Things to look forward to

Lying on my gym mat early this morning staring up that the sky I noticed the swifts had gone. Usually there are several circling high above me as I crunch through a variety of painful core exercises and yesterday there seemed to be more than usual, so I suspect that the babies have fledged, and the new families have set off on the long flight back to Africa for the winter. 

Looking up at the blue, empty sky made me realise how long it's been since lockdown began and life became unbelievably mundane. My routine over the past three months has hardly deviated from the following:

06.45 - alarm goes off, Radio 4 goes on. 
07.00 - head to kitchen to greet hound and put the coffee on
07.13 - set up laptop on small coffee table on the patio (weather permitting), get coffee and a pint of water and log into the gym class
08.00 - finish class, breakfast, shower, log onto work
10.00 - walk hound, then back to work
12.00 - lunch
12.30 - back to work
15.00 - guitar practice (if time)
18.00 - start to make supper
20.00 - Downton Abbey is our lockdown binge-watch and we're now on Series 6 (I've watched them all so have to keep stum). Then it'll be Strange Things Season 4. We take it in turns to make herbal teas halfway through and usually have a few squares of Cadburys Dairy Milk to hand for pudding. 

There are occasional variations - the gym classes and dog walks change. But otherwise in the week that's pretty much it. 

However the lockdown is starting to lift, and while it's grey this week, sunshine is forecast and I'm taking next week off. In addition to walking the hound and topping up the tan, highlights, gel nails and a full body wax are all on the agenda.  It's going to take time, money and (in the case of the waxing a considerable amount of Paracetamol), but it'll be worth it.  I shall emerge on Friday a vision of loveliness, instead of the weatherbeaten old bat I currently resemble. 

In even bigger news, after having had to cancel our sailing holiday to Greece this summer, we have instead now booked ourselves two weeks in the Seychelles. After what will be nearly three years without a summer holiday away, it's about time we treated ourselves and had something very special to look forward to. 


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