5 things I’ve learned during lockdown

               5 things I’ve learned during lockdown

 

Lockdown has changed everyone’s life. We have never in our lifetime seen anything like this. Pretty much being confined to our homes except for work, shopping, exercise or a medical reason, and it has already seemed like an incredibly long time. So, I am going to share 5 things I’ve learned so far during lockdown.

When the whole lockdown thing happened we did consider ourselves to be one of the lucky ones.

By that, I mean my husbands job was secure and he continued to work. My income is secondary and any work that I lost didn’t really have too much affect on the overall financial side of things. So without the added financial stress and uncertainty that a lot of people had enforced on them we considered ourselves incredibly lucky.

That said, like everyone else our daily life changed dramatically. All the things we naturally took for granted as always being available, became obsolete virtually overnight. For me it was cinema trips, coffee shop meet ups, meeting friends for lunch, meeting with clients or just mooching around the shops.

I also suffer which chronic pain so for the last 10 yeas or so, it’s like I’ve been in training for lockdown as my life is probably more sedentary than most anyway.

But, even though I may have adjusted slightly better than anyone living a ‘normal’ life, there are still a few things I’ve learned during the lockdown period so far.

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How you can support small independent businesses during lockdown

How you can support small independent businesses during the lockdown

 

Corona virus

The realities of the Corona virus lockdown means what we would consider as ‘normal life’ has dramatically changed for everyone in one form or another. Parent’s of school aged children are finding themselves in a teacher’s role. People are now working from home if they can, and our elderly family relatives are being told to stay at home and are now separated from their families.

Key workers are working incredibly long hours to help in this crisis. Some people have lost their jobs and small businesses are struggling due to closure or adapting to stay either relevant or afloat. We all know why we are having to adapt our lives. Everyone now realises the seriousness of the situation.

What I have also noticed online in the last week or so, are small businesses local to me either closing their doors completely, adapting to providing a takeaway service or go fully online with their services almost overnight. So I’ve popped together a list on how you can support small independent businesses during lockdown so they can hopefully still be there when this is all over.

I have friends with businesses locally having to really dig deep right now, facing the thought of how they can keep their business going (especially service based such as cleaning, beauty etc). The worry of no income and whether their small business will survive through the pandemic on top of all the normal concerns we all have at the moment.

So, with my social media manager head on now I would like to share a few, very quick and easy, tips on how you can support small independent businesses, during lockdown in your area, from the comfort of your own sofa.

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Staying in control of the housework with chronic illness

Staying in control of the housework with chronic illness

Staying in control of the housework with chronic illness

 

There is no denying the cleaning frenzy that has spread like wild fire online over the last few months. So I would like to say from the start this is NOT another jumping on the bandwagon post, but more of a recommendation of what I found has worked for me. First of all I would like to make it clear that I’m not judging any of these accounts or slating one because I like another. I’m firmly in the camp that there is enough room online for everyone doing  their own thing in the way that suits them. This is just a recommendation on how to stay in control of the housework with chronic illness that totally works for me in regards to my illness and pain levels.

I make no secret of the fact I have chronic illness which sees me deal with chronic, persistent pain daily. In fact I cannot remember the last day I was pain free. Not to be flippant but if I woke up pain free I would probably think I had died.

Anyway, before this HUGE cleaning frenzy craze took hold of everyone I literally stumbled upon an Instagram account that was less about just cleaning random things at any one time and more about a cleaning method that spanned over the week.  It’s been well thought out and covered the whole house on a weekly rotation while keeping to a minimal amount of time. Just 30 minutes a day in this case. The more I read the more I knew this method would work for me.

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Netflix and Chill at Drayton Arms Theatre – Review

Netflix and Chill at Drayton Arms Theatre

Have you ever wondered what goes through people’s head in certain situations? What do you think about during a date? Or the random thoughts that go through your head during sex? What about when someone’s mental health is deteriorating?

Netflix and Chill is a story that follows Ben , a working class chef, who’s life spirals out of control after trying to rekindle a relationship with his mum. His work, friendships and love life are all tested as his week goes from bad to worse.

 Netflix and Chill at The Drayton Arms Theatre

Netflix and Chill is essentially an in depth look at male mental health and how our inner dialogue can have such a massive impact on how we see and react to everyday situations. It follows the story of Ben, played by Tom Stocks who also wrote the play, who works as a chef in a pub and has been estranged from his mum for over 11 years. It opens with him meeting his mum for the first time since she left her abusive partner and is now trying to rekindle their relationship, something that is only touched on at the start of the play. Immediately the inner dialogue becomes apparent and we get the feel of how the story is going to be told.

 

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My 50 things before I’m 50 list

                 50 things before I’m 50 list

50 things before I'm 50

**UPDATE** Due to the lockdown I have extended the time limit on my 50 things before I’m 50 until the end of this year for obvious reasons……….and I hope I will be able to achieve a lot of what I have listed (fingers crossed!)

This is a 50 before I’m 50 list with a difference. Not a fantastical bucket list of amazing things to do, but rather a ‘make time for the smaller things’ that will make your day or weekend special list. I’ve also added a few extra special events thrown in that I wont need to win the lottery in order to fulfil them.

I’m due to turn the big 5-0 in July this year. Most of the lists I see for people hitting milestone birthdays are pretty epic and in fairness they give themselves a year or more to do them.

I, on the other hand, only really thought about it recently when it dawned on me that my 50th birthday is in fact this bloody year……………I still can’t quite believe it.

