When I mention a dog walk, it's because it has lasted more than the usual 30 minutes, often up 2 hours. The starting point is always the front door and the dog dictates whether we turn left or right off the drive and I sort of follow his lead, literally. Sometimes we end up on the hills or down the retail park, in town, over the common, or just round the block which varies in size also. I have a little bag with treats, bags, hand sanitisers etc which contains £20 and I have my card linked to my coffee app on my phone.
Apart from buying milk, it was 2 weeks on Wednesday since I did any shopping, apart from milk, fresh fruit/veg I'm able to roll over till next week. I buy frozen fruit and veg as well as fresh stuff. I do miss having salad items other than tomatoes, carrots and peppers which I use for cooking also, such as lettuce and dips (hummus etc). I did however then have to do an emergency food shop for child 5 and deliver it, so did my shopping at the same time.
I've had my UK invite for the covid vaccine. I phoned the GP surgery to ask if they could somehow get my Chinese vaccine logged on the system. I'd sent it all to them a few weeks ago.
79 Saturday Awake around 4am, some blogging, tea drinking and tv watching occurred. Dog walked, bedding washed, dried, ironed. Did some gardening, dusted downstairs and cleaned the bathroom. We have 3 but I'm only using 1 at the moment and the downstairs loo. Did a batch cook, making enough meals for the next 10 days, not sure I have enough frozen veg etc and I may run out of milk before the week is out, but I do have some UHT.
80 Sunday Finally got round to having the whole house clean at the same time, other than the floors. I've been keeping rooms tidy and clean but haven't had it all done at the same time and it was bugging me. The dog got walked twice as the weather was so nice, but too chilly to sit out in, I used the fire pit but it was too smokey. Cooked a roast and spent the evening reading the Sunday papers.
81 Monday Started the day watching Line of Duty, mowed the lawns, walked the dog, hoovered and mopped the top 2 floors and spent the rest of the day catching up with blogging and social media.
I've decided I need to distance myself from certain people in order to maintain my mental health and wellbeing, I've feel as if I have imposter syndrome, that I don't deserve the life I have and that there is no or little value to it and I find myself having to justify what I say and why. I feel sometimes that as soon as I open my mouth a translator is switched on and my words are twisted. But I'm ok with that now. I actually get nothing physically or mentally from the situation, it's all take, especially when it comes to expectations around finances, so no more.
82 Tuesday Took the cat to the vets and did a food shop while I was out for child 5 who needs some support at the moment. He's on his own in a one bed flat, working everyday, no going out, no socialising. I haven't seen anyone for several weeks and won't be seeing anyone other than garden visits until the week after next. I finished hoovering the house downstairs and mopping the floors and stood on the doorstep for half an hour with a lit candle with the neighbour, no one else came out, but we could hear the church bells and people were up on the hills shining a bright light down on the town.
No contact chip shop order, on dog walk, ordered through door, contactless payment and chips handed over through door.
83 Wednesday A year since I arrived back in the UK to an empty T5 which was shut soon after I landed and Dubai closed the borders on me a few hours later. I did a food shop for child 5 and dropped it off with him in Cirencester. I've not been more than 12 miles in the car since I got back to the UK. We had a KFC for lunch. I returned home with his washing, which I'll drop back next week and will then be able to spend some time with him as restrictions will have been eased. Apart from the fact I left my local area, we were Covid compliant, which is what my son said to me as I was leaving 'Virtual hug to be covid compliant' Spent the evening in front of the TV in between doing the washing.
84 Thursday Blood test at 8.50am ahead of my consultation with the haematologist next week. The rest of the day was spent blogging, commenting, scheduling posts and some crafts I've been meaning to do for a while. The house is full of child 5's washing, as it started raining earlier, I love it really. The cat and dog are outside every minute if the sun is shining.
85 Friday Not really sure what I did all day. I've nothing to do now until the week after next, clean the house and mow the lawn before I return to Dubai. When I get back in June, it'll will be with Peter as he will have retired and life with be different all over again.
