It's the penultimate day of 2020. I've spent the whole of Christmas home alone and it looks like we will be in full (Level 4/Tier 4) lockdown for a good few months yet. The number of cases is rising quicker than ever thanks to a new UK strain of the virus which transmits much easier and hospital admissions are currently higher than the last peak. There are reports of ambulances having to wait for 24 hours with their patients, the ambulance crew said it had their busiest Christmas on record. The UHW in Cardiff had to appeal for trained medical staff to volunteer to help them out over the Christmas break as they needed extra staff to prone patients (turn them on to their fronts to assist in their breathing). My old housemate's Dad died of Covid just before Christmas. He was taken into hospital on the Friday and was dead by Sunday morning. So awful, such a shock for her.
Hospital staff are expecting another surge of patients over the next couple of weeks thanks to people ignoring the advice not to mix and Christmas and New Year and on top of that we have the joys of Brexit to come, we really are stepping into the unknown.
Despite all of that I'm less stressed than I have been all years thanks to finally having some proper time off. Everything is great when I'm not working. If there wasn't a global pandemic and Brexit and the grim reality that thousands more people are going to lose their jobs in the next few months I would happily hand my notice in. I really do have to think about leaving in the next year or so though, I can't keep doing a job that makes me so miserable and angry.
Trapped at home with nowhere to go I've been doing lots more Skillshare tutorials and am picking up more and more skills but the main problem I'm having is finding my style. So I'm doing some classes on that too. I've also done classes in cartooning and animation. I think it's important to have all of the skills as each can help you in various ways. I've also started a class in helping you to reach your goals, the hardest thing was deciding what my goals were. Really it's just to give up work and earn enough from my art so that I never have to do a 'normal' job again.
On Christmas Eve I baked my nut roast, mince pies (from a vegan kit that Natalie posted to me), stuffing (vile, had to be thrown in the bin!) and mushroom pate. My friend Sam surprised me when she knocked on the door and when I opened it there was a parcel on my step and she and her family were on the opposite side of the road singing Christmas carols. Hysterical. Dexter the dog was going nuts.
On Christmas Day I made a flask of Baileys coffee, packed a mince pie and set off to have. walk on the beach. It was FREEZING and the car was covered in thick ice, I even had to de-ice the INSIDE of the windscreen. Then low and behold, my car wouldn't start. Typical 2020. So I had a walk around the estate and sat in Pencoedtre Park drinking my coffee and staring at the council estate. On the plus side lot of people waved at me in their cars as they passed (it was the Santa hat!) and I got to say merry Christmas to a few strangers and even stroke a 16 week old French Bulldog. Very cute,
Then it was home, quick FaceTime with Liz, shower and then a two hour Zoom with the family as we opened our Christmas presents. Luckily we thought that Christmas might be cancelled and bought our own presents, so we all had things to open. We drank sherry and I was pretty skewiff by the time I came off the call. I had to stop drinking whilst I cooked dinner!! Then an afternoon of drinking, Love Actually and a Zoom with Deirdre in Dublin. It was different and quiet but it wasn't too bad.
I got out for a few local walks and had a couple of 'lazy days' and also started doing Pilates as my back was in so much agony. Now my entire body is in agony, so I need to pick up again in a few days time. I really need to focus on losing weight, getting my fitness back up and stopping my body from aching all over. I think I might try a standing desk, that should take some pressure off my spine.
Tomorrow is New Years Eve and I'll be having a walk then a bubble bath with champagne (the boss bought me a bottle of Tattinger for Christmas) and candles then a night in with a cheese board. Just like last year. Except this year there won't be a firework display. I suppose the locals will be setting them off though, or maybe not if all of the non-essential shops are closed. Who knows!
Another swathe of the country goes into Tier 4 tomorrow. I have no idea where as once you're in the top tier you don't really care about it. I honestly can't see pubs etc opening again until March at the earliest.
Life is hold for a few more months now UNLESS the government manage to do something right for once and ramp up the vaccination process. My parents should be getting vaccinated in January due to their age, but we'll see.
So I'm signing off for the year. I'm truly hoping that 2021 will bring some good news, but in all honesty we've got a very difficult few months to get through yet before things get any better. McDonalds already have signs up their stores advising that they may not have lettuce or tomatoes to go into their burgers should the food supply become disrupted. I may be using my tinned potatoes from my Brexshit store cupboard earlier than planned!
Here's to hope! And goodbye 2020 you fucker!
