It was meant to be freezing overnight and that north wind is still really chilly but it’s a beautiful pure blue sky day.

So we decided to go exploring on our dog walk today. I wanted to take Craig to the limekilns I’d walked round the other day. I warn you now there are hundreds of photos but it was fascinating! There were huge almost double garage type limekilns down there!!

So it’s 15.30 I’ve had an across the fence up the ladder coffee with Claire and am actually loading these hundreds of photos while I read a book. The coronavirus news is still going crazy so I snapshot a few headlines!

It’s 10.32am and I didn’t wake until 9.54 precisely! We were awake at 5.30 as someone (won’t name names) gave the dogs free run of the house last night and one of them thought they’d come and bound all over us at 5.30am…. but after that was out for the count.

Appeared through into the kitchen with all the bedding in my arms as I reckon it gonna be a good drying day (how old am I??!)

We had a really nice night last night on the Overland Bound online campfire chat- Overland Assemble!

It was warm enough to sit out all evening and we seemed to have better weather than a lot of the guys who signed on from indoors.

Been on a zoom chat with mum and dad this morning from the greenhouse getting green fingered advice for our sweet peas. Dad said Beechgrove Garden isn’t as jumpy with their footage! Not to put them out until the end of May at least. Good as maybe by then I’ll have decided where to put them?!

Reminded me to share info on mum and dada impromptu VE party tree other day. They said to neighbours about having a tea party in their front garden with social distancing rules in place obviously.

Would you laugh if I said I’d written all of this walking up and down the garden trying to get my bloody steps up??? One day I might just says steps and not bloody steps 🤭😆 off out with the dogs to get them over with… the steps not the dogs….

I’m officially now totally wiped out. Craigie’s on dinner. Just took Calaidh up the hill. Had to laugh as there were the cutest calves so took even more coo pics sorry!

So today’s COVID-19 news is that it’s all kicking off as the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland don’t agree with Boris Johnson’s revises coronavirus rules. He has amended stay at home to the following:

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would not be adopting it yet and I’m really glad.

Talk about confusing eh? I for one, want to stay at home for as long as it takes so I don’t have to decide what to do with my life 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣. There’s been another 269 deaths taking us to 31,855. I just think it’s is going to start a second wave and put us all back to square one.

Finally sat down, it’s 4.19pm and I’m already on 15,595 steps, you soooo know I’m gonna crash tomorrow…..

So we were up at the crack of dawn to get to Asda before the queues and I did 3,700 steps kinda jogging about to the house to “Baking El” on the Team RH fitness page. Craig drove up to Asda so he could charge his auxiliary battery again but it turns out that short drive isn’t doing much for it!

Koi I coped slightly better in Asda this week with the Scan and Go app on my phone. Open your bags in your trolley, scan your shopping then download your phone at the till and pay for it. Magic!! Least I didn’t feel the need to pick up a handheld scanner too.. check me almost a scan & go pro 😬 I still talk to myself all the way round the shop, I have NO IDEA where that’s coming from?!

Now for my rant….. how bloody stupid are some people? The guy who cut in on me for a pack of cold meat… I was very close to shouting “eh 2m mate!!” 🤬 then the two women in the towel aisle (I must stress that I was only there following the one way system through the shop…) who were walking side by side towards me… GOING THE WRONG WAY… discussing the softness of the towels. I stopped as they got right in front of me as one of them would have to pull in behind the other but no…. they didn’t seem to see me at all and just kept walking. Surprised that 3 trolleys fitted width ways across the aisle but I just don’t think they saw me at all.

The worst part of the whole trip was my bloody bladder…… I had to negotiate the one way system TWICE…. that’s two whole time’s… just to get to the loo. So I really did the whole shop 3 time’s. Far too much coffee and water before I went in. I’m guessing public loos in a global pandemic where you can catch a virus are THE worst places to be????! so that freaked me out! Of course the second time I used the same cubicle and same sink to try and limit my exposure, lathered on antibacterial stuff after each trip. The second time in a split second I forgot all my fears and sat down 😳😱😱😱 I mean who ever does that?? We hover… that’s what we do in a public looo but my head must think I’m at home so boom sitting down before I had to jump up in horror. Wow talk about stress. Then there’s scan and go… show phone to till… scans shopping… pay and go. Done.

