Sunday 20 September 2020

Project 366 : Photo diary week 38

 This week, the lurgy hit. As a teacher, I'm quite used to getting a cold when we all go back to school. What with a total change of routine, feeling tired and needing more sleep, plus having dozens of kids coughing and sneezing all over you and not always remembering to put their hands over their mouths. (That's one advantage of them all wearing masks !) Juliette was the first to have signs of a cold, then mine started a day later and Pierre at the end of the week. It's basically just a really bad cold - a runny nose that means I have to keep walking into the corridor and taking off my mask so that I can blow my nose, then going back into my classroom and disinfecting my hands, a nasty cough and just a general feeling of being run-down. Then Juliette's friend, who is now in a different class to her but they get the bus together and still talk a lot, said that one of her classmates is off with coronavirus - but only half of the class is confined. And one of my pupil's parents messaged to say that the little sister has coronavirus so he'll be off for a week then will be back if his test comes back negative. For peace of mind, I decided I should go and get tested, but it would have to wait until the weekend and by then, it had started to shift. Even if it did come back positive, you only get a week off then need a new test and, if it's a pupil, the rest of the class stays open now anyway. Not how sure this is going to evolve ! :-/


Sunday 13th September - Juliette called from her sleepover to say she'd be home in the afternoon, so I didn't even bother cooking Sunday lunch. I used up leftovers with Pierre then cooked the roast dinner in the evening instead. Pierre went out with his friends on his bike in the afternoon so I was home alone. Didn't do anything special though. I just caught up on washing. I'm not even sure this tiger onesie fits Pierre any more but it's cooling down in the evenings so he might want to wear it soon !


Monday - Work in the morning then my afternoon off - aaaah ! I spent it catching up with marking and going to the supermarket to get a new Sodastream gas canister. Very exciting - not ! We're still enjoying taking Didou the dog out for a walk after dinner every evening. The nights are starting to draw in though. A few weeks ago, we'd be coming home in blazing sunshine, then we would have the sunsets on the way back. Now, the sunset is happening just as we head out and it's starting to get dingy on the way back.


Tuesday - Another sign that autumn is arriving and summer is basically over. Our fruit bowl currently has apples, grapes and figs in it. Gone are the strawberries and raspberries from just a few weeks ago. Today was a busy day at work. After lessons in the morning, I spent my free-hour sorting out a computer with a webcam with Windows 8 with the school librarian (we discovered the app wouldn't work on Windows 10) then spent the afternoon in a video conference with the Norwegian researchers and Spanish, British and French teachers for the Critical Thinking project. It all got put on hold during confinement so now it's kicking off again. I need to sort out a new lesson plan using critical thinking. I thought maybe I'd look at all the myths and fake news surrounding coronavirus and how to stay safe, then moved towards they myths of Thanksgiving, which should be easier for the kids to understand in English hopefully !

 

Wednesday - Just the morning at work then headed home ... and slept all afternoon. Oops ! Not feeling great though and coughing kept me awake last night, so it probably did me good. Juliette flaked out too. Hmmmm.


Thursday - A full day at work, then had a quick get-together to give some retirement gifts to one of our cleaners. She's lovely and has been with us for years, so it made us laugh when, the next day, she left a thank you card in the staffroom along with a tin of biscuits and two tins of chocolates ! Took the dog out and looked at all the flowers springing up in the fields. There are loads of really random flowers that I've never seen before. No idea what these ones are, but they look pretty cool and add a lovely splash of colour against the dark green grass.


Friday - This was dinner and I spent the whole time thinking "there's never going to be enough" ! I had a couple of large veal fillets that I chopped up and fried, along with some onions and mushrooms, before adding some cream. There was pasta to go with it, but it still didn't look enough, so I added a small tin of peas and carrots. It still didn't look enough but it turned out, there was plenty. I went from cooking for five to four after Madhouse Daddy died, then to three when Sophie went to England to study, plus Pierre eats like a sparrow, so I really need to reduce quantities. It's the same with rice, pasta and potatoes - I always end up adding more then they're not needed. Luckily Pierre can use them up for lunch so it's not wasted.


Saturday - Phew, we made it to the weekend ! I had planned on heading to the local covid testing centre but actually felt better after (finally !) a good night's sleep. Checked out symptoms lists online and I think it's just a bad cold. Treated myself to a lazy day. Went to McDonald's then the cemetery with Juliette and the weekly shop in Lidl. That was it - settled into bed with a book (a children's book, just for ultimate feel-goodness value !), then read and slept all afternoon. Aaah this is definitely the way to get over a cold ! 

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28 comments:

  1. Oh no! How rubbish you have all been unwell. I am glad you are starting to feel better now.
    It is starting to get dark really early here. It seems summer is almost over.
    Your lesson plan sounds interesting. x

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    1. Summer seems so long ago now. The weather seemed to totally switch then never went back to sunshine ! :-/

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  2. Urgh, September colds are just so annoying. N's had one too, plus me a little as well. Hopefully it's passed now.

