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Cat Life - Lockdown Week 2

Updated: Apr 11, 2020

Survival, home-schooling, and life in the slightly surreal Corona World.


Namaste, hello to you! Welcome to another day. Ahh week two; the seamless transition into our new family routine into life-as-we-now-know-it continues. Each morning we awake bright eyed and bushy tailed eager to greet the day, at the now slightly earlier time.


After a calm quiet breakfast, we have managed to start family yoga. Thirty minutes of gentle stretching to help set us up for the day. Post Walkies for the family, I then effortlessly accomplish toddler juggling and homeschooling. My Eldest is eager to embrace and learn from his lessons and my Littlest, eager to play and learn in her set up activity.

“ What is that Mummy?” she questions in surprise, pointing and looking out of the window.

“What that?” I respond, raising my gaze “oh, that darling, that’s just a herd of pigs flying,” 😂


The reality has been a little different! To be honest I felt like we were dragging ourselves into Week Two with the clock change. It’s never usually an issue but it took several days to adjust for us, more so for the Childers. I’m not sure a clock change was necessary, even the weather seems to have been in agreement. Brr it has been chilly this week. Honestly, the poor Babbits; last week they were sun bathing and going into moult. This week I wondered whether I better start knitting them some coats! Alas, I am only a novice knitter and can make squares and rectangles, so they could only have a scarf, which they’d probably shred and eat 🤨 We have all missed the garden time this week, so we are all looking forward to the warmer weather returning and more sunshine - hooray.


Not to be a rain on a sunny day (still very British getting in all this weather stuff!), but I have felt a bit weird this week. Part of me is waiting. I am sat on the sand watching the sea ebb and flow, in and out, small, soft waves; the sound of the seagulls and the touch of the wind as it gently ruffles my hair. Way out there, just by the horizon is an island called London. We see and hear a lot about this Island. And as I am sat, knees drawn up to chest, toes buried in the sand, I am watching the horizon. We know a wave is coming. So far, the softer waves have gently caressed my feet, but I am straining out and looking to sea. This wave will come, the question is will it be more of a tidal wave or gentle ripples if social distancing and lockdown have come in time? I don’t know. No one knows. And a bit of my brain remains stuck on the sand waiting.


I am stricter now with news time. But I also have noticed a little increase in reports about recovery, those rainbows in the storm. As advised by my lovely Corona texts I have now managed to start prepping a hospital bag. I couldn’t do it last week, as I wasn’t sure I had much chance of coming home with the bag, if I needed it. But hope is for me slowly increasing, just like this cold weather is set to change, so to will Corona World eventually ebb into a new one. Let’s keep holding onto hope and helping each other.

I actually found this week harder than last, despite having settled into more of a routine. I struggled with the fact that a close friend is going through a tough time and I can only message to support. How I longed to be there with tissues and be able to hug and hold her. Because sometimes, you don’t need to say much, just sit beside someone and share the tears, and that is a lot more challenging when you are reduced to non-contact methods of support. I think that is one of the most difficult parts of this Corona World. I have to say I am slightly wondering if they couldn’t have named it something else. Disney’s Tangled is never going to be quite the same to watch again and I do so love that film. Ooo I have my choice for Saturday Family Movie night sorted though 🙂


You may or may not have seen one of our kitties, affectionately known as Cokey, since the Littlest Childer could not say Smokey initially. He is a loveable, playful teddy bear, though has a certain amount of stuffing in the brains department. He sees no need to move for cars. If he is out, it is not unusual for me to actually have to stop my car in the road, move him off the drive and then drive in, as he sees no reasons to move whatsoever. I am reminded of that Facebook graphic, “cats used to be worshiped as gods, they have never forgotten this.” He also has been observed falling over backwards, off a step, when playing swat the fly. Bless him! What he lacks in the cerebral department he makes up for with heart. 💗