In the meantime Craig has gone to B&M stores for soil for the meadow garden and then to join some 8 mile queue at B&Queue for decking screws.

Incidentally it would appear I did a mere 700 steps around Asda which is soooooo not true. I think you need to remember your Fitbit arm is pretty stationary through the whole shop resting on the trolley. Not to self must wave arms while shopping in future. So home and dog walks to make up some steps! Q

346 deaths taking us to 31,527 and police are furious as hundreds of people have beer, wine and pizza in parks and on beaches due to 26deg temperatures down south. Definitely feel that everyone is more blasé now. Rule breakers are putting emergency workers at risk…

Air passengers will now be subject to a 2 week quarantine on arriving in the UK. Not sure why we haven’t been doing this since the start???!

Off out to sit in the sun tonight and if it’s nice might join the Overland Bound campfire chat again as we’ve not done that in ages… oh that reminds me we got out dinner from the pub tonight with no idea it was coming!!!

We are living through what some have likened to a World War where our lives have been put on hold by a world event. This time not a war but a pandemic that is killing millions of people. If we are not key workers we are being told to stay home with our loved ones and keep safe. The virus is so easily transferred that we just have to stay away from others. We have it so easy compared to those who live through WWI and WWII.

I travelled round New Zealand in 2005 with a lovely German girl who told me that her grandparents had been Prussian and they were persecuted by the Nazis. Her Grandfather was taken away never to be seen again and her Grandmother, who survived, repeatedly raped by Nazi soldiers. She knew all this had happened and yet her Grandmother never spoke of it. I remember feeling so fascinated and yet horrified, by her story. Our own relatives seemed to have a less traumatic war but maybe now we can begin to understand the true horror of what they went through. Jobs on hold, reappropriating factories to make munitions, signing up, volunteering…. only now can I see what that must have felt like. We’ve grown up in a society where we can do pretty much what we want, when we want. Suddenly that has changed. Still nothing like what they went through 💔

So Mrs Motivator had a wee lie in this morning… maybe she is only capable of action every second day?? So coffee and a wee laze this morning with the obligatory family trip to the greenhouse to inspect progress! Then off out with the dogs to Spiers School Ground again.

Now if I can just say, at this point Craig says “no wonder your iCloud gets jammed you’ve just taken a couple of hundred photos on this walk… no wonder you have over 40,000” and my reply…. I know exactly why I have over 40k photos…. I didn’t take another one on the walk but I took them in my head!!!!

The weathers not certain what to do with itself today so Craig’s in the hammock and I’m in Grans chair positioned to the sun in the sunroom door…. I’ll be like Magda out of Something About Mary when this is all over!! 🥴

On 8 May 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made an announcement on the radio at 3pm that the war in Europe had come to an end, following Germany’s surrender the day before.

Our neighbour Gordon has just come out to play the bagpipes to celebrate this historic event.

Craig did a walk round of the Jeep today for Overland Bound and posted it on our FB page. It’s changed a lot since we’ve been in lockdown!

So yesterday I said I couldn’t see the death figures on Sky but they did get reported later in the day and I think it was back up over the 600 mark. Today is another 626 taking us to a total of 31,241. A 6 week old baby has contracted it and died. I also know someone posted on the After Dry January FB page today to say she has it and the only place she has been in weeks is the supermarket. I think that urges us not to be complacent. As time goes on and we haven’t contracted it, I think there is an element of complacency setting in. Craig listens to James O’Brien on LBC radio and today he said that we went into lockdown when there were 300+ deaths a day and the UK government seem desperate to get us out of it when there are over 600 still dying everyday…. how does that make sense? They don’t ever seem to have enough PPE but when do they ever stand up and apologise for it? They want us to clap and cheer and say how well we are doing but we had weeks to watch Italy and Spain and we seemed to learn nothing from it. The PPE arrived from Turkey is substandard and can’t be used yet we are sending ours abroad. Anyway rant over, at least we don’t have Donald Trump who still thinks the whole thing will be over in a matter of weeks.

