Life in lockdown of an over 50’s couple

Life in Lockdown has been with us a month now. I’ve been reading many blog posts whilst staying home. Some of them have contained diary posts. I’ve been interested to see how other people have been passing their time whilst in lockdown due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic.

I thought I would share with you what myself and Mr Fitz have been doing.

I may make this a weekly update but as we’re now approaching our first month I thought I’d make this first one a monthly round up.

 Mr Fitz life in lockdown for an NHS worker

The lovely Mr Fitz is a key worker and works as a Hospital Porter. His role is mostly in the grounds he is part of a team recycling and moving rubbish, recycling packaging from essential supplies deliveries. Some of the waste is infected clinical waste and linen. A truly unglamorous role but a vital one and someone has to do it. As I’m very fearful and respectful of the virus and being a retired nurse with a good knowledge of Infection Prevention methods the poor man has to undergo a strict decontamination regimen when he returns home from work. The downside of life in lockdown.

John returning home via the garage

He has good hygiene and handwashing practices anyway outside of these circumstances but here are the additional steps:

• He enters via the garage and undresses in there before coming into the house where I leave a bag for him to put his clothes in and a small bowl in which he empties the contents of his pockets I have all the doors open to the bathroom and he heads straight into the shower.
• I then put his clothes in the washer and wash or wipe down the contents of his pockets.  His phone and car keys are wiped down but everything else including house keys and bank notes are washed in a bowl of soapy water.
• I wipe and spray the garage door lock inside and out.
• I wipe any surface he has touched before his shower – including shower door handle and shower tap.
• After his shower I change his towels.
• At the end of each working week I change the bed sheets.

This may seem like overkill but we would rather be safe. Initially he claimed I was treating him like a leper but as the disease and information has evolved he’s agreed my actions were the best!

I have to state that he is set to take early retirement at the end of April and this routine will not then be needed.

Exercise

Mr Fitz is in a normal routine and has a couple of walks at weekend. He would normally visit the gym and is currently setting up a fitness station in the garden, to help him stay fit after retirement. This will be good for me too. I have been taking part in some home fitness videos on You Tube – my favourites are from Lucy Wyndham-Read. Short and challenging. Also although I try to stay at home as much as possible I like a walk several times a week. I have a route close to home around the roads that is usually quiet and I walk early in the morning. Mr Fitz works 6am to 2pm so I wake early with him. You may have read in a previous post that I like to listen to Podcasts on my walk. I have worked out that twice round my route gets me to 10000 steps. On days I don’t walk I still wear my pedometer and aim for my 10000 steps whilst cleaning and working in the house.

Just prior to being asked to Stay Home we had a very long walk of 7 miles to a local fisheries that we have never visited it was beautiful, peaceful and tranquil. Once Mr Fitz has retired we hope to discover more nice settings close to home. Our locality is considered semi rural and fortunately there are many beautiful places to walk nearby. We hope to explore some more during life in lockdown.

Staying Home – our life in lockdown

I have to say that I am enjoying staying home and having very few problems with it. I am a home bird especially since I retired from my Nursing career. My role as a nurse involved long unsocial hours away from home and as I got older when I was home I was too knackered to do much and my cleaning and housekeeping regimen was minimal.

Since retirement I love cleaning and keeping my home nice. We moved into this beautiful house when I retired and we love it.

As I’m used to having routine in my life I have maintained this during retirement. I always have the luxury of a brew in bed in the morning either reading, browsing social media or catching up on my favourite TV shows. After that though I am up dressed and start on chores or projects.

I am a great list maker and find that having a To Do List keeps me focused and stops boredom. I watch lots of vloggers on Youtube who share their knowledge and ideas. I think that will be a topic for a future post – who are my favourites to watch.

The main thing I’ve done is painted our 3rd bedroom which I use as a home office. I’ve promised myself a make over for about 2 years, however last year it got put off due to my brothers illness, so now I felt there was no excuse. I luckily had the forethought to purchase paint and supplies just prior to lockdown. I have completed most of it with the help of Amazon. I love my newly tidied organised space and will complete it once we can return to the shops.

My home office makeover

We have also spent a lot of time in the garden catching up with jobs. Mr Fitz has painted the fence – approximately 40 panels and I’ve painted our wrought iron gates, again I purchased what I needed in the week leading up to the request to Stay at Home.

Thankfully the weather has been kind and we have been able to spend plenty of time sitting in the garden. Today we have revamped our patio space with the finishing touch of an outdoor rug from Wayfair, which arrived today. Its a lovely space and one we hope to continue to enjoy.

New patio set up with Wayfair rug

The only problem is that we have a resident bat who returned from hibernation at Easter. He is the only blot on the landscape as I am petrified of him as he flies so close to the windows and patio doors. Another topic for a future post.

Also I have enjoyed cooking and baking. Being more creative than usual with the food we have. I’ve made cakes, fishcakes, curries, a fabulous lemon drizzle cake using a Jane Asher packet mix from Quality Save and tonight I am making homemade spicy burgers.

Some of my home cooking

Also we have joined in the weekly Clap for Carers – our whole Cul De Sac has joined in and I find the response so emotional, especially as many family members, ex colleagues, family and friends are still out there on the frontline in different capacities.

Family

Obvously missing direct contact with family is hard. My poor Sister in Law has lost my brother after 45 years of marriage and is coming to terms with living alone and now its enforced its particularly difficult for her. We all stay in contact via phone, social media and Wattsapp.

Well I think that sums up our month. I hope you are all staying safe and staying home. What have you been doing and what have been your biggest challenges during life in lockdown? I’d love to hear what you are doing or what is worrying you. A problem shared is a problem halved.

Stay safe, stay home and keep washing your hands.