18 days in
Wow – really? Have I been shackled to this house for 18 days? Time flies or not when you are doing very little in the way of work…Ok, for those of you who don’t know me, that just well never happens; not for me anyway. I make things to do, I conjure up things to do, I create things to do, but I can’t manufacture work and so if I can’t write about your business, your event, your child’s achievement in school or inspire your children to write then, since you are reading this, you will know that I have turned my pen, or rather keyboard, to blogging.
My Groundhog Day, when I spiralled into depression, thank goodness, was just one day out of the 18 and my incredible friends rallied round to put me back on track… I was so pleased that a good friend who read my last missive said it had helped her. Remember, it is ok not to feel ok, just tell someone and let them help.
So since my last wittering on All Fools Day I have continued with my plan to start every day with a plan. Some are more successful than others, nearly all have been achieved by the end of the day, some require slight modification along the way and if you read on you will find out why…
My photographer pal Liz made me aware of a Facebook page where people were signing up to make scrubs for the NHS and I printed out the pattern… at one stage I wondered if my printer it would ever stop churning our paper! I collected material from the organiser Laura in Bacup and volunteered to write a press article after listening to her on BBC Radio Lancashire.
On Saturday I became a ‘Scrubber’… it had been a while since I had made any clothes so it took me a while to remember what I was doing, but by about 9.30pm I had finished. Far from perfect but I am sure they will be of use. To be honest if felt good doing something rewarding and I was pleased to be able to help such a good cause.
Now Sunday’s plan went somewhat awry when I stupidly cut through the fibre telecom cable completely disabling the house internet and phone. Mega OOPS. This seriously annoyed the 17-year-old son who did not mince his words… I spent the afternoon thinking of how to sort it and then researched telecommunication engineers… it was 9pm… I was fed up with watching TV… and thanks to Yel.com I found Mark, from ARG in Bolton who had excellent reviews and feedback.
Monday morning 8am I messaged his Facebook page and got an immediate reply, £85 to reconnect even though I explained it would probably be a new connection outside and in. By 1pm, less than 24 hours after I inadvertently destroyed the link, we were once again all connected. Glowing review posted! That obviously made me feel a whole lot better, the idiot who caused the problem had also resolved it swiftly and, more importantly, had not been taken for a ride by an unscrupulous engineer.
Feeling pretty darn good, I spotted that my good friend Jules in Weir had finished knitting me a beautiful multi-coloured cardigan so I called to collect it that afternoon and it has hardly been off my back ever since!
The kind Weir Knit and Natter team donated money for fabric for more scrubs and this will hopefully be spent 
next week. Wearing my ‘walking rainbow’ I enjoyed a healthy walk along the Britannia Greenway and I loved being able to hear so many birds singing, you don’t normally hear them because of the traffic on the very busy New Line. I got great photos too and shared them on social media to make people smile.
On Wednesday I had a job! The canteen food from furloughed firm JJO was being donated so I recommended Positive Start’s Food Group as they work across Rossendale. Safe distance photography and interviewing – job done.
I collected pre-cut Scrubs material pattern pieces from Musbury Fabrics, and now a further 14 sets of scrubs are in production across Rossendale. There is a little production line going on and it just shows what a wonderful community we have here in the Valley.
Thursday morning I woke to see the front cover of the Rossendale Free Press didn’t just have Laura’s pic in the top corner but mine too and when I called into School Street News to collect a copy (somewhere I regularly buy papers) they remarked on me being in the paper. Ha ha. The rest of the day was spent making a second pair of cute scrubs in candy pink stripes, they will be ideal for a nurse looking after children, complete with co-ordinated pockets and a heart x
I joined in my third Zoom meeting. This one was the second to be organised by Bacup Business Association, the other was Valley at Work and it is an excellent way for people to keep in contact with each other and show support for each other in what is a testing time for small businesses.
And so to Good Friday – a good turn and I set about litter picking part of New Line I didn’t finish, 22 bottles of alcohol, part of a car and two full bags of litter later. There is still a lot of land to be cleaned but that is for another day. It was nice to receive an Easter egg from Natalie from Morrisons who just happened to be passing. Thanks so much.
The rest of the day’s plan… well that went a little skew but at least some of it was ticked off and I enjoyed an online pub quiz (minus the pub) but with the beer.
So that Mad Dog reference? Not that horrendous 1990s drink MD20/20 – no it was the ‘going out in the midday sun’ however I made sure I litter picked before 12 and so kept a little bit of my sanity!
Writing… it’s what I do.