The sun does shine! 🌞

Over the last few weeks we have struggled through lockdown with the weather not doing us any favours! We’ve had snow, ice, sleet, frozen rain, rain and more rain! Until today!

This morning I awoke to the sound of first one and then the second grandfather clock belting out eighteen chimes! Nine each! It took a while for me to work out the day. It was Monday so I should have set my alarm! I like to differentiate between weekdays and weekends. I’m careful with my diet over weekdays and allow myself wine with my meals over weekends. And I have a semblance of a routine during the week. I need some discipline to help me through our third lockdown!

My husband and I have started doing exercises in the mornings, just for half an hour, before lunch. This has been incorporated into my weekday routine (I know, I’m sad)! But today was going to be different! We are the proud owners of a new ‘bosu ball’ and a ‘strength ball’! I have become even sadder to get excited about different exercises! Alas, this strange insular existence is having weird side effects!

Forgetting to set my alarm I was later than usual. I did have a slight panic. Old habits die hard. I had to remind myself that I have stopped rushing! This is a very minor challenge because there is nowhere to rush to and time just chugs along predictably. So, when I opened the curtains, what a marvellous surprise! I saw bright sunlight! It was bitterly cold but the sky was blue! The birds were singing and I felt my spirits slowly beginning to lift despite being a Monday! I really don’t know why I have never liked Mondays!

Even the news is better. Lockdown appears to have lowered the infection rates for the second consecutive week and the deaths, always so desperately sad, are also very slowly coming down!

Opening the blinds I peered through window. I could see two nut hatches hungrily pecking at the sunflower seeds on the bird feeder. A large wood pigeon was siphoning up scraps and a squirrel rushed frantically around the pigeon trying to bury his spoils in the lawn. Four long tailed tits joined the nut hatches who suddenly decided that the feeder had become overcrowded so flew off. Maybe they were social distancing!

The exercise session this morning was different. Not only was it slow and disjointed, but brought home to both of us our lack of balance and general fitness. Almost a year of just walking with occasional bouts of sit-ups, press-ups and the odd plank obviously hasn’t been enough! Maybe that’s also why the bathroom scales are no longer my friend!

But, all is not lost! A few hours have passed. The sun is still shining and we had a good laugh as we drunkenly fell off the ‘bosu ball’ and the ‘strength ball’ in equal measures! At least we were both useless! It wasn’t only me! I can just see my husband practicing quietly so that he can show me how it’s done! Highly competitive whereas I just want to be able to do the basics and not break any limbs!

So, tomorrow we’ll try again. At least we are trying! Anything is better than nothing! Mondays also don’t last forever! They morph into Tuesdays and then Wednesdays ……. Soon it will be Friday and I can sit in front of the fire with a glass of red and look forward to the weekend! 👠