Early BBQ tonight, plants watered and all before 6pm. Quiet night in front of the tv I think! Happy Friday night everyone ❤️ oh I still have about 4.5k steps to do to get to 15k. Might have to march through my shower tonight 😆

It’s only 9.23 am and I’ve done 7,452 steps, talked to my Auntie Jac while walking and been on an online chat with Apple trying to trace my 40,000+ iCloud photos…. it would appear that is an “enormous” number of photos according to the Apple Chat girl. Who knew? Our village wifi connection along with the thick cottage walls are not helping either!

I got a mention on Team RH walkie talkie vid today at 50 mins in!!! I messaged to say the dogs were looking at me like I was crazy and she read it out and talked about it for a few mins. It really motivates you.

I’ve also been on an online chat with Apple trying to trace my 40,000+ iCloud photos…. it would appear that is an “enormous” number of photos according to the Apple Chat girl. Who knew? Our village wifi connection along with the thick cottage walls are not helping either!

Sleepy monster Avery gets out his bed and we decide on our plan for the day…. looking up to the skies to see what the weathers doing!

Been looking for a VW campervan for when I sell my Beetle. Something that will be ok to camp in but also take to the Co-op fur the messages 😬🤣 without looking too out of place! So we sat for a few hours looking at what’s out there and messaged a few. There’s lots of scams at the moment where folk say if you pay them upfront they’ll deliver it and refund if you don’t like it. It’s not as simple as that but that’s kinda sums it up. So we have to be careful. We also can’t justify a drive to look at a van just now as essential travel. Will wait and see what lockdown relaxation says over the weekend…

Next step is to brush down the decking, brush down the artificial grass (yep I did!!) as it’s all covered in sticks that the dogs chew up. I then raked all the weeds in the garden again…..

At 1pm I attended my friends dads’ funeral online from the house. Only close family can attend funerals due to Coronavirus and they need to try to stay apart from each other. He died of sudden heart disease. These sad times mean that they waited weeks for an autopsy and then funeral. My heart goes out to them all. It’s a lovely, lovely service for a lovely man.

Finished off the garden weeding and got it all in the brown bin and sat down at 3pm and put my feet up. All this Mrs Motivator stuff has taken its toll…. 🤣🤣 knew I’d crash at some point.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister just announced a 3 weeks extension to our lockdown in Scotland which makes a lot of sense. Spain have relaxed theirs and they are seeing a ramp up in cases quite dramatically. The Bank of England have warned of the biggest annual slump in economic growth since 1706, dropping by 14%. Who knew records even went back that far?

They don’t seem to be reporting the number of deaths on Sky today… I’m sure they will be up at some point but it’s 4pm and they’re usually on early afternoon. Quite telling if that’s not the top headline. I’m gonna post this early today as I’m helping the pub make their local food deliveries tonight. Will leave you with last nights sunset!

Next door Claire is a lifesaver! I’m slowly getting every app downloaded on her phone…. it’s exactly the same as the one I had but starting the blog says I’ve only done one post 😱😱😱 eh naw… think that’s 36 days in a row now! Wow who’d a thunk it as Gran would say??!

Wide awake at 4.08am this morning…. tried not to let the mind kick in and woke up again at 7.43 with the biggest pain in my neck. Sorry, not Craig though he was there! Actual crick so I’d obviously been lying at a crazy angle.. so up, dogs careering our I got he back garden, sun room doors open, kettle on, it’s the most beautiful morning ☀️☀️☀️

I am lucky enough to be volunteering with the Beith Trust in this lovely countryside. Got a call at 10 to ask if I could do the food bank deliveries today instead of Friday as they’re trying to get them all out on a Wednesday now instead of Wed and Friday. So I’ve got 5 houses to deliver to and it’s lovely to catch up with everyone again. They’re all keeping safe. One lady said when she got the call to say deliveries would be on a Wednesday she wondered if it would still be me? I thought that was sweet. Told them all we’d all be confused the rest of the week thinking today was Friday! My patters bowf as my grandad would say!!

Another 649 deaths in the last 24 hours taking us to over 30k! New figures show that across Ayrshire, 45% of deaths took place on care homes and 45% in hospital and the remainder at home. (Kilmarnock Standard). The government are talking about a lockdown roadmap, easing some measures from as soon as Monday (writing this on Wed).