20th March - A night of worship and prayer

After a late night of sorting house docs, I decided to skip exercise for the morning. Got up about 9. Washed and dressed in stripy top, dungaree dress and leggings. Had breakfast with Mum as usual. 

Worked. IT had fixed email issues. 

Sent house docs to Mark. Had to re-send a couple due to format issues. We've plans to meet with him after we're out of lockdown. 

Mim, Martha and Mum did Body Coach together, which I found quite entertaining. I filmed a hyperlapse of their legs waving in the air and put it on Instagram. Everyone agreed it did look pretty hilarious. 

For lunch, we had toasties. 

All the females went for a walk to the park. I can't remember why Dad didn't come with us - busy in the garden?

Poor Mum got a phone call from Pam near the start of the walk and had to spend a good portion of it on the phone to her. Bless her, that woman can really talk. 

Carried on with work when we got home. I played Friends and The Good Place as I worked. I'm going to have watched so much TV by the end of all this. 

When I finished work, I helped Martha set up her laptop so she could play The Sims. Glad I'm not the only one who finds it fun - and addictive!

I sorted some stuff in my bedroom. I've started tidying some of the books on my shelves into boxes, hoping to make it a little tidier. Now is the pefect time to do some sorting. 

Mim made dinner - a delicious Catsu curry. I gotta make sure I contribute to the cooking effort!

After dinner, we watched the Rend Collective Live on Instagram. They lead worship so well, so passionately. If I remember correctly, I think it stopped suddenly for some reason?

We prayed for the coronavirus situation. 

After the holiness of worship and prayer...us girls proceeded to make some G & Ts. Don't judge us. 

Mim and Martha played card games sitting on the floor of the lounge. I wrote my diary. In it, I finished with these words 'Life is strange at the moment. But good. And that's God's grace.'

Even over two months later and still in lockdown, those words hold true.

March 19th - Colourful quarantine trousers and big news

I slept quite restlessly, which is apparently normal due to the pandemic. But I suspect the whole drama about the house and the strangeness of working from home was also pressing on me. 

I got up about 8 to exercise (the butt exercise - sitting on it a lot requires a workout). 
Got a little distracted watching Frodo leave for the Gray Havens on Youtube. (Blame watching Return of the King last night.) Never fails to get me in the feels that scene. It's a metaphor for death, no doubt. And again, it makes me think of Dan. As if he were the one boarding the ship and we were left standing on the shore. We will follow one day. 
I also noticed something subtle - that as Frodo hugs each hobbit, a slight change comes over their expressions as if they find some comfort and peace in the moment, no matter how sad. I think that might be in the book. Will have to re-read them!

I sat and had breakfast with Mum again. We talked about how we were going to do food shops as we're technically supposed to isolate and not go shopping. Found a loophole in the fact that Mim was coming back from her night shift and wanted to pop to the shops before she 'officially' began to isolate. Mum would pick her up, give her a list and wait outside while Mim shopped. Poor Mim. But she did it! She was shattered after. 

I washed and dressed in a black top, my beige patterned headband and some new floaty colourful black trousers I brought from Pep & Co before we started working from home. It may be cheap of me to shop there, but I've got some good bargains as a result. 

Work - still got Sergio, Oliver and, occasionally, Kirsty, messaging me with various questions. 

Our homegroup WhatsApp was going a bit mad with prayer requests. I may have had to mute it for a few hours. 

If work is quiet, I tend to other things at the same time - listen to music, practise on Duolingo etc. I think I also started a free trial of Scribd - a digital reading/audiobook app. I'm currently listening to Kingdom of Copper. It's SO good!

At lunch, Martha and I walked around the block. It was fairly short, according to Marv's wishes. She covered her mouth with her scarf if we saw anyone. Her cough's so bad I think she'd freak out anyone who heard her. 

We had homemade soup and bread rolls for lunch. 

I got my parcel from Owlcrate - the Queen of Nothing tapestry and tray and the Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix mug. All lovely products. Very nice getting stuff in the post.

There was some further discussion on the houses because Nathan sent a link to another property. Mum thought it looked nice, which threw Mim into another stew because she needs everyone to like Westerleigh Road. She, Marv & I all agreed we're sticking with it. No point backing out at this point!

I feel like we've got some rocky roads ahead. Be with us in this next stage Lord. 

Speaking of rocky roads - Jonah MC is on one. Mim came to tell me that Mum heard from Caroline that Fiona has left Jonah. Couldn't believe it. He alienated himself from his family because of her and now he's alone in Ireland with no wife, no dog and no job (yeah, he lost his job too.) Poor guy. That's very rough. To think when I first met her I liked her! And thought she'd be good for him! (On reflection, I think it's because we'd seen so many girls swoon over him, that it seemed good that she wasn't a pushover. Trouble is, he became the pushover.)
But! As usual, God is already using this for His good. He's had an encounter with God - a real conversion experience - and is totally different. His church are supporting him too. I pray God continues to work in his life during this hard time. 

Chatted with Mum and the girls after work and scanned some stuff for the house. 

I found out I have an interview with Mullers, which will take place though Zoom, BUT they may be making it part time. They still want me to interview though. 
I haven't done an online interview since the Skype call with Banner. Should be interesting...

Risotto for dinner. 

Mum, Dad and I had the last Vital Life chat through Zoom. Second time we'd used it, and it's an interesting experience. We didn't do a load of chat on the Mike Reeves talk - spent more time seeing how everyone is doing in lockdown. Nathan isn't amazing at prompting discussion. Mim and Martha's Zoom went on a lot longer - but's that's Pete B for you.

Hannah and Est both rang at various points today. 

After Vital Life, we sat and made lists of activities to do during lockdown. It's as Joel described it - a bit like being in the Lake District during wet weather. Not being able to go anywhere. 
We made many plans - walks, games, films and activities. We shall get through it eventually. Until then - these are unique times. I hope we make the most of them.