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    1. Ahhh it's a bit of a rite of passage ! Just all the extra worry this year that it could be something more ...

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  3. Sorry to hear you've been unwell, not surprised really surrounded by kids all day, it was inevitable. I'm the same with cooking as the kids have gradually left home, now I never seem to cook enough for two, but when I cook just for one, always have enough left overs for another meal.

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    1. It's hard to cut back ! I keep cooking up a smaller portion and panicking at the last minute that there's not enough, but there usually is !

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  4. Sorry to hear you’ve all come down with colds this week. How worrying to have coronavirus cases in your schools. The Critical Thinking project sounds interesting. Adjusting the amounts you’re cooking downwards is hard. It took me ages to adjust to cooking for three after Jessica died (although I’m back to cooking for four again now). Glad you’re starting to feel better and hope you had a restful weekend. #project366

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    1. It is hard adjusting. Luckily the kids use up the leftovers when I can't get home for lunch ! A restful weekend sounds like bliss at the moment ! lol

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  5. Oh no, that doesn't sound good, all of you having colds. Hope you're all on the mend now. It's so worrying these days, not knowing if it's just a cold or something worse. The flower in the grass looks like some type of snapdragon? The evenings get darker here too. The book looks good, Hilary McKay is a very good author.

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    1. We're all over the worst of it now, thank goodness ! It does look a bit like a snapdragon, so maybe it's from the same family.

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  6. All the colds have arrived here too, an inevitable part of going back to school isn't it, but the covid element really doesn't help. Hope you're all feeling better this week #366

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    1. We're definitely over the worst of it now. Still an annoying lingering cough but not too bad :)

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  7. The back to school bug, the joys! Liv has had a bunged up nose and felt grotty this week, so far I am hanging on in there. I put this down to Keto, I'm going to stick on it as long as possible! Hope you are all feeling much better now and that it has all calmed down a little at school. Several high schools locally have sent home entire Year 11 (GCSE year) groups to isolate at home for 2 weeks... will be interesting to see how the exams go next year, total knock on effect!
    Didou is absolutely gorgeous - sending lots of cuddles over! Hope you are all having a better week! Sim x

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    1. It's hard to know what will happen with exams - total nightmare ! Glad the keto seems to be good at fighting off colds - that may well convince me to give it a go ! ;-)

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  8. Sorry to hear you have been ill. I have just completed my second week back teaching early years and have a stinking cold too - I have lost my sense of taste so am now isolating and waiting for a test too. Pretty sure its negative, but am being careful

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    1. Oh no ! Hope it does come back negative ! Better to be safe than sorry :)

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  9. How rubbish you have all been unwell. I'm glad you are starting to feel better now. It is starting to get dark really early here x

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    1. I hate it when it's dark in the morning when we go to work then dark again when we come back home - it feels like we're missing out on life for a few months !

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  10. Sorry to hear you haven't been well. I can imagine the mask and a cold are tricky. It's interesting that every country seems to do things differently.

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    1. It is interesting, slightly worrying too. I know Boris was following France pretty much to the letter all the way through, as we were a couple of weeks ahead of the UK, right up until the kids went back to school. Now we're veering apart. No idea who has it right though !

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  11. Poor you feeling ill. So many germs going round at the moment. It's frustrating wondering if we have COVID or just a regular cold. I guess there will be a lot more of that soon with us approaching flu season.

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    1. Probably ! The worst thing at the moment is going to work on the bus and getting death stares if you cough or sneeze ! lol

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  12. We've all had various colds over the past few weeks and I've been frantically googling covid symptoms even though I KNOW it isn't! Hope you are all better now #project366

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    1. Oh I know ! I have to think about my family but also potentially infecting the kids at school too, which just makes it even worse ! :-/

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  13. There is so much going round now the kids are back at school we have all had a cold here too. Sounds interesting re not shutting the whole class for a positive test. Here the whole year group (120 kids) would be confined to home.

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    1. I don't know who has the best answer for COVID - I think a lot of it is sheer guesswork !

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  14. I hope you all get better. It's quite a complicated situation. Here, a 4th yeat student got COVID so the department she was at was sealed and we all got tested for COVID. Roast sounds tempting. The onesie looks cool. Didou looks adorable. Critical Thinking project sounds interesting, especially with teachers of different nationalities. Idk the exact name but we gave a nickname for those yellow flowers, 'dog flowers' because when you press it gently on either sides, the petals separate as if a mouth is opened. The food looks delicious.

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    1. Oooh I'm glad your test came back negative - scary times ! The flower (or a similar one) is nicknamed dragonplant in the UK for the same reason ! :)

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