Train
Your eye
It might look
Rocky right now,
And in the future
But, stretch your mind's eye, though
Try. Look a little further
Beyond bumps that present themselves
And you'll see, the path begins to ease
It might take some time, but it will happen
Ritu 2020
I have been very naughty, not posting on here properly for the last six weeks or so, thanks to this ‘thing’ that is happening around the world.
What thing?
Oh, come on, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
That coronavirus, or more specifically, COVID-19.
It sure is a surreal world we are living in right now.
Who would have thought that something regarded as a flu of sorts, would bring pretty much all of the world to a standstill? (I know it isn’t like the flu at all, but that is what most people thought at first.)
As reality slowly hits, people you know become affected, infected, and either recover, or the other option. I, personally know of at least two people who have passed away, including a member of our family.
I apologise… it is extremely silly. But I give you a video to demonstrate it too!
A
Design
In my mind
Something special
Something so stylish
With elegant notions
Yet, practical in its use
A fashionable solution
To curb the worries we have right now
The Star Wars Boxeer Short Mask!
Ritu 2020
The week was not only another week in this Lockdown, but the apparent Easter Holidays for the kids, so for the first four days of this week, I had to make sure they were sensible and quiet, for their daddy, who was still working from home. To be honest, it was much easier than I thought, because they were still in bed until past eleven am every morning, and if I hadn’t woken them, they probably would have spent all day in bed! Hubby Dearest would get up, and start working. I would make teas and coffees, and do a little exercise after reading for a bit, before finally waking the kids up. During my reading sessions, my faithful Sonu Singh would accompany me, and sometimes, take control of my Kindle too!
We received a lovely parcel as well, one day, from my sister in law at the other house, that had been ordered from Cadbury’s… a huge box filled with Easter treats for the children! How kind! And she told me that they had waited for over an hour and a half, in a virtual queue, on the Cadbury’s website, to get a chance to browse the online store, before being able to place the order… see, these queues are stretching to the World Wide Web too, not just Asda! (Don’t worry, I shall share a picture of all the lovely chocolate, a little while later!
I’ve been writing too, which has been amazing! Using both Lizzie Chantree’s writing hour in the mornings, via her Facebook group, and Sacha Black’s Rebel Author live writing sprints, I have managed to add around 5k more words to book two, and done some research, as well as write an article for cysters.org, a charity, who in their words, do this…
Cysters is a grassroots charity, dedicated to supporting individuals & improving the health, education & welfare of those with reproductive & mental health issues. We aim to educate the public about reproductive health & education so that they can make informed choices around their treatment options & challenge the cultural misogyny behind reproductive health.
Cysters.org
Then, after a particularly fun, productive evening writing session, labelled Poison and Prose (you guessed it, Sacha invited us to bring along our poison of choice; be it a drink, or a naughty snack!) I ended up downloading Scrivener. If you don’t know what Scrivener is, it is a software to help you with not only the writing of your projects, but enabling you to compile all your research for that project, into one place too. It is so much more than that too, but I am still learning… Still, one great feature is the wordcounter which can be a real help to reach your goals.
We’ve also spent plenty of time in the garden, as we were blessed with beautiful weather last week. Along with our daily walks in the gurdwara sports ground. Though, I have to mention that I was a tad vigilante this week. In the grounds we have one of those outdoor gyms. It has been cordonned off, as have all areas like this, because of the risk of contamination. Earlier in the week, as I was walking around, a mother shooed her child into it. He was wearing goalie gloves, but swinging on the bars. As I walked past, I asked him to get off and leave the area as it was closed. He looked at me, ran to his mother and burst into tears! I hastily explained to the mother, who was of Eastern European descent, that the place was closed for health reasons. She mentioned that other people were using it the day before, but understood, and explained to her child. The next day, she was there again, but this time there was a rather muscly man who had gone in to do his ‘training’. I wondered whether I should say anything, then someone behind me, a turbanned man, said something a little loudly, to his own friend, about people taking the mick, and getting the place closed down. In Punjabi, I asked him if he would back me up, if I went and asked the man to go. So I shouted over to the guy. Muscle head ignored me at first, but I carried on (I can be quite persistant when I want) and in the end, he left. The day after, I was on my walk, and there were two more. Really? And this time they were Indian, Sikh, so they should have. been much more respectful, knowing the Gurdwara stance on this issue. As I geared up to say something (A bit nervously,) someone else, from the actual sports club did! Thank goodness. On Sunday, we went as a family, and guess what. There were more people in there. I can’t understand why they don’t understand that if they don’t follow the rules, this one luxury we have of being able to go out once daily, for exercise, will be taken from us too. I made my own comments as I walked past, but these guys weren’t listening. They told another person to s*d off when asked to move. So, I wasn’t successful there, but my blood simmered…
I’ve cooked plenty, from Shahi Paneer, to chicken soup, to lasagne, and pastry puffs… I can feel weight creeping up, but at least I am being active too! That Fifteen Minute Mile workout has been used many times!
Then we get to Easter. The family rose late, as usual, and were extremely happy with their collection of eggs!
So… that has been pretty much this week, in a nutshell. This week, school will reopen again, and we will need to be present, on a rota basis, so I’ll find out soon, which days I am meant to be in.
Oh, and it’s Vaisakhi today… It will be strange this year, not being able to go to the Gurdwara to pay our respects, as it would have been strange for all the Christians yesterday, not to attend church. And the big parade will obviously not happen, though they are live streaming the prayers that will still continue.
How has your week been? Did you have a good, calm Easter?
