After not feeling so well yesterday, I am feeling a lot better today 🙂
An early night and a good night’s sleep, did the trick!
I woke up at 8am and took Honey for a walk, unloaded some boxes from the car, did the washing up, lit the fire and then went to my Zoom Meditation Group.
The meditation group was just what I needed to start my Sunday off.
After that, Honey the Dog went to Helen’s (my boat neighbour) as she wanted to take her for a walk. They went to Arthur’s Seat. Honey hasn’t been to Arthur’s Seat for sometime and I have been depriving her off lots of walks in recent weeks due to work on my flat.
When she came back, I was not there, but Honey jumped on my boat wanting to go in (blog cover photo).
I took the car to the Recycling centre, with a load of wood and cardboard I had filled it with yesterday, then headed along to my flat to get some more boxes of stuff for the boat and did a wee bit of painting. I have now taken everything that needs to go to the boat – now have a load of things I need to find a new home for! I also need to unpack everything that I have brought to the boat and probably get rid of more of it.
Tomorrow I take the hire car back, hence doing all these jobs today and yesterday.
Then I went over to Portobello to see my friends Robin and Anna, enjoying a nice cup of tea in their garden.
I had gone round, to give them my fondue set, which needed a new home 🙂
Was great to see them both, realising that I haven’t seen them IRL for the whole of 2020!!
They later sent me photos of them having a fondue 🙂
Next week, I will take photos of everything I have left and try and find homes for them all!
Review of the Year 2020
Thought I would start this new section for the next few days, to do a review of 2020.
Today I am starting it off thinking about some of things we have learnt in 2020.
These are the ones that come to mind, for me. How about you? What have I missed out?
I’ve put them in alphabetical order.
Alcohol Gel – I think we have all learnt about alcohol gel. Certainly living in the city, when every shop, café, etc…has multiple bottles of hand gel available, I’ve certainly learnt a lot about alcohol gel. Some is really wet and covers your hands for ages even when rubbing it in, some is really dry and doesn’t cover you hands well, some dries your skin, some has run out!
Face-Masks – We have all learnt how to wear face-masks, exploring which are the most comfortable for us, etc…buying ones to go with our outfits! I must admit at the start, I wasn’t keen wearing them, but now it feels fine.
Resilience to Change – I think with the many changes thrown at us by our governments, we have learnt to become more resilient to change, change which happens without much notice.
Social Distancing – Before 2020 we had never heard of the concept of ‘Social Distancing’, now we all know approximately how far 2 metres is!
Teams – Many of us have learnt how to use Microsoft Teams. I personally prefer Zoom – I think that is common, you either love Zoom or you love Teams!
Technology – for many of us, we were not that confident with technology, but I think in 2020 many of us have learnt and become confident in using technology.
Washing our Hands – We have learnt the correct way to wash our hands thoroughly. I learnt this when I was training to be a mental health nurse, but can’t say I have washed my hands like this in my everyday life until 2020.
Welcoming / Saying Goodbye without physical contact – I still find this hard, especially saying goodbye, I would normally hug, but we’ve learnt to use an elbow or a foot.
Working from Home – for many people, working from home has been a new thing. I personally, have been working from home for many years. However, it takes a whole new discipline and adaptation to working life, without the commute too and from work – and one can get easily distracted.
Virtual Meetings – We have learnt to connect with each other virtually, from meetings, friends, quizzes, music gigs, shows, festivals, so much – and all virtually.
Zoom – I think most of us have learnt how to use Zoom. I had only used it once before lockdown began, but that was in January 2020. Before 2020 I hadn’t even heard of Zoom!
Readers Corner
I haven’t had a Readers Corner for two days, so a bit of catching up to do!
Thanks for all your lovely Christmas messages 🙂 x
Duncan
Duncan posted a Facebook comment on Day 276 blog (Christmas Eve) saying:
“Merry Christmas James! Just off to bed…”.
Gez
Gez posted a Facebook comment on Day 276 blog (Christmas Eve) saying:
“Happy cheesemakers I mean Christmas Jim Campbell! My spell correct is wonky! Hope you have a good day on the boat sauna with Honey the Dog!”.
Jim
Jim posted a Facebook comment on Day 276 blog (Christmas Eve) saying:
“Thanks Jim, merry Christmas to you as well hope you are still having a good day! 
“.
Lisa
Lisa posted a Facebook comment on Day 276 blog (Christmas Eve) saying:
“Merry Christmas Jim. I hope you still managed to enjoy the day. xx”.
Pat
Pat posted a Facebook comment on Day 276 blog (Christmas Eve) saying:
“Have A Merry Christmas Mate.. Stay Safe and Stay Well…
“
Pat posted a Facebook comment on Day 277 blog (Christmas Day) saying:
“Great Photos Jim. You Look A Lot Better Than What You Had Written How You Were Feeling Previously… Stay Safe and Stay Well Mate…“
As I come to the end of this blog, it is still quite short, but hey it’s still Christmas. I am sitting next to a roasting fire and it’s only 10.15pm 🙂
Going to bed so early yesterday has motivated me to do the same again today – I have had so much more energy today and whatever I was feeling last night, being on the edge of a cold I think, has shifted – phew!
I had a worried it was Covid – self isolating for 10 days would cause massive havoc in my life and my flat – a new oven arrives at the start of January and new carpets a few days later. Before then, I need to finish painting and lift all the old carpets. I haven’t time until then to self isolate for 10 days, fingers crossed I don’t get Covid before it is all done!
Honey dropped one of her Christmas present bones in the canal today. She was super happy to have found it and came out the boat to show me, whilst I was getting some coal from the shed. I told her to go back inside, worried that she would drop her bone in the canal, as she went towards the front door, crossing over the canal to get on the boat, she dropped the bone and it sank! She tried to look for it for a while, I think she was going to jump in at one point, but she didn’t. So I distracted her and she moved on. I will see if I can see the bone in the morning when it is light! She’s already dropped two of her toys in the canal and another I found floating in the canal one morning, I don’t know when she dropped that one!
Today is has been cold, but so many people out and about, after such a stormy wet day yesterday, everyone has been treating today as Boxing Day, all on their Boxing Day walks. Clear skies most of the day, it snowed very briefly this morning when I first got up, but I noticed on our meditation group, it was snowing heavily in the borders. This evening, it is really icy on the towpath and Discovery.
Hope you’ve had a good post-Boxing Day Sunday!
Jim x