stuff that he’s just thrown out the shed. We’ve got loads for the tip when lockdown is over but it feels great to have a clear out. I’m so knackered after ramping from lazy bones to 15k steps a day that I decide on a wee nap… 3 hours later!!!

So as I mentioned, we are members of Overland Bound which is run by a guy Michael Murgia from California. It’s a group that encourage driving adventure outdoors. We joined a few years back. Membership number 13446 at your service! Tonight we’re having a virtual campfire where we all dial in and chat online in front of out campfires at home. What a laugh. It’s the first time in lockdown that we feel like we had a night out. It’s the warmest I’ve ever been camped out too! Dave Spink who’s the director for Western Europe had organised a special guest and it was Michael and his wife Carrie who run Overland Bound. So cool to get a chance to chat and introduce ourselves.

The usual banter with the guys was great but someone’s gonna wake up with a sore head in the morning #justsayinganditwontbeme 🤷🏻‍♀️😬

These are very unusual times but we are adapting to life without contact with anyone other than our immediate family.

First thing I do today is check the NHS Responder app and am pleased to see that it shows I’ve been showing “on duty” for 14 hours. An email comes out from them today to say that they are only running a soft launch at the moment so that’s why I’ve not had an alert yet. Just have to wait until it kicks in and then I’ll be ready to help with the COVID-19 response.

So I can’t be bothered to walk today, every step feels like I’m climbing a mountain. Luckily for me my pup target for long walk this morning, Bhruic, starts to limp half way there and I think it’s best to turn around. I should give myself a bit more credit, I’ve walked 30k steps, cleaned and cleared a greenhouse and loads of other things in 2 days, maybe I’m just knackered!! I am totally knackered!

I thought I’d try to go to the supermarket today for some essentials though we’re not desperate for anything. I drove to Asda Linwood and it was queued around the car park, everyone standing 2 m apart… I then drive on to Morrisons in Johnstone and it’s just the same. I don’t need anything that much. So home and repot the blueberries that haven’t flowered much over the years so I’ve stuck them in the newly beautiful greenhouse. Cleaned the outdoor fridge for Craig’s beers when it gets a bit warmer (am I the best wife??!) and honestly my body feels broken. It’s Friday late afternoon, not that Friday makes any difference when you are on lockdown and can’t go out. These are very strange times but I’m loving it as long as everyone I know stays healthy. Scotland registered 593 deaths yesterday in one day…. so very sad. So another movie night for us and I’m gonna make fajitas for dinner. If I can move off the couch…………

So this is day 2 of my fitness fanatical and I wake up full of the joys of spring and ready for lots of stepping action. The biggest question is which dog to take first….. So I decide on Freya, the little 3 year old runtie pup who is in need of one on one training as she’s always at the bottom of the pack and we head off. Music pumping through my AirPods, walking to the beat of the music and despite all the bad stuff going on right now, life feels very good. I take her a long walk down past Brown’s Pressure Washers at the back of the Bond and carry on to the small burn where I let her off so she can have a play in the water. Playing is only fun if I throw small sticks for her to catch which she loves. Back on the lead and we’re punting it back up the hill dodging the various tractors that are out muck spreading. If only I could explain just how bad the smell is…. oh my actual god it almost made me sick!! So much of it ends up on the roads too…… yuck.

I’m on a roll and Calaidh (Cally) and Bhruic (broo-ic) get the same treatment but I can let them off on the road. By this time I’ve done over 12,000 steps of my 15K a day. We are only meant to be out for one outdoor exercise a day but I see no-one so I try not to feel too bad about it.

By the time I come home we’ve had soil and seed potatoes delivered from the Gateside Plant Centre who have started doing deliveries as no-one is allowed out. We’ve also had the new Perspex panels for the greenhouse so we spend the day out in the garden overhauling the greenhouse. We can’t afford to fully replace it so have only got 7 panels to replace those that are broken. The greenhouse was built in the early 1970’s by Rodney Pearson who planted a black seeded grape vine in 1972. It’s the same age as me! 21 again…..

I cleaned every panel of glass and most of it was gunked in green moss…. it looks amazing and when I find out how to get photos off my iPhone onto this blog I will start sharing them. I moved all the interior to give more sunlight to the plants but we can’t plant anything yet as we can’t get hold of it. Only the supermarkets are open and no-one is doing deliveries of non-essential items. It will just have to wait but I’m getting tomatoes in there this year and I’m going to look after them rather than forget about them!!