Anyhow, after his recent fur cut (because he is too lazy to groom himself and detests being brushed, which is rubbish since he is a long-haired cat 🤭) we noticed his health had improved from being indoors. Most likely because he is not able to drink dirty water that accumulated on the sand pit lid. He was originally a house cat, but the Childers and admittedly the adults too, in warmer weather tend to leave the doors open. So he exercised his kitty right to roam and enjoyed frolicking in the fresh air and chasing random flies and leaves. So, after his recent confinement, he managed to catch some door-open opportunities last week. Oh the taste of freedom! He was observed this week repeatedly ramming his head against the cat flap for Holly (our black kitty with the long mane like ruff). Like I said, not too blessed in the brain department; the flap is microchipped only to let Holly out but not Cokey. In the past he has taken run ups to throw himself head first into the flap to open it (brain credit for that idea). So there he was, bash, crash , bash, again and again at the cat flap. I let him out the front door, since he was persistent enough, to make me worry he might end up with brain trauma! I have felt a bit like him this week, more confined. I miss the family walks and it has been too cold to be in the garden.


Life has, in many ways, continued in the groove set last week. A little more challenging since my husband has started his return to work. Huzzah for him after nine weeks of recovery, boo for me. I was pretty epic on Monday, juggling English school work and managing to use all the Littlest’s Bing toys to bring a favourite book to life. I never thought I would be delighted for my child to start watching Paw Patrol (the mayor has a strange relationship with a pet chicken). But it seems like a beautiful thing when you consider a Bing episode is seven minutes long and a Paw Patrol one is thirty. Amazing. I have actually been able to get some house cleaning done 😃 I do so love Bing, but seven minutes is a very short break for Mummy and I honestly have lost count how many zillions of times I have seen or heard each episode! Finally some new T.V for Mummy 🤦🏽‍♀️


This week the Littlest has followed her interest and learnt to use scissors. This now means she can expertly take any size piece of paper and snip it into the tiniest fragments, ones so small that you really need to hoover them up. I am wondering whether this would be a good time to start sorting through our filing cabinet and letting the mini-shredder unleash her powers. This could be very useful 😆. She is also learning to scoot (indoors of course) - some house rules have had to be relaxed for now. This might mean her part of the daily Walkies is a little quicker. Though she has long loved to walk since she found her feet. I believe their slowest walk was when Holly joined them and went all the way around the block with them. She has a habit of trying to do a school runs with us in the past.


I have maintained meditating, which is very useful, especially for those more challenging times with school work. There has been some more reluctance of the part of the Eldest this week, but also some super thinking when the brain switches on. Despite best efforts I cannot make school work as exciting as Minecraft of Fortnite. I have especially enjoyed science this week. My degree was Medical Genetics and despite a more varied career in mental health and working with younger kids since, I still find DNA very exciting 🤪 We have not quite got to covering that (it is in my plan tee hee) but it was fun to start training a Childer in the ways of scientific thinking. Ah, just taking a minute to breathe in happiness right now!


Joe Wicks, has continued to reduce my quads to jelly every other day. Perhaps, I should exchange my HIIT sessions for the P.E ones? Though I am hearing they are tough too and it seems he is doing it with a broken arm? Well done Joe. Go you!


Friday is still a great day of the week, because it is English Comprehension day (hurray hurray 👏🏽 thank you School), so I have more time away from the school work. I am continuing to work on my Throne Room. I mosaic-ed (why is that not a proper word?) an old mirror we had in the loft and am excited to start etching onto the glass today.


So the sun is out now and the family are stirring. I have enjoyed peace and tranquility since 5am. Onwards with the day, tally ho and all that jazz. But before I do, one last word (I hear the groans from my husband, we ladies, have always got to have one) - how beautiful in some ways and touching was it to stand and hear the clapping on Thursday. I am so very grateful for all those working in the healthcare profession right now, on the front line, but also to those who help with logistics, food supplies and deliveries, from those putting together the Nightingale hospitals and those bringing shopping. Stay safe. Stay sane. Take care everyone.




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