The End of the Staycation

I've decided to cut short my staycation but first of all I'm bursting to tell you some brilliant news ... I have another great nephew, born early yesterday morniing to my nephew, M, and his wife, R. He's their first child and weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 15 ozs! I don't know when I'll get to meet him as mum and baby are staying in hospital for a couple of days of observation. 

So, back to my staycation. I decided that yesterday was the last day, not because I haven't enjoyed myself but the time feels right to resume my new normal/very similar to lockdown everyday life with tweaks here and there to accommodate the aspects of life that are starting to open up and that I feel comfortable about doing. I originally chose to treat the start of September as a holiday as I could feel myself anticipating the start of the school year and of course, now I'm retired, that's no longer a feature of my life. The reality is that I'm not missing the return to school and private teaching at all. Whether that's down to an acceptance that it just can't happen this year, I don't know, but it is what it is and I now need to look forward where the reality is that every day can be a holiday if I want it to be!

The staycation has moved me forward, no doubt about that. From not venturing out at all, in the space of a week I have met face to face with friends, eaten out, visited garden centres and been shopping. It's all been done with sensible adherence to social distancing, liberal use of hand sanitiser and A level mask wearing and I've found that with each thing I've done, the less anxious I've been. It's still not 'easy' but is getting easier the more I do and I don't want to lose this momentum. It helps that I live in an area where the number of cases and the rate of infection has always been one of the lowest in the UK. I have no desire to be rushing here, there, and everywhere and for the majority of the time my everyday life will be so similar to lockdown I won't be able to tell the difference, but I can now add in some safe social interactions that will give me something to look forward to.

It's also that the time feels right to carry on with the remainder of the decluttering. I'm itching to get it finished, including the garage clearance (which I'm blaming Joy for!).

So to avoid any weekend crowds now the schools are back I will spend some time today sorting the garden end of the garage - deciding what stays, what goes, and just generally tidying up. There are a couple of other things at that end of the garage that I'd like to sell so will take the photos and place the adverts. 

The rest of the day is set aside for time with friends. P & L are breaking their journey to London and will call in to spend some time with me. It will have to be indoors as L is now permanently on oxygen so this will also allow time for her to rest on the sofa and recharge her batteries for the remainder of their journey.