For me though, I feel I have a lot of things I could easily do at any time and yet I don’t actually set the time aside to do them. I’m not really talking about big holidays or jumping from a plane, my body could no longer cope with that. In any case, I have wing walked twice ( on the original Crunchie plane, one of which was at an International Air Display). I’ve also been dangled out of Sea King rescue helicopters too many times to count,so I think I’ve done my daredevil bit when I was much younger.

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Blitz at The Union Theatre – Review

Blitz at The Union Theatre – Review

Blitz is just one of the shows at The Union Theatre that is part of the Phil Willmott Company’s Essential Classics season 2020: V.E DAY – 75 YEARS ON.

It is based during WWII in London where both the Jewish Blitztein family & the cockney Locke family live. When the children from these opposite families fall in love a wonderfully poignant wartime romance starts to unfold.

Blitz at The Union Theatre London

This classic style musical from Lionel Bart has an instant feel of being a much bigger show. The songs tell the story and the dance routines portray that old fashioned  ‘good old knees up’ atmosphere that gives a sense of inclusiveness with the audience being so close. The set is bustling and busy with lots of individual connections between the characters going on, whilst the main premise of the story starts to develop. The space is cleverly utilised not only to create the claustrophobic feel of being stuck on an underground tube platform but also the winding feel of the  narrow lane aspect of the area at that time.

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Top tips to keep warm in the winter with chronic illness and chronic pain

Top tips to keep warm in the winter with chronic illness and chronic pain

 

If you’re new to my blog, when I talk of chronic illness and chronic pain it’s because I am diagnosed with M/E/CFS, Fibromyalgia and Joint Hypermobility.  I’m now 10 years into living with these conditions. Over the years I’ve become a dab hand at being resourceful at ways to keep warm in the winter with my chronic illness. All without having to blast my heating 24 hours a day.

In very simple terms my illnesses mean I am constantly exhausted and I’m in pain ALL OF THE TIME! We may say we are ‘fine’ but internally our bodies are screaming. Check out our ‘I’m fine’ code here.

As our house has been extended our bedroom is in a Dorma loft. That would mean me having to heat a 3 storey house with only me in it, when my husband and son are at work.That just doesn’t make any financial sense to me to do that. Just call me Scrooge!

So I have become a bit creative with it all. And I wanted to share my top tips to keep warm in winter with chronic illness and chronic pain,

Top Tips on how to keep warm in winter with chronic illness and chronic pain

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Diagnosed with chronic illness -M.E, Fibromyalgia and Joint Hypermobility

Diagnosed with chronic illness

Around 10 years ago I was diagnosed with chronic illness. Both M.E and Fibromyalgia and more recently diagnosed with Joint Hypermobility. These illnesses have changed my life dramatically . I have learned to adapt the hard way.

I had to give up working as a Driving Instructor and my OH then became the main breadwinner.

M.E and Fibromyalgia affects my life daily, without fail it is ALWAYS there. The only way to describe it to others is RELENTLESS!

Walking normally feels like walking in a swimming pool, and every morning I wake up feeling like I have just gone 10 rounds in the ring with Mike Tyson. In short just think ‘proper’ flu without the head cold and you are on the right lines.

That’s before we even get started on the pain levels throughout my body and more recently in my hands and ankles (due to the Hypermobility). Everything hurts……………..all of the time, with no respite!

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The Canterville Ghost at the Unicorn Theatre

The Canterville Ghost at the Unicorn Theatre

The Canterville Ghost has always been one of my favourite stories from when I was younger, along with the play The Rivals which I studied when doing my A Level In English Literature. Both have stayed firm favourites as I have grown older. So I was really curious to see this adaptation at the Unicorn Theatre near London Bridge. This was my first time visiting this particular theatre and I was impressed with the actual working theatre space inside. The Unicorn is the UK’s leading theatre for young audiences and has an extremely wide programme for children up to 18 yrs old.

So for anyone who isn’t familiar with the Oscar Wilde piece,The Canterville Ghost is a story about an American family who move to a castle that is haunted by the ghost of a deceased ancestor. Sir Simon Canterville, killed his wife and was then starved to death by her brothers. What makes it different from other ghost stories, is the fact that it’s funny rather than scary and the characters are not frightened by the ghost at all.

Although the story itself is set in a time gone by era, the humour in this adaptation is most certainly modern. It’s directed towards the younger audience of today (and us that are young at heart) and definitely captures their interest right from the start.

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4 Stages – Fringe Theatre Review

4 Stages – Fringe Theatre Review

4 Stages

The play 4 Stages ( by BC Allen) at the Bread and Roses Theatre is directed by Natasha Kathi-Chandra. It centres around 3 characters, Alex (Andre Skeete), Ben (Brett Allen) and Cat ( Natasha Redhead) on their monthly games night. Presented in four parts which represent four separate nights spread throughout one particular calendar year. Ben and Alex interview each other over the four nights about how and where they grew up. As the nights go on there are some startling revelations which lead to some very frank discussions along the way.

‘ Two best friends Ben and Alex, who grew up together, now in their 40’s, meet every last Sunday of the month for ‘Games Night’. They are from different backgrounds but are as close and tight as brothers. Ben has recently had a child with his partner Cat.’

This theatre is extremely intimate and is set with seats on opposite sides with the ‘set’ in the middle dressed as a room in Ben and Cat’s home which works perfectly as they use the exit door as their door to the rest of the ‘house’. With the space being small it enhances the feeling of being a ‘fly on the wall’ overlooking events unfolding in these characters lives. Each night is cleverly separated in a way that you know the story is moving on and yet works perfectly in the small space they have with regarding the set.

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