My kids are currently isolating and that comes to end on Sunday, technically only Madam had to do it but it was easier to keep Sir in as well. I’ve promised them a trip to the local garden center to have a look at the Christmas display before they go back to school on Thursday – all within the rules of course.
Lockdown ends on Wednesday with our area (along with almost everywhere else) going into Tier Three, though it seems mostly hospitality will be hit. I’ve done some Christmas shopping online and from the supermarket. I have no desire to go anywhere near a shop I don’t have to come December.
Term will be ending in three weeks – I cannot wait.
It’s FRIDAY! the end of the week. Thank crunchie!
November comes to an end on Monday, so the following weekend we will put up our Christmas decorations. Hubby is taking some holiday, we will make it a festive few days.
Of course in the meantime there will be advent calendars and letters from Santa to open. I might write the family Christmas cards too.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I’ll end this post with a photo of a decoration I put together a few weeks ago 😉
Home school is back in session after a rather chaotic week that saw both kids then the whole school being sent home until 26th November.
Sir’s class was closed at home time on Monday due to staffing issues, he was meant to be home for the rest of this week.
On Wednesday Madam arrived home at quarter to ten in the morning – I thought she was the Hermes guy – saying her year group had been sent home after a staff member tested positive. There followed many phone calls and many messages until the end of the school day when they decided that it would be better to shut the school for a week and give it a deep clean. Other years have staffing issues too.
Both kids have settled straight back into it, we’ve done life skills, English, Maths, PE – that was a laugh.., Environmental Studies and Art.
Now everything has calmed down I’m finding it a lot less daunting than last time. I think because we’ve done it before and the school have now had time to put proper processes in place it works a lot better.
As well as lessons the kids have been building stuff with Lego and helping me with housework, they’ve not been stuck to their screens.
Lockdown has made a mess of everyone’s holiday plans this year. Our two visits to Sherwood Forest (one in April and the other in June) both cancelled and rebooked. I thought by moving one of them to October half term we’d stand a chance of having a break this year. More lockdown chaos meant we spent the week before wondering if this one would be cancelled too. It wasn’t, so we packed the car up and off we went.
To limit the number of people on site Centerparcs asked guests to arrive after 2pm with the villas being available from 4pm. We got there at 2.30pm expecting a long queue. There wasn’t one. We drove straight up to the arrivals lodge, checked in, got our fancy wristbands and headed to the car park. We found a space in our preferred spot with ease, this is not a normal occurrence. As we walked to the village in search of coffee, the normally teaming pathways were deserted. The phrase “I can’t believe it’s so quiet” became our mantra!
The villa was spotless, it even smelt clean. A few things had been removed but all the utensils, towels etc were still there. The TV remotes were packed in little plastic bags, presumably to indicate they’d been cleaned too.
Swimming pool access had been restricted to two, two hour slots to be booked prior to arrival, again in order to control numbers and be fair to everyone. You were allocated a changing room at the start of your session, which was a very refreshing change from the normal scramble. During the first lockdown Centerparcs had obviously taken the opportunity to get the changing rooms updated and expanded, with the lockers now operated by your wristband. I love this idea, the new changing area had more space, was spotlessly clean and had an army of staff to keep it that way. It was lovely not to have a crowded pool area, though whilst I think they may keep the pool slots for a while yet, it would be nice if the time was extended as two hours is a little short. As the park was so quiet they offered us the chance to book an additional pool slot whilst we were there. We went three times in all.
We ate out a few times during our stay, Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge. There was no problem with booking a table. We even went to the Leisure Bowl for a drink a couple of times. Loved the drinks ordering app – bit of a faff to download but aren’t they all- table service in the bar is something they should definitely keep.
They were in the process of getting everything ready for their Winter Wonderland breaks, so Christmas lights adorned the trees, as well as several other light displays. The singing reindeer arrived whilst we were there, though they remained shut in their stable! I really really hope they are able to re open in December as it would be such a shame if no one got to see it after all the hard work we saw putting it together.
For us, having two kids with Fragile X, the quieter atmosphere was a refreshing change, though of course I’d rather it was busy and there were no lockdowns.
I would like to say a big Thank You to all the staff at Sherwood Forest who worked so hard to keep us all safe and socially distanced.
The sun is lovely and bright today, my cyclamen has flowered for the first time in years, lovely bright purple flowers.
Madam’s tablet had to be sent away for repair over two months ago. After much tooing and froing it is finally on it’s way back today, so she will brighten up when she gets home.
The kids had their school photo taken, nice bright smiles apparently 🙂
Several of the little dears at school told me “You’re the best!” yesterday lunchtime, that brightened my day!
I’ve had a couple of early nights this week too, felt much brighter in the morning.
Started bright and early on the housework today, so now I’ve had been sitting having a nice cup of tea whilst I write this.
I’ve seen a couple of news items this morning that I won’t go into but it seems the world is slowly becoming a brighter place.
