Dear Carol and Friends,

I've had a busy few days.  I went to Geelong on Friday needed some underwear so had a good afternoon shopping, then Friday night we had another banquet, which was wonderful.  Then Saturday Bree.Jamie and the kids came down, spent a little while at home then went to the pirate park and the kids had a play, then we had a picnic tea, stayed until the mozzies came out, they were out in force, so we all came home with bites.  Relaxed at home, then and Bree did my nails, first time since March (Bree is training to be a nail technician) Not qualified yet but she did a really good job. So I've got an ombre with a nude on the bottom going to a pale orange/apricot colour at the tips.  Then on Sunday Rotary did its first Bunnings bbq since the start if the virus. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although the tougher regulations take a bit of getting used to.  Then today a girlfriend popped in for a visit as we are now able to have visitors from more than two househo9lds.  We were only allowed to have visits from 2 adults from up to 2 households, which prevented Tracey from visiting anyone else apart from her two sons. nHen in the morning I get up really early for Eli.  He proved to us that I have to actually get up as one night after we had all gone to bed he got up, made himself comfy on the couch and watched his shows on the tablet.  When Nick got up at 4.00 there he was having a wonderful time watching the dodo's as he calls dinosaurs.  He didn't go back to sleep at all, it was a daycare day and none of us were surprised when daycare to say he wasn't coping and that it might be best to pick him up early.  Deana did have a chuckle though when one of his playmates at daycare told Deana he wasn't very nice today.  HE did go to bed very early that night though.

Billy, Nope, just not enough rain to do anything but make my car look worse.  Last nights rain did improve it though, we got 30ml of rain along with some spectacular thhunder and lightning, but as it was after midnight I wasn't going out there with a bucket of soapy water.  Really good to hear that your PSA has gone down a lot.  And the shoes are good, I actually did a 3 kilometre walk when I walked Eli to daycare last week and no blisters or sore feet.

Carol, The early mornings are hard, I'm not a morning person at all.  Come Thursday I'll be more than ready to have a sleep in,  Up early tomorrow then again Wednesday as training day at Anam Cara.  Wednesday at leat is not as early as I have to be up for Eli but still early for me at about 7.00, but the time I have my cuppa and get showered and dressed, hair done, then get myself there before 9,00.  So sorry that it's looking like you won't get out for Christmas lunch.  I thiknk BRee, Jamie and the kids are coming here on Christmas Day.  Deana, Nick and Eli are going to Geelong for Nicks famiies Christmas, which at this stage we are permitted to do.
Sorry to hear abut your SIL Sue's diagnosis.  Hopefully the laser treatment will be done so she is able to enjoy a Christmas meal.  Hyacinths are gorgeous, we had some in pots here which were beautiful, they have finished now but the gardenias in pots on the front porch are starting to flower, the perfume is gorgeous.  
Hoping that Ella and Faye don't end up with the virus.  At least Ella is happy about being home schooled even if Faye isn't.  How long do they have to stay home for?  Here if you'd been in contact with someone with the virus you were tested twice once on day 3 then again on day 11 but had to quarantine for 14 days.  If you had symptoms similar to the virus you were supposed to be tested but if the test came back negative, you could go back to work and leave your house for permitted reasons.   I do feel for you all.  It's not easy, Can only hope the restrictions you now have help lower the number of cases.

I'm off to bed so I'm at least awake in the morning.

Take care and love to all.  Sue xx

I'm not quite sure where I've been today as I just followed Debbie!  She tells me about my spare Norman's Mum, she has finally gone into a home having been found twice in one week outside, in the cold laid on the ground at night.  She is 96 years old so she's lucky to be alive.  He had put it off as he sees her every day and now he can't see her at all, even taking her in she had to be handed over in the doorway, what a sad world we live in.  Hubby and I are both OK and happy that our family don't have to worry about us being lonely and scared of going out, we've just decided that we're anarchists!!  He's just read a letter out of the paper about someone moaning about how disgusting a major store was when they went in, car park full, no one social distancing in store and so on, I said that was like Mary and Joe, they go food shopping together when they don't need to, then complain about it being full of people!!  Sue has a date for her tongue, 9th December so all over for Christmas.  Hubby is going on his bike in the garage, it's freezing so I've made him put a coat on, he says I'm a bully, yes I reply, one that's kept you alive!!  See you soon, love Carol x 

