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This week I'm going rogue! I'm looking at ten positive things about isolation and lockdown.
1) An excuse to BUY ALL THE BOOKS!
When do us bookworms ever need such an excuse? We are of course doing it to help the poor authors whose sales may have been hit by the crisis, so we are doing it for selfless reasons really. Getting all those shiny paperbacks or downloading the books on sale for Kindle are just the added bonus right? With it being an exceptional circumstance, we don't REALLY need to look at the number of books on the TBR right now...credit for the drawing goes to author Allie Brosh, who wrote Hyperbole and a Half. Read it if you get the chance!
2) An excuse to BUY ALL THE CHEESE!
Cheese is my favourite food and I can't do without it. I bought a pile of cheese to use for cooking which will last until the end of June, but I also bought cheese for personal eating too. I got a lovely wooden cheeseboard, lots of flavoured chutneys, oat biscuits, cheesy crackers, cheesy bread and a wide range of cheese from Snowdonia and The Cheddar Gorge, which will do me right through to the second week in July, and the company assures me that they continue to make and deliver their cheese so I can keep buying it through the lockdown! I'd had the Snowdonia Cheese before but this was my first sample of the Cheddar Gorge Company so a big shout out to both for their delicious products!
https://www.welshcheesecompany.co.uk/our-producers/snowdonia-cheese-company/
https://www.cheddaronline.co.uk/
3) An excuse to BUY ALL THE CHOCOLATE!
Before we even heard of the pandemic, my dad treated me to four big bags of mini eggs and six medium Easter Eggs so I was already well sorted. When I first heard of the pandemic I was able to order from Amazon four boxes of Dairy Box chocolates (one has been eaten!) and from the supermarket, two tins of Heroes chocolate for me and two big boxes of Milk Tray for my dad. The local shops are selling Easter Eggs but I'm still hoping their price will drop before I grab them!
https://www.cadbury.co.uk/
4) An excuse to BUY ALL THE BEER!
I always enjoyed a cold beer with lime but hadn't had one for the best part of fifteen years so for the lockdown I grabbed four bottles of lime cordial and a pile of beer for my dad and I. I have a can on Friday and Satueday night with my cheeseboard which has been great, and it's nearly Friday again! I also have tasty cheese and onion, prawn cocktail, beef, and monster munch crisps to enjoy with it. I like to buy Tennents Lager for this purpose.
5) An excuse to watch old soaps!
Call it a soap, call it a serial drama but I've watched Coronation Street since the late 70's and I love it! I have every episode from April 1976 to the present day other than five missing episodes which I keep looking for! (I used to watch Eastenders in the early years but lost interest in it by the mid 2000s) Over the last few years I've been re-watching the old episodes starting from 1976 and I'm now right up at 1992. I hope to plough through a lot more this year! I'm a big fan of the Barlows, the Platts, the Connors...favourite recent characters are Peter Barlow, Steve McDonald and Carla Connor.
https://coronationstreet.fandom.com/wiki/Coronation_Street_Wiki
https://www.itv.com/hub/coronation-street/1a0694
6) An excuse to binge watch reality TV!
Having got my hands on long awaited dvd box sets of Deadliest Catch and Gold Rush, I think it might be time to binge watch series like this from the start! I can't remember which series I last watched for Gold Rush plus I have the spin offs like Parker's Trail, Dave Turin's Lost Mines and Gold Rush White Water with the Dakota Boys to catch up with. I might binge watch Ax Men too if I can get the final series! Deadliest Catch is my favourite and I enjoy watching the current captains-Sig, Keith and Monty, Wild Bill, Jake A, Jake H and Casey. I do miss Andy and Johnathan and the Time Bandit!
https://www.discoveryuk.com/series/deadliest-catch-sig-hansen-legacy/
7) An excuse to watch my favourite films!
In the mornings while I blog, I've been watching some of my favourite films like the four Jaws films, The Mummy, Star Wars 4-6, Jurassic Park/World, Harry Potter etc. I thonk it might be time to revisit other favourite series that I'm not fully caught up with like Saw, Predator, Jeepers Creepers, Halloween, Final Destination, Anaconda, The Hunger Games, Die Hard, Jumanji, Rocky, Rambo. I also really need to catch up with films I haven't seen like the Purge series, The Expendables, Fantastic Beasts, the superhero films and a ton more.
