New type of Sunday activity

We had a few things going on today - Tryfan and I worked on a concrete project (combined toothbrush and soap holder) and Rhiannon was at the stables for a lot of the day.

Then tonight we started an activity with Rhodri's side of the family: a weekly pub quiz. Rhodri did the questions this week and we all connected on Whats App with Nain & Taid in Llandudno, Sioned and her housemate Ffion in Cardiff, and Nia, Cris, Gabs and Val in Hengoed near Caerffilli. It was really fun.

Wholesome work

This weekend we all worked out in the back garden, starting with Tryfan needing to restack the wood that had fallen down in the new woodshed.

Then we started working on what will become the site of the vegetable garden: the former spot of the original shed that fell apart a few years back and has been a grossly neglected patch of the back garden. First task is to clear the grass that has grown over the path tiles.

 Another thing we did was plant some seeds using egg cartons and toilet roll tubes, along with some other gems from the recycling bin. It is always satisfying to rescue things from the bin! Let's hope these babies grow into big strong vegetable plants.

New normal, old photos

So now we are all home together, working alongside each other during the day and trying not to annoy each other too much. It's been going mostly fine. Tonight we got out a box of old photographs and looked through those to pass the time.

 It was really fun to tell stories and talk about old friends and memories from before the kids were born.  We also found this family photo which would have been taken around 1989-1991.

There are a lot of ideas out there in how to use this lockdown time. For now we are all pretty busy with our own school/ work work, but we are very appreciative of the fact we have been getting along pretty well so far.

Mothering Sunday

Although we are now in lockdown, the family did manage to arrange a special day today for Mothering Sunday. First they brought me cards (really lame, dodgy homemade cards with no color or anything! This was well noted although the content was good..) with coffee and toast in bed. Then made a nice leisurely breakfast and in the late morning we all set out on a bicycle adventure.

It was a gorgeous day even if a bit "fresh". Rhods had packed a really nice picnic with loads of treats like Pringles, fancy cheese, tea, and cake. We had a great day out exploring round the back of Heaven Farm and then cutting up past the fisheries to Tanyard Lane and home. 

The world has changed

This week the world changed.
Starting with Sunday Mar 15th, when I read my work email to find that 2 of our 4 Learning Centers were shutting down until the end of June. This is a drastic action and I'm sure it wasn't taken lightly, since it then meant we needed to start evacuating people and repatriating Learners to go back to their country of origin. All that stuff, and it was crazy.

Then when I went to work on Mon March 16th, it started out semi-normal but then realised that it would be the last day in the office because everyone was told to go work from home. My intern Antoni needed to actually fly back to Norway immediately, so it was all quite frantic as he hadn't even considered this possibility. So he needed to quickly go back to his flat, pack a bag of essentials, and hop on whatever flight he could get to Oslo before the borders closed. (He managed to make it safely to his parents house by Mon evening, so that's good.)

As for school, Tryfan's year was told to stay home starting today, and Rhiannon's year will stay on at school through Friday. Everyone is scrambling to keep up with changes and we have all been tuning into the daily radio updates with Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the evening. Such a strange time.

Corona craziness

Right now is such a crazy time in the world.
On the one hand, it is scary and worrying because there are so many unknowns and the impact to our sense of normal is about to be disrupted. But then at the same time, it is such a great opportunity on many levels. School will soon be cancelled and the kids will have a 4 week Easter break rather than 2 weeks. Everyone is hunkering down in their own homes with just their families, and what a massive restful time this will be. No obligations outside the house, no social events or football games, no parties or gatherings. It makes me really sad and also relieved at the same time.

My mind is whirring with possibilities about what could be next. How can this moment be scooped up and used for greater good, for improving life around us? What really matters now? I'm going into work tomorrow, but it will probably be the last day for awhile.

Spontaneous Friday

Tonight Emma and the kids came over just to say hi, just a bit spontaneously. Rhodri was going out with friends, so there was no conflict. Just a Friday night after what felt like SUCH a long week. This Coronavirus thing is getting really crazy. Who knows what will happen next?!

 We played this really funny game where someone asks a question about the 2 people sitting back to back, like "Who will be the first one to get married?", or "Who is most likely to get arrested?". The 2 people sitting back to back each have 1 shoe of a pair representing the 2 people, and they each simultaneously raise a shoe in response to the question.

It was a really fun night and we all laughed till our sides hurt.

DofE practice walk

Today Rhiannon went on an all day hike with her DofE team. They had to carry packs that weighed between 15-20 kgs and were packed with the critical items they would need when they do a real expedition (minus the tent and sleeping bag). Here she is weighing in.

 I dropped her off this morning at 9am and got a call around 4:30 pm to say that she was 30 min from the pick up spot. She was pretty tired but happy (although she doesn't look it in this 'moody teenager' photo!). In fact, she even said she had a fun day.

This makes me happy. I have always been worried that we overdid the hiking/ outdoors adventure thing when the kids were younger. 

Singalong #3

Tonight we had our 3rd Singalong session, and we had it at the Social Club down the road in Danehill rather than at our house. I had been a bit nervous about going out in public to singalong, but actually it turned out to be really fun, and much better than we had expected. There were about 20 of us there plus a handful of club regulars. It was a 'Musicals and Movie Songs' themed night and there were some real corkers. Super fun. I look forward to holding all our future sessions here as well. The Club staff were so welcoming, and Paul did an amazing job with the sound system, the lights and even the disco effects. No photos though... sorry... you'll just have to imagine the scene!