So I woke up to a gift from my lovely Auntie of membership to RH Fitness an online health and fitness group. They use My Fitness Pal to track your calorie intake vs your exercise output. Since I’ve been suffering with my mental health from Sept 2018, I have put on about 3 stone in weight due to endless amounts of Cadbury’s Giant Chocolate Buttons and Dolly Mixtures I have managed to put away (other brands are available…) and in this COVID-19 lockdown we’ve been eating junk for every meal. So it stops now…. I’m telling you all…. no-one reads this yet so not certain that it counts but I’m telling you anyway. So I’ve beaten my 15,000 step target so far today and am currently sitting with 700 calories still to eat and I am stuffed!! Makes a change from the gannet stuffing her face and always being hungry. I know how to lose weight but just haven’t had the will to do it but feeling a change coming…. Had 2 lovely walks today with the dogs (though as I write this I realise that we are only meant to go out once…. but when you have 3 dogs that’s pretty difficult to do. Here’s Freya with an ominous sky.

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The second thing is that I received an email confirming that I’ve been selected as an NHS Volunteer Responder. I’m not gonna lie, there is a part of me that is terrified by the responsibility of this but another part of me quite excited about being able to help others for a change. It’s been a long mental health journey for me with lots of tears, anxiety, depression and even suicidal thoughts but I’ve been lucky enough to be surrounded by some amazing family and friends who have all helped me in one way or another. The love I’ve been shown has been incredible. People going out of their way to check in on me, supporting me, texting, FB messaging and even contact from people in a similar boat who I haven’t seen since I was about 18. It was the hardest time of my life but I think everything happens for a reason and the NHS Responder is the first thing I’ve seen that felt right, finally I can pay it forward… So who knows what this might bring? The response is all controlled via an app that was previously used for Doctors and Medics to respond to Emergency Defibrillator calls. When I ever pluck up the courage to turn the GoodSam app to report me on duty I’m sure I’ll find out what’s in store…..

Still have 700 calories to eat and it’s 7.30pm :):)

Had a Zoom call with the Avery side at 8.15 and Max and Marianna had organised a scavenger hunt for us all which was a good laugh. Changed strange times but great to be keeping in touch with the family.

Off to bed and still have 500 calories to eat……

Was exciting today… I got out of the house to go to the Supermarket and actually walked straight in, covered in anti-bac hand gel. The shops have queuing systems in place and marked walkways within the shop suggesting the route you should take to help with social distancing. It was all very strange. No-one looks at anyone and yet everyone is aware of everyone… everyone gives everyone a wide berth so you can tell everyone knows where everyone else is. Like a shark swimming through minnows…. the way parts around you. Then you get stuck somewhere as there are 2 people that you can’t pass without breaking the 2m rule. What to do?? Stand still and wait for the gap to widen, turn round uncomfortably and pretend you were actually wanting to go the opposite way or head down, don’t breathe and charge through the gap???? I did all of them today. It was like we weren’t allowed to speak or acknowledge each other…. it would be wrong to make eye contact as you might pass something untoward between you!

Asda Linwood was well stocked. Then there’s the added stress of seeing so much and thinking that I have to have it all just in case I can’t ever get it again…. maybe I should buy all the Easter Eggs now but I haven’t planned who we will get for, maybe I should get more toilet roll…. kitchen roll….. it was just nice to be able to buy fresh fruit and veg as we’d been living on junk type oven food. As lovely as a plate of chips and onion rings is… neither of us are losing any weight on that diet!!

Had a lovely chat with the guy on the till, one of the key workers. He said the shop was crazy two weeks ago and that this is it calmed down. I told him how excited I was to be out….. gave him my life story come to think of it! So I finally escape the shop unscathed and realise there’s a missed call from hubby. Calling him back to find he’s sent a list of things for me to get. Eh, uh, am in the car now. Only missed a few things off his list thank god. Don’t need to go back in!

Home to find he’s pressure washed the decking, entertained the roofer (socially distanced of course) who’s come to quote re-roofing the shed and started the largest bonfire at the back of the garden.

I cleaned all the panes of glass in the greenhouse ahead of tomorrow’s delivery of new Perspex panes.

We have a healthy lunch and dinner today for the first time in ages. A good day for us but Scotland announced a total of 135 people in intensive care today. Stats continue to rise.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton