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Good morning.

Sunny and warm....which is just as well as methinks I'll be spending the majority of the day in or around the pool. I've got plenty of books.

Total lockdown is from 8am this morning apart from necessary shopping or those who need to go to work (as opposed to working from home.)

Last night, under the cover of darkness, (think Tom Cruise Mission Impossible ) I left a note in each of our neighbours porches saying I was going to Lidl and Mercadona and to tell me if they wanted anything. I came down this morning and in my letterbox were 3 scraps of paper requesting various bits and bobs. The only thing is...none of them have put their names on the pieces of paper so I'll be doing a guessing game.

At least with me going out to get some shopping I can do this every day and although it'll only be around 5kms walk it's better than nothing.

Another thought sprung into my head. My lady wot does comes in on a Monday. She won't be today which means I'll have to locate the dusters and do some delicate wafting around.

Last night at 9pm most of our town went out into their gardens or terraces to applaud the medical staff. It lasted a good couple of minutes and was very touching.

Right...a coffee then gather the shopping lists and my rucksack.

Have a great day.

Morning all.

Ally, that is to funny with the notes, but well done you. We have a help group set up here as well and it's been inundated with offers of help. And as for the clapping for the medical staff - that gave me goosebumps and made me all emotional.

I need to drop one of my cats at the vet later this morning and then I'll head into the office. We've been asked to work from home until 31st March for now but that may be extended. So going in today to switch off whatever can be switched off; clean out the fridge, empty water from coffee machines etc. I'll probably pop in once a week just so I can deal with any post etc as business does have to continue; but it's all rather odd at the moment.

On the plus side - should we need to stay home, I have enough wine to see me through. The freezer has plenty of odd things so I won't starve, and I have enough cat and chicken food to last at least a month at least so the animals are sorted as well.


Have a lovely day everyone xx

Morning Ally, Ria and everyone

Sunny morning, although a trifle blowy

Well done Ally, I'm doing that for Mitchell on Wednesday and maybe Jan, if she's still bed-ridden.

Washing on and general pootling this morning, weeding this afternoon.

We only have one big supermarket in Ourique and it's cut the opening hours to 10.00 - 2.00 and then 4.00 until 8.00. Not sure about the smaller one's, will have to investigate.

Have a good day everyone, whatever you're doing xx

Good morning everybody,

A lovely sunny morning. Have walked for the paper.
Making several phone calls this morning. We should be going on a cruise on 1st May and in June. So cancellig those and the coach down to Southampton.
Also our taxi which would take us to the coach pick up point.

This afternoon going to a funeral. It is a friend I went to school with. He only lived a few strets away.
Should be going dancing tomorrow night. It may be the last one for several weeks. When we went on Saturday, the organisersaid he may have to close as the numbers attending have fallen so he is not making any money.
There must be many other organisations in similar situations.
Have a good day everybody.

Morning all

Ally, that is funny about the notes Really kind of you to do that xxx

Ria, our local Facebook page has a list of people willing to help vulnerable neighbours, and I will add my name. I don't work, so I have the time. Hope your cat is ok? xxx

Jan, have a good day It's a beautiful day here, bright sunshine and there was a frost overnight.

Cruiser, I expect we'll be cancelling our holiday too, but as yet Corfu is virus free and we wouldn't get our money back That will change if government advice does for travel to Greece.

I am keeping to my normal routine, just being careful. Unless I hear otherwise from Em I'll be meeting her in town as per usual. I won't be using the buses for the foreseeable, and I'll be carrying my homemade hand-sanitizer! Thanks Frank, for the recipe

It was lovely to see the in-laws at D's yesterday, we had such a nice meal and catch up. Some serious discussion around the virus, and about whether D (at 83 with COPD) should be self-isolating. Bottom line is, she says unless it's compulsory, she won't

My brother-in-law the senior paramedic is pretty disgusted with how the authorities are handling things. When I tell you that he tried to order 1000 bottles of hand-sanitizer for all the crews in Dorset, and was told they weren't available, you can see why!

We also discussed the growing possibility of Dan and Nikki's upcoming wedding at a venue in Dorset being cancelled, if gatherings are banned and hotels closed It would be such a shame

Have a good day everyone, stay safe xxx

Good morning all, it's a sunny one here.

I've walked Billy and already had a delivery so haven't had to wait around for that. The second load of washing is now in the machine. Joe got back from Cornwall at around 1am but he thinks he might be doing the trip again at the weekend if Amanda has to head home. He said that some have already left, I'm not sure that it's quite so easy for Amanda though as she has to use specialist software which the university has so it's not so easy to work remotely.

Kaz, John was adamant last week that we wouldn't need to cancel our holiday but he's changed his tune over the last few days. We had a few words about it all last week actually because he thought I was worrying about nothing but the way it's all developed over the last five days or so have changed his mind.

Ally, you're wonderful! A lot of people around here are offering help online and we'll certainly be doing what we can.

Have a good day all, and please stay well xx

That is a very kind thought Ally. Wafting the dusters! Don't waft too hard.
That's sad Cruiser.
In a while MrsC is off to her dad's. I'm off to Sainsbury's Hopefully the brain dead zombie shelf strippers won't have been before me.
MrsC's Uncle Jud has gone downhill fast. We will have to speak to the family today. He's confused, shouting, falling over. He doesn't know what anything is for. So he needs some form of care.
Other than that it's a lovely morning here. Sister in law has gone on holiday to Flamborough - she always gets good weather.
Have a good day all.

Good morning, all!

That's really funny, Ally

I don't do Sainsburys, Crommers, so you'll probably be alright …

Sorry about your holidays, Cruiser, but wise to cancel, I guess. My S is still waiting to hear from Saga if her trip to Armenia/Georgia is still on. I think she's mad to still be contemplating it, but more than my life's worth to say anything, I'm afraid.

Locally, the doctors surgery has gone into lockdown from this morning (not because of the eejit super-gluing shut their door locks, which happened last week, but because of the virus). Nobody allowed in or out without vetting, everything routine cancelled, no face to face appointments. Less than 24 hours notice, as far as I can tell. We visit to drop in repeat prescriptions monthly, so I've emailed them about registering for electronic repeat prescriptions. I shall be interested to see what they say when they reply, because the existing system is that you have to go into the surgery and show ID to do it!!!

And again locally, Aldi have restricted purchasing to no more than 4 of any item. Much annoyance on the FB page that people getting to the tills with a loose bunch of 7 bananas were having 3 forcibly removed! Yet if you bought a bunch of bananas not loose but in a plastic wrapper, you could in theory buy 4 of them - 28 fruit! You couldn't make it up!:roll:

Morning all, it’s a glorious day here. The sunshine drew me out for a walk at 8.15 and it was just beautiful and peaceful on the pier. Otherwise I am staying in to get a phone call with confirmation of my op on Wednesday although I am not overly optimistic that it will go ahead I have some sewing to do, I want to change the bed linen, there is reading to be done and I might even knit.

Cruiser, we are due to go on a cruise on 26th April but we fully expect it to be cancelled. Cunard is cancelling all cruises until 11th April and we shall wait and see what happens. They have brought in temporary cancellation arrangements which are quite beneficial and we don’t have to make a decision yet. Our next after that is July and hopefully things will be a lot clearer by then. Ally, I did laugh at that I am heartened by the wonderful offers of help I can see on FB and Twitter, it would be nice to think that such kindness will outweigh those insane stockpilers.

Morning all

Bright and sunny here

Very kind of you to offer help to your neighbours Ally, had a little chuckle about the notes.

Kaz wrote:Cruiser, I expect we'll be cancelling our holiday too, but as yet Corfu is virus free and we wouldn't get our money back That will change if government advice does for travel to Greece.

We're in same position, we're resigned to cancelling our holiday too, but right now we won't get our money back so waiting for the Bajan government to advise the UK is on their banned list. Of course if the over 70's isolation rules come into affect before that it will make us eligible for a refund anyway. I doubt many people will be going abroad for a holiday this year.

We're planning to discuss our prescription process too Ossie. At present Boots automatically request them for us, but we do have to go and collect them from our local store. We've decided to see if we can get them delivered, better to get it sorted before it becomes necessary.

I do hope your op goes ahead as planned Osc, I'm sure you will be on the priority list xx

Not a lot happening here today, just general pottering.

Hope you all have a good day