I asked what I did to deserve these and my friends told me it's just for being me.
During the 3 lockdowns I've stuck by the rules/laws. I haven't visited anyone and I haven't driven outside my area to go for a walk or to go shopping. I've taken the lockdowns very seriously and apart from dog walking daily and on occasion with a friend, I've only gone out for essential trips such as food shopping and medical appointments.
I'm just hanging around again, waiting for the next bit that's out of my control. Waiting for the dog to be collected so I can then book a flight back to Dubai. I can't get on with the garden as I won't be here for 2-3 months so no point planting anything and the lawn will need mowing, the house will need cleaning also, when I get back to it. Then I'll be job hunting, we'll be back to some kind of normal, yet it won't be my normal, as my normal is not normal after 10 years as an expat.
Just something else I'll have to adapt to. You all know what your normal was in the UK prior to the pandemic, I wasn't living in the UK prior to the pandemic.
72 Saturday Took Bob for a walk through the woods and collected a take out coffee at the retail park, it was absolutely packed with families shopping in the limited stores open. Walked back home over the common. Did some gardening and was struggling with my back with the digging and moving soil, so went out to local builders merchants to buy a wheelbarrow and some new garden tools. Spent some time blogging and filled in holes/dents in the plaster/walls ready for painting.
Not bad, 3 out of 5 kids remembered.
73 Sunday A 2 hour dog walk through town, over the common and home, followed by beer and chocolate and a home cooked roast beef dinner. I watched a couple of movies and had a nice relaxing bath with my bath bombs for Mother's Day. I watched Grace, OMG my anxiety levels.
74 Monday Dog walk, gardening and off to the hospital at 5pm for the 2nd iron infusion, I took writing material with me, grabbed a coffee from the foyer on my way to the ward and picked up a McDonalds on the way home (swopped the bun for a gluten free one) and off to bed by 8pm.
75 Tuesday After a sleep of 8 hours, I went back to sleep for a further 6 hours, then at 3pm I dressed and spent 3 hours in the garden, digging, planting, tidying. Sanded down the paintwork. Walked Bob, had a bath and evening spent in front of the TV.
76 Wednesday Awake at 2am, stayed in bed till midday with the cat for company, dressed and painted some rocks, touched up paint on woodwork and walls throughout the house, did some washing, got outside and did some more gardening, cooked for tonight and soup for tomorrow. Laminated labels for the seeds and evening spent on a video call with a friend.
My shed. Can't wait for the garden furniture to arrive as it can stay outside in all weather and I'll be able to get rid of these red chairs, taking up space.
77 Thursday Another lazy morning, looks cold outside, did some blogging and watched some TV from last night. Walked Bob down to the retail park, posting letters and getting a click and collect coffee. I started the cleaning throughout, so many cobwebs in the rooms I'm not using.
78 Friday Osteopath appointment at 8.30am, then home, walked Bob, painted rocks, cooked, did some cleaning, sorted through some accounts changing passwords and email/phone numbers. Long chat with a friend and bed.
On the blog this week:
Post Comment Love - a weekly linky to link up any blog post written during the week. My motivation has returned.
Part time gardening in the UK and Dubai.
My Sunday Photo - Travels with my sofa.
Welcome back to PoCoLo with Stephanie from @lifeat139a and I. We're making sure between us we get round to reading, commenting and sharing the posts you link up each week and it's lovely seeing the community grow with regular contributors. Don't forget POST your blog, COMMENT on the hosts and one or two others and we'll share the LOVE.
I'm sure I'm not the only one, in fact I know I'm not, but I've found myself stuck in a loop again, back to staying in bed most of the day, not doing anything and lacking any motivation.
It's not all due to covid, it's part of my life as an expat that I've spoken about before and also the fact I have absolutely NO iron stores in my body and require 4 monthly infusions, which I had the 2nd part of this week.
