Half year plans
07 July 2020
Sadie Windmill
“If something is really bad in the future, instead of using adjectives like awful or dreadful, shall we just say it was 2020ish”. This was on social media last week. The same day I read an article encouraging us to forget the plans we started with in the New Year that weren’t able to happen due to Covid. Instead, the article encouraged it’s readers to look upon July Ist as the start of a new half year, and to remake plans based on this current situation.
With that in mind Jules and I decided to look at our plans for the next six months. We still hope to get back to the boat sometime soon if we can do it safely. We will bring her back to the UK. The logistics are massive. We will move the boat from Holland to France to cross the channel. However, the van will still be in Holland. We need to collect the van (via hire car as we need to avoid public transport) to get the dogs back to the UK on the tunnel. I would take the tunnel with the dogs and Jules would sail the boat back on his own. Dogs are not allowed to be brought back into England in your own boat. This would not be a problem usually, but if there were to be a sudden lockdown again, it would be impossible to get back in 24 hours. Then we can sort the boat out over the winter, ready for a big adventure starting next year. We are looking into crossing via the channel tunnel, so we don’t have to get out of the van, and will keep abreast of the regulations regarding quarantine to get from France to the Netherlands. They currently have such few cases of Covid in Holland, that shielding on the boat feels a safer option than here, where all the camping and caravan sites have reopened, and are full to bursting. According to our Postman who uses the toilet facilities at the camp site here, they are not currently Covid safe and are he will be using the bushes from now on!!! As my friend Sare keeps telling me, “ all things are possible” and we will find a way to get to the boat and shield safely.
With our new found enthusiasm for the year I have set myself the challenge floating around on social media of running the distance of the London Marathon throughout July. I had stopped jogging at the start of lockdown, and Patch is far more enthusiastic than I am about our morning run. Whilst I can be seen bending over with the stitch, red faced and puffing heavily, he wonders why we have only gone round the block once. We leave in a spritely manner by the front door, and I crawl in via the back door, where the neighbours won’t see me! I have already done 8.3 Km in 3 days so am quietly confident I will meet my target.
We decided last week that whilst I would still shield, we would try to get out to a few different places and do some different things. So, we have been out cycling and last week cycled to the farm to see Mom and Farmer Frank. They have a huge garden, so we all sat at least 5 metres apart and enjoyed my Mom’s wonderful baking and elderflower gin and tonic, and when Ruthy arrived we sent her for fish and chips. It was my first takeout food since lockdown, and whilst I was very nervous about doing it, they were delicious. Apart from a few batter-bits (or scraps as they are called up here), the farm cats went away empty handed. We have taken advantage of the early morning and late evening low tides, and have walked for miles along beaches deserted apart from the odd dog walker. We take a flask for the walk, and cook bacon baps in the van over-looking the beach on our return. It might not be helping us loose weight, but they are extremely tasty. We have walked along river banks at a quaint little village a few miles away from where we live. The circular walk is only safe in summer, when you can ford the river. We got across it safely, but Tinker managed to lose her footing and went for a swim. Patch is currently on remand with a question mark hanging over ‘the op’. It is as if he knows the vet has been called, his recall is now really good, but that might be down to the sneaky scratchings I save for him.
Things have really looked up this week with banks bitter arriving from Stan next door and a whole catering pack of scratchings arriving from our friend Mark. Another friend rightly pointed out, that all we now need is a pickled egg, and we could imagine ourselves back in The Blue Ball Pub in Quarry Bank. We were reminiscing with Mark about darts night in various Midlands pubs, where the prize would be a roasting joint. We have also had fresh lobster arrive each Saturday and have had lobster and Prosecco evenings watching a folk concert. This week we watched Jackie Oates and John Spiers singing in his shed, and last week was Paul Sartin performing in his local field. Ian and Carol from down the road have an allotment, and yesterday I made some beet top dal, and the beetroot have been slowly roasted and I am going to try some beetroot scones today with goats cheese and a smattering of walnuts! Later in the week we are getting chard and spinach. They are determined to keep my antioxidant levels high. It is a good job that toilet paper is no longer on short supply!!!
My Pilates teacher has dropped off bands and balls, so several times a week I can be seen in some very strange positions than amuse the postman. I need to keep as supple as possible as in lockdown we have not wanted to touch the dog poo bins, so I have to get my leg up high enough to open the bin with my foot, whilst Jules throws the bag in. We have had a few embarrassing moments when I have toppled over or worst still, fallen backwards nearly chopping Jules fingers off. Now I am told if I keep squatting with a ball between my legs and a band tied round my thighs, I should be as flexible as Bendy Wendy (the teacher).
We are also looking to exchange on our little cottage at the end of July and complete at the end of August, when the buyer gets her pension pot. It will be such a weight off our mind, to only have to worry about one house and to have a bit of money rather than racking up more debt on an empty house, that still has the bills to be paid. We could holiday let it for the next two months and rent our own house if we manage to get to the boat, but have made the decision not to and to take the financial hit. The holiday company have sent us a list of instructions on what needs to be done to make the place safe with a few hours turnaround. Most none essential things should be removed from the property like books, brochures, cushions and DVD’s and no homemade produce or baking can be left as welcome gifts. Whoever cleans should wear full protective equipment including masks, eyewear and aprons, and clothes should be changed and washed as soon as cleaning is over. They have changed arrival times to 7pm and departures to 9am to allow for extra cleaning. However, our cleaning company have said that isn’t enough, and they need a minimum 72 hour change over to protect staff and incoming guests. The property should be left vacant for 48 hours before they go in, and then they need a day to steam clean settees, chairs, bed mattresses and duvets. And everything inside and outside the home has to be washed and disinfected. So for us, the risk is too great, we would rather be poor and healthy and certainly wouldn’t want anyone else put at risk to support our bank balance.
So lots of plans have been made, but as with all of our plans, they are written in the sand and when the tide comes in it may wash them away, but we have enjoyed looking towards the future again.