My wife and I travelled to London with two friends for an indulgent breakfast. We had intended to come with our children and Leia for lunch over half term, but COVID ruined that.
The children wanted to stay behind as my son wanted to de clutter his room and my daughter had been out late and wanted to catch up on sleep, college work and also her household chores.
Breakfast was great and after we had a little walk which took in Brick Lane. It is always great going back to where my wife and I have memories, though the area has changed a lot and is a lot nicer than it used to be before. Getting back I wound down getting ready for work next week, and I hope to be fresh and ready for what the week holds.
That was an enjoyable film. My wife and I watched it together with Leia. My daughter was away at a friends house and my son, who had watched some Grey’s Anatomy with me earlier today, watched his own things.
We had tried to go for a walk in Brightlingsea in the morning, but it started to rain once we got there, and it stopped once we left. My daughter had taken Leia for a walk before then, but a family walk, admittedly without my son, would have been good.
As for the film, it was good to watch and it did keep me guessing until the end. I loved how it kept us engaged so well even though there were a few minor plot holes.
Finally Arsenal won. We are still top of the league but with The Team That Rhymes With City winning by an even bigger margin, goal difference will be against us.
The second invasion of Ukraine started a year ago. Many have called for negotiations with Russia to end the war. With this in mind, I think that it is fair to mention the previous negotiations that have taken place.
In 1994, The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances was signed where Russia, the US and the UK confirmed their recognition of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine becoming parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and effectively abandoning their nuclear arsenal to Russia, and that they agreed to the following:
- Respect the signatory's independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.
- Refrain from the threat or the use of force against the signatory.
- Refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by the signatory of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.
- Seek immediate Security Council action to provide assistance to the signatory if they "should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used".
- Refrain from the use of nuclear arms against the signatory.
- Consult with one another if questions arise regarding those commitments.
We saw what happened with that in 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea and likewise, invaded and supported an insurrection in The Donbass.
Also, before the invasion last year, it appeared at a meeting, that the decision to annexe Ukrainian territory had already been made, but not officially.
Normally, negotiation is needed to end conflict. However, Putin appears to see it as a way to regroup, rearm and invade again. If we have a negotiated peace in Ukraine, we need to decide if it is worth enforcing it when Russia finds a reason to break it again.
Today I was told at work, that walking the dog has not helped me by someone who looked pointedly at my stomach and told me that I needed to start cycling again. Honesty is the best policy, I guess I had better listen.
First of all, family. My son seems to be be coping much better than my wife and I with his COVID infection, my daughter though maybe developing symptoms. My wife is regaining her energy levels faster than me, but Leia is now showing signs of fatigue which make us think that she may have picked it up from us.
Second of all, Arsenal are top of the league again. I try not to hear the scores until I watch Match Of The Day, but I heard that we were 2-1 down at half time. Needless to say I was in ecstasy when I found out that we won, even more so when The Team That Rhymes With City drew.
My son tested positive for COVID this morning as my wife tested negative. He had out the recycling last night, but despite being warned, also left the food compost bin out. He agreed to pick up the food if the foxes got to it, but was positive and too unwell to do it, so my wife did it instead. But as I am positive, he did not need to isolate alone and came into my room to watch Grey’s Anatomy with me.
That was until my daughter freed us. My wife and I thought that she brought COVID into the house, and she appears to agree as she decided that my son and I do not have to isolate.
We will find out soon if she has made the right decision or not.
This is another film that I had always intended to watch, but never got round to. I watched it with my wife who expected the plot to follow a Rom-Com storyline, but it did not, most of the time. It was an enjoyable comedy and one that I am surprised that I have never watched before especially as I have watched and enjoyed the sequel Get Him To The Greek.
Like the series, The White Lotus, this is a great advert for Hawaii but my only quibble with this, is the very male take on being unfaithful. If the situation was reversed, I would consider my partner to have been unfaithful (not that she very would cheat). Other than that, a great comedy and exactly what I needed while recovering from COVID. And if like me, you have not watched it, it is worth watching, but I doubt that I will take time out to watch it again.
One of the plus sides of being in isolation, is that I have had time to watch things I had recorded but never got around to watching. Weird Science was one. I am sure that I had watched most of it when younger, but I honestly do not think that I had watched it all.
I see no point in showing this to my children who have grown up in a different time to me, but my wife and I enjoyed the film. By the standards of today, it has a predictable plot, but at the time, this was an awesome film. Basically, if you grew up during the 1980’s, you will probably appreciate the film. I am very glad that I have finally got round to watching it, but I do wonder what happened to the grandparents!
I am feeling a bit better than yesterday, but still feel awful. I have a lot more sympathy for my son who has had to isolate twice, but I have the company of my wife while he had none.