Although it takes several weeks for the levels to raise, it does alter my mood and this week I've made great advances in the garden, have completed all the paint and plaster touch ups and repairs after all the unpacking and having house sitters and I've thoroughly cleaned top to bottom.
I'm now back on a roll and planning my return to Dubai, I've got my blogging mojo back as I'm now doing more things so be prepared to be bored senseless with crafts and gardening posts.
I'm a bit behind with tidying up the garden after winter, ready to start the spring planting. I was back in Dubai over the winter and will be returning during Spring, until the start of summer.
So this was how I left the garden back in November.
It's just ongoing maintenance until we decide if we're staying here or going to move. If we stay, we have plans to build a summer house, with a lean to green house and storage for gardening tools and a veranda in the top right hand corner as that boundary is South facing and a combination of raised beds, gravel paths, herb gardens and vegetable rows, basically no lawn, a combined relaxing garden and allotment in one. The existing shed will be removed and rebuilt out of shot along the length of the house and we plan on extending the conservatory. Out the front we'll build a wall, put in gates, create room for additional parking and level the garden off.
The dog however is enjoying the warmer weather and making the most of his time outside.
Flowers for Mother's Day and new gloves and secateurs from Gardeners World arrived and kick started garden prep with mowing the lawns and weeding the front garden. Once it looked like I'd achieved something, it made getting started on the rest much easier.
There are seedlings germinating on the window sill and the same seeds being grown in the green house also. I'm hoping to be able to plant out from the kitchen before I leave for Dubai and it'll be interesting to see what grows in the greenhouse that I can plant out in the summer.
We've spent the last 10 years abroad with our sofa, we left the UK with it in January 2010, we also took 2 of our 5 children with us. When we left South Africa in December 2014 we no longer had children living at home, we now had a cat and a dog and along with our sofa we moved to Dubai.
The sofa is now back in the UK along with the cat and the dog.
Welcome back to PoCoLo with Stephanie and I and a Happy Mother's Day to you all. It's not something that really gets celebrated here. I've sent cards and token gifts to both our Mothers. I don't expect anything from our children, although flowers arrived from child 4 and his wife yesterday and child 2 and his wife have told me they can't post my gift, it's too fragile.
When I'm travelling back and forth to Dubai I tend to get things ready in advance and make sure they're left behind to get posted out in time. I'm back to Dubai in April, I'll be socially distancing dropping Easter Gifts after March 29th and I'm leaving stamped cards with a friend to post on my behalf for birthdays in May and June until I return.
I've have some lovely friends who will either give me my birthday gift/card to take with me or will ensure it gets posted out in time. It'll be strange being back in the UK full time and not having to think so far ahead.
I've been reflecting on our expat journey over the past 10 years that is coming to an end soon. I've realised that my life hasn't been too different since covid started than to being an expat. Even though I've spent 9 months since the first lockdown started in the UK, I haven't been able to see much of the kids, our parents, our grandchild. We'd not been able to go to family events, attend funerals, weddings, christenings etc regardless of covid.
I've been isolated as an expat living abroad, lonely when Peter has been working and travelling and constantly adapting to circumstances and having plans changed last minute and short notice for things happening or being able to do things.
I know being an expat was through choice to some degree and whenever I've complained about the lifestyle I've been told 'oh well, at least the sun shines'
But that doesn't make things better, it doesn't fill the loneliness and the isolation.
Apart from being separated from Peter due to covid hitting whilst we were part way through a move, life hasn't been that different from my family and friends. I'm isolated, I'm lonely, I can't go anywhere, see anyone, we're all in the same boat for a while.
I'd love to visit our daughter living in a care home, but she's outside my area for travel, our grandchild is too far away also. Apart from 2 friends who live in the same town as me, I see no one else. They're bubbling with family, so all I can do is meet up for a walk. I can't wait for garden visits to resume.
The only main difference is we can use voice of internet and video calling instead of just messaging and expensive, short calls.
We're used to being alone, we're used to changing plans last minute, we're used to living life with high levels of stress and uncertainty, we're used to hanging around and waiting. We're not used to spending this long apart without knowing when the next trip will be made though.