So at the moment neither Mary, Joe, me or hubby know what our Christmas day will be like!  Having made the decision that we probably couldn't see our family we made other plans to keep us all safe but if we go into tier 3 we will be sat home alone eating a lonely lunch for two, thanks Boris.  Today we drove to a farm shop and Christmas barn, it was beautiful but as we had to go in one way and out another hubby had to stay in the car, so I didn't have long to look at the silver reindeer, all the stunning baubles, life size reindeer for posh houses and all that glitters, so Margaret and I will go Friday to browse for as long as we wish.  I did buy silver tree wrapping paper and matching tags, silver ribbon with embossed trees to tie the gifts up, oh my goodness it's a fairy grotto for grown ups!  On the way home we dropped books off for Keith and he looks much better after his pneumonia.  I had also collected lots of mini shampoos and body washes during lockdown so I gave them to Mary as her daughter in law works for a charity that helps ladies of the night.  So good deeds done and back home.  It's going to be very cold tonight and I can feel it creeping in.  Soup and buttered toast for tea.  Take care, Carol x 

Dear Carol and Friends.
We do seem to be getting back to some sort of normal, still have to wear masks indoors (not at home obviously) but we now don't have to wear whehn outdoors unless we can't keep the 1.5 distance.  Poor lisa having to stay home for 2 weeks isolation.  That will be even harder with renovations.  Hopefully they will all be ok and not come down with the virus.  
Have you at least run M&S.  If you're in lockdown for any length of time they may not refund/exchange if it's too long after your purchase.  That was funny with Lisa sneaking out and going to the corner shop.  We keep the front door locked so Eli can't open it and go out, need the key which are kept either in my handbag or on the key rack, which is well out of his reach.  

IT is so sad when you can't even visit those in nursing homes.  But from the sounds of it your spare Norman's mum will be better of there.  Spending nights outdoors wouldn't be good at all.  Only one of them should be going shopping.  Boris may even change the rules if too many people seem to be out and about.  Good to hear Sue has a date for her treatment, which should make it ok for her to each a Christmas meal.  
I did my training at Anam Cara yesterday, it was actually a lot of fun, I learnt regulations with food prep have changed a bit since I used to help at the school canteen.  We covered all sorts of things, learnt how to assist moving a patient from a bed to a chair, how to move them further up in a bed from a laying to more sitting possition.  They provided a lovely lunch for us.  THen when I logged onto my computer this a fternoon I've got my certificate.  Pictures were even taken for out ID tags.

So I have 3 hours there tomorrow.  Attempted to do some washing today and my washing machine has died, so I'll make a trip to the laundromat later as they are dripping wet to do that load.  At least we have Deana and Nicks washing machine in the garage.  NIck will bring it in tomorrow and set that up.  I tried to ring the serviceman to come fix it but he doesn't have the contract for Asko any longer (they've decided Colac doesn't need one), so I have to call Geelong which would mean any service fee is going to be a min of $200 then labour and parts on top.  As my machine is 13 years old, don't think it is worth it.  So we will use Deana and Nick's while it is still working.
The Farm shop and Christmas Barn sound wonderful, you and Margaret go again on Friday and have a good browse.
No plans yet for the weekend, but at least the weather shouldn't be too bad, we are finally warming up.