Yesterday my wife and I watched all of Happy Valley which was the plus side of feeling so unwell. Although I do feel sorry for myself, I could be worse, one of the doctors where I work got COVID before me and she is short of breath going up the stairs.
Also, to make me feel even more down, Arsenal lost yesterday. This morning, I watched the highlights of the expected loss to the Team That Rhymes With City. I think it is unfair to blame just Takehiro Tomiyasu for the first goal as there was a header which had been lost first, but it was interesting to see that they would play Route One Football when needed and the highlights did not show Arsenal doing the same.
Anyway, we have two children again today. My daughter was at a sleepover on Tuesday night and did not get home till the afternoon and then was out again in the evening. My son made a great meal last night from Gousto but Leia has found it very stressful as she knows we are locked away and keeps whining at our door to let her in. This happens less when both children are about but is more of an issue if there is just one child here. I feel sorry that the half term week which we had hoped to spend time with them has now resulted in them looking after us. We will make it up to them later.
Hopefully I will be feeling a bit better tomorrow. That and I hope we beat Aston Villa on Saturday when we visit the home of our former manager, Unai Emery.
I tested positive today to the plague. The bright side of this is that I have spent Valentines day with my wife, the downside for her is that she has spent it with me. While unwell, I have been well enough to work from home, something which has meant that she is not able to rest as much as she would like.
My daughter is out at friends and my son is enjoying his freedom to play his music as loud as he wants downstairs...
My wife tested positive for the plague last night. She has been out on Friday night to a book club and had been to a work meeting last week as well.
This means that the rest of us are probably going to get it was we went to London yesterday. As you can see, Leia found the Cat Café to be fascinating. My daughter said her being in there would be like a cage fight, which made me laugh and my wife despair! We did not get to spend long in London as we had to return as my wife felt unwell and also because my daughter needed to help a friend so had a great coffee before we left.
The downside of this is that my daughter may have infected her friend, assuming she was not the source of the infection anyway. I have got back from work. My wife is isolating in her bedroom and the kids have been looking after her. Tomorrow they plan to meet up with friends, so long as they feel well. They say tomorrow is another day, we shall see.
I am shattered. I was meant to have CPR training last year, but due to a few reasons I missed it. So today I travelled to Norfolk to have it. Unfortunately I was tired, yesterday was busy and when I got home late, the children, who were beginning their half term holiday, had not taken Leia for her walk. Which meant that my day was even more tiring. Training was tiring but I got some rest on the way back when I charged my car.
Getting back, everyone was kind to me as I also picked up the takeaway order that was our dinner and later
Anyway, I am both sad and glad after watching Match of the Day as Arsenal dropped two points against Brentford. To be fair, from the highlights, we appear to have been lucky to be a goal ahead as Brentford. They have had a good run and it is surprising that they are not in a better league position. However, the Brentford goal does look offside and we know need Aston Villa to do us a favour tomorrow as our goal difference is not enough and I really fear our mid week game.
My son found out yesterday that his maths mock exam was to include subjects that he had yet to learn while he was sitting it. My wife and I disagreed with the usefulness of this, but he did not seem to be too fazed as many in his class had the same issues.
My daughter did the cooking. I had intended to do this, but I had some bad news about the holidays I had requested and was not quite in the right frame. To be honest, she made dinner better than I could so it was great that I was not able to cook!
PMQ's yesterday was quite tame. The main questions from Starmer were to show unity for the view of the President of Ukraine. The SNP instead tried to take over the role of the opposition and failed miserably when it came to bringing up the claims of Liz Truss that she was not to blame for the economic crash which took place under her watch. As Sunak had said when he took office, mistakes had been made. I did not get to listen/watch it live as I had a meeting when it was on, but I caught up with this on the dog walk that took place later in the day.
My son said his mock exams went okay, by that he said his mock exam was bad for everyone. My daughter is complaining about the attention the wrong type of boys are giving her. However she did have a moment of glee when she took a photo of the bald spot that I had not realised that I had. I have known my hair is thinning at the front, that and coming out of my ears and nose. I had not realised that I had lost hair at the crown of my head, let alone so much.
Needless to say this was the subject of much mirth in the house.
Lynn is staying over night today, the children expressing no surprise when I said that she is not a morally pure auntie who wags her finger at them.
Anyway, I am going to finish this happy day by watching The Last Of Us.
First of all, family. My son has mock exams coming up this weekend. My daughter has had her own stresses to deal with but I have had two great walks with Leia, one at Fingringhoe Wick yesterday with my daughter who had never been there before, the other today in Highwoods Park. The photo is from the walk from yesterday.
Yesterday I was quite sad to learn that Arsenal lost against Everton as this meant that Manchester City would be closer to us in the title race if they won against Tottenham Hotspur’s. But today the Scum beat the Team That Rhymes With City. I will have a jaunty spring in my step tomorrow but for a wrong reason. But if we win the title, I will not care.