Despite all the chaos both here in the UK and around the world things have remained pretty much unchanged in our house.
The kids are at school, I’m going to work, Hubby is working at home. We had a socially distanced, low noise firework night with my parents – outside obviously, which was nice.
I’ve been food shopping, Christmas card shopping, I’ve ordered stuff online and so on. I’m finding it easier to keep a sense of normality this time round.
The amount of post holiday laundry stays unchanged too… LOL!
Right up until Friday night our half term holiday looked to be in doubt, but as no decision was reached about Nottingham it meant our break was on!
We arrived at 2.30pm Monday afternoon expecting a long queue to get in – and there wasn’t. Car parking spaces were plentiful, we got a table at Starbucks for a coffee, and into our villa at 4pm.
Considering it was half term the place was so quiet! An awful lot of people must have decided or been forced to cancel their plans. I must admit it was nice not to have to fight for a changing room in the pool and to be able to just walk into the leisure bowl for a drink. The social distancing measures, hygiene, cleaning protocols, hardworking staff could not be faulted.
Whilst we were there the Winter Wonderland was being set up, I had a nosey at it – looks fabulous! Sadly with the announcement that the whole of Nottinghamshire would be put in Tier Three (and it seems further restrictions for everyone) they have decided to close Sherwood for a month. In fact they shut the day we left. I hope they can re open in December, and to anyone looking to holiday there I say go for it!
We were told at the start that the swimming pool was now pre bookable and we would be allowed two slots. Because there was so few people there, they emailed us on the Tuesday saying we could book an extra one, so that made three!
I feel very lucky that we got our holiday, and that for us it being so quiet meant we got to eat out more and so on.
Time has featured in lots of ways this week, mainly the amount of time between now and my holiday. Worrying about how much could change in the next week and whether we’ll be able to actually go.
As I type I am on the phone chasing Madam’s tablet. We sent it off over a month ago and apart from an acknowledgement email to say it’s been received we’ve heard no more.
It’s the time of year when schools and colleges have their open days/evenings. The collage attached to Sir’s school has one next week, I’d like to go but I’m not sure about the time – or even if leaving the house will be allowed…..
I don’t agree with having a second lockdown now. I think the measures that were put into law on Wednesday should be given time to work. Of course there are idiots who think they can still do as they please, well maybe lock them up for a fortnight and let the rest of us get on with our lives.
On a lighter note I keep seeing countdowns telling me how time there is until Christmas! I have started the present buying, I have nearly all the family cards and today I bought the advent calendars.
The clocks go back next weekend.. where did the time go!
Every now and again, when I’m about to despair of all the stuff Sir has and doesn’t use, he starts to take an interest in it again.
This week both he and Madam have been spending time doing jigsaws. There are some downstairs, when they’d finished those they brought some more down. In between time Sir has been sitting quietly in his room doing them. It’s really nice to see both of them do something that doesn’t involve a screen. Especially since some of the jigsaws hadn’t been out of the cellophane until this week.
I’d forgotten just how many Thomas and Friends jigsaws we have! along side Disney Princesses, Toy Story, dinosaurs, fish – all sorts 🙂 There’s a Christmas one too somewhere.
In fact I am almost tempted to move all the other crap toys and put the jigsaws out instead. They would take up a lot less space!
Our oven packed up on Sunday – cue several trips to my Mum’s with scones and a roast dinner. I found the insurance stuff, went on line and got the repair approved. Phoned them Monday morning and the man came Wednesday. All sorted now and I ordered in pizza to celebrate LOL!
Sir had his learning disability review this week. A form came through the post for me to fill in with all the questions they would normally ask at the appointment. I filled that out and took it with me. The nurse listened to his chest, checked his oxygen levels and took his blood pressure. He behaved himself (mostly) and then I took him back to school.
I had a letter about the kids getting the flu vaccine, signed the consent form and sent that back.
Paid off the credit card bill for this month. Always a joy.
In brighter news I booked two swimming pool slots for our holiday! only a couple more weeks to go 😀 I have an small issue with a couple of other things but it’s being sorted.
I ordered some tulip bulbs too, an offer in my magazine so they only cost the postage 😀
You remember that scratty patch of earth I chucked old compost and seeds onto in July? well they’ve all spouted! the soil is much improved and I’ve been able to weed it properly. I also dug a fern out of the lawn and planted that in there too. I made the start of a border by complete accident! I have a small amount of compost left in the bag so I’m going to put that down too. I ordered some tulip bulbs, so I shall put those in the *border* and also some pots.
The chillies have done quite well, I’m just waiting for them to ripen along with the last of the tomatoes. I moved the chilli plants into the mini greenhouse. My parsley picked up as did the basil so I got my herbs after all! I even made some basil oil.
My spring onions didn’t fare very well in the end unlike the lettuces which just keep growing.
We got the hedges cut back a couple of weeks ago, it all looks much better.