When I've been told 'but you've been able to travel and see your husband' as an excuse to others driving 50+ miles to their parents, or visit their grandchild. I've had to remind them I haven't broken laws, I've PCR tested to leave and on arrival at the cost of £120 each test and have had 3 periods of 2 weeks isolation/quarantine to be able to travel. Yes I've had a friend in the house, but we both isolated for 2 weeks prior to the visit and for 10 days afterwards before I then had neighbours help me move the sofa in from another neighbours garage.
As an expat I've had to do hospital appointments, cope with chronic pain, deal with migraines and the after effects of surgery on my own. I've also had to do this during covid, little has changed for me physically.
But mentally, a lot has changed and will continue to change. I've been through a lot on my own, isolated from family and friends, dealing with the sudden death of my father, which I witnessed around the same time as I was seeing an oncologist for 2 years to rule out cancers. We've been out of sight, out of mind. We're still in the same situation now, just in the UK (well I am) for now. I feel for people separated from their families, I've experienced that as an expat and again during lockdown, I have empathy for others situation, I just don't have the capacity to deal with others emotions about it.
My response now is 'summer is on the way, the sun will soon be shining and it'll be ok' It's been OK for me.
Trying to find a spot at the beginning of a construction project from where to take regular photos from is getting harder and harder due to the number of projects on the go in Dubai. The first project I started to document was the building of the Dubai Water Canal however within a few months, my view point was now the middle of the 120m wide and 12 m deep canal. So I've started to look for 'above' photo vantage points.
Recently I've been documenting a build in the UK on the old Qinetiq site in Malvern. Without realising the order of the build, I returned the other week to discover the view of the build is blocked already.
Well I can provide an updated photo of the view from above, easy. However I'd made an error of judgement....the weather. If I'd just looked out the kitchen window before I set off, I would have realised I couldn't see the Hills from the ground, therefore it was unlikely I'd see anything from being up there.
Weight gain is easy, losing it is harder. We all know that.
I've spent this week counting calories to try to understand how I can best lose the 8kg in weight gain since I stopped smoking back in December.
According to my BMI I am over weight. I'm 5ft 7in and in mid February I was weighing just over 76kg. I've always weighed between 70-72kg for most of my life, but with some additional exercise and a house renovation during lockdown, I'd dropped to 68kg, where I felt my most comfortable, was happy with how I looked and how my clothes fitted.
I'm not happy now and if it wasn't for lockdown I'd be having to buy new clothes for going out in.
I googled a few things, starting with my medication 'can it cause weight gain?' well medication doesn't cause weight gain, it causes an increase in your appetite, the weight gain comes from what you put in your mouth, however, my medication started in November, Beta blockers, does cause weight gain *sighs* Iron infusions also cause weight gain. I've had 2 iron infusions since October.
But that is no excuse, I've been more sedate with my activities and had bursts of exercise when I worked at the golf then did nothing for a few weeks in between, followed by isolation on my return to the UK and in general just eating the wrong foods, snacking and more snacking.
I decided to investigate the best way to lose some weight, then maintain it, without going on a special diet, just plain and simple lifestyle choices. After all for most of my life I've weighed between 70-72kg. I've snacked, had takeouts, have a sweet tooth, enjoy chocolate, sweets, cakes, ice cream alongside a normal diet and moderate exercise in the form of dog walking, gardening, housework etc.
So that's how I came to count calories. If I can cut 500 calories a day I can expect to loose 2kg a month. I've lost 1kg in the first 3 weeks, but that's been with increasing my exercise, longer walks and joining in daily with Joe Wicks exercises for seniors, yes I know, but I have coordination issues, I need a slower pace.
Here's what I've been eating, how I'm counting and why I'm so giving up cake and sweets and allowing myself the occasional bar of chocolate instead.
I'm already on a wheat free diet due to my migraines and a bleed in the small intestine and I don't have citrus drinks/fruit due to dental and bone implants.