Take care and love to all.  Sue xx

Well done Sue, it's lovely that you are doing this and will be appreciated very much by those you help, you've gone up in the world, you now have an ID badge!!  It's a mare when washers go kaput and it costs more to repair, that's funny as some foreign woman has rung me today saying mine is one year old so I meed to buy a warranty, she hung up when I said it was still under extended warranty, I swore at her out loud (she'd hung up by now) and Norman said, is the lockdown getting to you!  I've also had to call our broadband supplier and tell them our devices keep connecting to my spare Norman's BT fibre optic, it's driving me nuts as I keep having to re connect them all, apparently the fibre optic is stronger than our bog  standard wi fi, nothing is simple, do this, do that, switch this off, move the unit, I'm sorry I said to her I didn't get any of that!!  So she took me step my step through it and if it doesn't work call back, thanks.  We've now gone into tier 3 so basically lockdown under another word, no Christmas lunch out, I truly give up, it looks like I'll be cooking after all.  It would seem all the North is under tier 3 but of course London and where the MPs live is tier 2, of course it is, if they hadn't cancelled all the trains we could have gone to Fayes, I rang Mary, she's as fed up as me as they are now stuck home alone.  She said Joe is getting annoyed as he thinks she doesn't want to go out for a drive and then a good walk, personally he is right because I have been saying the same for months, so they walked to Shildon this morning instead of going to the beach and walking somewhere beautiful.  We've escaped again, returned my dress, called at Tesco for Amazon gift vouchers and guess what else, yes Gin, it was on special offer I think I'm going to need it, hubby laughed when I got back in the car with just a bottle of Gin, is this driving you to drink he enquired?  I finally got Lisa to tell me what Harry wanted, so I order them thinking they were games for his Nintendo switch, this enormous heavy Box  arrives, what the heck is that I ask hubby, it turns out I've ordered a great big Sloth cuddly toy that answers you back when you push a button, as he is 9 years old I was a little bemused but having checked with Mummy it's something she thinks he will love, I do hope so as it cost £30.!  So all my cards and presents are now purchased I just need to get it all sorted, only 4 weeks to Christmas Day.  Take care all of you, love Carol x 

Hello Carol and friends

i have been keeping up to date with your news but am not in a good place to be joining in, lockdown and loneliness are not my friends and are bringing out the worst side of me. I am in Tier 2 from next week but to be honest think we should be in Tier 3, my daughter-in-law works for the NHS and has been in ITU , she has sobbed tonight, they are all on their knees despite what you might read in the press. Holding an IPad for children to say goodbye to their parents is not how it should be for anyone. 

Sorry that I am not adding anything positive to the group today, tough times.

Stay safe

Love Chris. X

Dear Chris, this must be so hard for you especially having someone close on the front line.  Tier 3 is hard, don't wish for it as more people will lose jobs, homes and businesses and mental health will impact on them more.  Faye has cried today on facetime as she can't see her Dad and she worries about us both being in tier 3, Norman was upset as she was upset, we've seen them once this year, so I know how hard it is.  Lisa is not well and we've waited to see if she has covid due to Harry being sent home, first thing this morning she texted, she hasn't.  Our Christmas will be alone because we made a sensible decision to stay apart, but tier 3 has made it worse.  We're a close family and it's tearing us apart not seeing each other, that's why I stay upbeat as being miserable gets me nowhere and impacts on Norman which isn't fair as he doesn't want to live with another black cloud over his head.  So that's it for today,  see you soon, love Carol x 

Dear Carol

I didn't mean it to sound as if I were wishing for Tier 3 because I understand the difficulties that would bring , it is a horrible situation for all of us in different ways. Christmas is going to be very different this year for us all. 

Love Chris. X

So on a more upbeat subject our gorgeous little granddaughter face timed to show us her Christmas tree.  It was so lovely and they had put all the angels and baubles with their names on that we have bought over the last 13 years, Alfie was sat gaming with antlers on and the joy in Ella's face was wonderful.  Its not about us it's about the children who bring joy no matter what is happening in this world.  They had also purchased 94 feet of fairy lights to hang in the garden so we saw them as well, all sparkly like Ella.  Faye sent a photo of her with a santa hat on, glitter all over her and Tinsley draped around her shoulders, we said she should be the fairy on the top of the tree.  Lisa posted a picture of a twig stuck to white paper, one leaf and some sellotape, apparently it  was Harry's school project, I don't think she was impressed!  Harry and I had a wonderful talk, he was pondering the meaning of life and why we were here, what did I think, I said it was so we could be kind and make others happy, that he had made my day by talking to me and telling me his worries, he said I had made his day by being his Grandma, I could have cried. Strictly tonight and a large gin.  Take care all of you, love Carol x