8) An excuse to plough through documentaries from YouTube!
Last year I watched all the political documentaries that I'd downloaded over the last few years-though I've still to watch the US election ones-and I'm currently watching Royal related docs, State Opening of Parliament, Jubilee celebrations and Royal weddings and funerals. I still have quite a few to watch but I'm devoting a couple of nights a week to getting through the rest of them. I still have a ton of military ones to watch-the wars, SAS Who Dares Wins, the behind the scenes of army, navy and air force basic training, specialist training courses for submarines and special forces etc.
9) An excuse to catch up on my news scrapbook!
The last thing in my news scrapbook was the London 2012 Paralympics! It is very time consuming-first I cut out every article of interest from the daily newspapers. Months or years later I look at them again and discard any that no longer interest me or have proven to be fake stories. Then I read each article and cut out the interesting paragraphs, discarding the rest, and put the cuttings into categories like sport, politics, royalty, special events. After that I start piecing all the stories together like a gigantic jigswa puzzle, trying to fill all the gaps, which takes forever! This virus lockdown is an excuse to get on with catching up every afternoon. This week alone I have completed sticking in September, October and November 2012, and I'm really happy with that! Lots more to do though...
10) An excuse not to go out!
All my friends are online so I have no 'real world' friends to miss meeting up with! The few I stayed in touch with from school vanished when I got depression. I'm not a social animal, I hate going out unless I have to, so the actual lockdown isn't really bothering me from that point of view. I'm happy to stay indoors and wait it out.
I haven’t been buying much because my grocery store is pretty empty, but I have been reading a ton. I got through all of the Sherlock Holmes books during the 3 weeks I’ve been in isolation.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
The local shops have the basics which is all I need. I've always bought in advance so my cupboards anf freezer are usually topped up, meaning I don't need to go near supermarkets for about 6 months! We're spending more time watching things like Gold Rush!
DeleteMy daughter is also buying all the cheese. Here I was thinking it was something unique to her, but it seems to be "a thing". I never need an excuse not to go out, but at least now people won't annoy me about wanting to stay in
ReplyDeleteYes buying all the cheese is vital! I can do without some food but never the cheese! I like to stay in away from people if I possibly can! Lockdown should be great for you and me on that basis!
DeleteThese are great! I agree, buy all the books, cheese and booze and binge until your heart is content. I saw on Today this morning that alcohol sales have increased some HUGE amount since this all started. I can fully understand why. We've been binging Shameless in the evenings. Nothing like family dysfunction to get out minds off of things.
ReplyDeleteBuy everything! Buy the treats and the books! I'm limiting the beer to two nights per week with just one can on each night, so I can ration it. My dad and I plan to watch Gold Rush and then maybe Deadliest Catch...entertainment is vital isn't it!
DeleteI'm all for the cheese and chocolate! I love that you're catching up on your scrapbooks. I had forgotten about Deadliest Catch! I was a fan of it in the early years but drifted away. I need to catch up!
ReplyDeleteDeadliest Catch is my favourite TV show, well along with American Ninja Warrior! As long as I don't run out of cheese and chocolate, I'll be fine!
DeleteI never go out really - except for errands or for a walk and I don't hang out with people but I somehow got invited to go on a socially isolated hike this weekend lol
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of off the beaten path trails out here so we're to meet with the guide (a man my husband works with) and he'll show us the different paths and we all go our own way.
Despite having been alone for weeks I'm not excited to see anyone lol
Karen @ For What It's Worth
I'm never excited to see anyone especially strangers on a regular day! I'm happy to get stuff delivered and just avoid going out. Life isn't changing much for us to be honest-I just need to keep a careful eye on supplies as months go by.
DeleteI hate that this is happening but I can see the good side of things. I have a perfect excuse to kick back and get some reading done. I am getting some unexpected time with my daughter who has had to move back home from college. I am getting some unexpected time off work. I am safe and comfortable in my home. I just hate that other people are suffering.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it is that I have a warm home, electricity, my computer, TV, DVD player, films and box sets, food and water, my dad for company, books and music...I'm ok! Like you said, we're safe and comfortable and I'll do anything to avoid catching this virus!
Delete