Appreciating the small things

The virus is coming closer to home for me, now, with one friend having to be tested after developing
a mild cough and another starting work in the Dragon's Heart Hospital in the Principality Stadium. My
next door neighbours are still living in blissful ignorance with their daughters visiting daily, often
bringing their grandchildren. I'm just ignoring it as it doesn't affect us massively but it just emphasises
the disparity in people's understanding/acceptance of the whole situation.

It was a big week in the Pinney household this week as Dylan was allowed out of his room after doing
7 days of self-isolation as a precaution. We think his hay fever was causing similar symptoms, and
brought on some asthma, but you can never be sure. He was given an inhaler and steroid tablets and
is now much better. Lee, Matt and I, on the other hand, are staying in for the full 14 days just in case it
was anything more sinister, although none of us is showing any symptoms.

As a result of self-isolation I haven’t been able to go running and I’m missing getting out on a regular
basis. I didn’t do any at home exercise last week as I was a bit deflated at having to stay in. All these
extreme people on various groups saying that we shouldn’t be allowed to go ANYWHERE don’t realise
how important being outside is for some people’s mental health. They seem to think that we’ve only
started running because gyms have closed, and, whilst this will be true for some people, you’ll probably
find that most people were runners before the lockdown started! I’ve since done a couple of Joe Wicks
workouts, which brought home just how unfit I am! This is why I laugh when people say to me "you
must be so fit with all that running". Let's debunk that myth right now, shall we? The fit runners are the
fast ones, which I'm not. It also only helps if you don't eat cake afterwards, which I do!

Self-isolation also meant that Dylan had to do the weekly shop this week. For a complete control freak
like me this was a nightmare and it brought back memories of Christmas, when I let Matt and his
girlfriend decorate our tree. To be fair they did a good job, and I only moved a couple of things around...
The shopping went well though, and I’ll definitely send Dyl again, if I break a leg or something! I was
quite jealous of him getting to go out, if I’m honest (I usually hate food shopping with a passion) and he
fairly skipped out of the house too, so I think he was itching to go out. 

Work has been super busy these last few weeks as we’ve developed a page on our website full of
information and advice to support the social care sector at this time. All of the posts must be bilingual
so my team has been doing the majority of the translation, with me proof-reading everything before it
goes back for publication. 

Social Care Wales has also launched an ID card for social care workers so that they can hopefully
access some of the same benefits as NHS workers in terms of having dedicated shopping hours, etc.
It went out to over 70,000 people last week and I think they’ve all sent us an e-mail of some sort since
Wednesday as our inbox exploded! So it’s been all hands on deck in our team to try and get through
the queries and record requests for hard copies of the cards. The good news is that some of the major
supermarkets - Iceland, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda - have all formally agreed to recognise the card in
their stores. This is great news for care workers. 

In home office (as in the office at home, not the actual Home Office) news, Lee and I tested Google
Duo as a possible means for connecting with other people. It’s like a Google version of Skype. The
best bit about it is that you can add your own effects (like Snapchat filters) and make them into little
videos. The screenshot below is what Lee sent me. I wasn’t expecting it and it made me properly laugh
for about 10 minutes, to the point where Matt came to see what the fuss was about. Lee also sent the
video to my parents and it broke my dad. 

I’ve made a start on one of the embroidery designs that I ordered. It’s a bit wonky in places as i haven’t
done any embroidery in years, but I’m hoping to see an improvement in my stitches as the design
progresses. I absolutely couldn’t get the hang of one stitch but thankfully we live in an age of technology
so I just watched a YouTube tutorial and I’m shit hot now. I do a little bit every evening, after I finish work,
whilst listening to podcasts.  

Despite having to self-isolate, we’re lucky that we have a nice garden. So, despite not being able to get out and run, walk or cycle, I’ve been able to potter around and do some planting or just sit in the sunshine. The evening, at about 8pm, is one of my favourite times of the.  I sit out on the patio, on my own, with a cup of tea and just listen. There’s a last flurry of singing from the birds as dusk falls and it’s a moment of peace in an otherwise crazy world. I've always done it, even when I lived on my own, and it helps me to let go of things that have happened during the day and to relax a bit before bed. 

We’ve also been lucky in the last couple of months as there’s been a lot going on in the night sky. The
International Space Station was visible at night for about a week in March, and this last week there’s
been a meteor shower and I’ve been watching Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellites passing over.  I realise that
makes me sound a bit nerdy, but I'm a closet nerd about lots of things. 

Thanks for the podcast suggestions last time. I’ve found a running one and am listening to it as I’m
writing. It’s called RunPod and it’s with Jenni Falconer - Scottish bird, blonde, can’t remember what she
got famous for initially. Look, her:

Fearne Cotton’s podcast, called Happy Place, is good too; her last one was with Kelly Jones from the
Stereophonics. He’s such a Valleys boy, dropping f-bombs like commas (yes, I’m a fine one to talk,
I know), but it was a really good listen. 

I'm really looking forward to getting out of the house on the weekend, stay safe, stay home and wash
your hands!

See you next time xx