Toilet roll situation: Still on the same toilet roll. Probably have about 23/24th of my toilet roll left. 

Pasta stocks: good.

The same as yesterday, except for:

• Minus one packet of stuffed Asda’s ‘extra special’ stuffed sage and butternut squash ravioli.  “Serves two”, my ass. Which two people are they feeding here?? Did they have starters??? Did they eat a loaf of garlic bread with it?? They must have at least had pudding (I ate the whole thing and I am definitely having cake)
• Plus  one open packet of macaroni, which I guess was actually there yesterday I just didn’t see this. Am slightly distressed by this, because it means that, as standard, I have five bags of pasta. Housemate is gluten free, so this is all my pasta. Do I exist in a permanent state of stockpiling pasta? Is this normal? Haven’t actually bought any for months. Does it breed in cupboards?

(We won’t get into quantities of rice).

Cough: Worse than yesterday. Also feel like can’t fill lungs properly and struggle to catch breath after strenuous activity such as walking upstairs. Not horrendous. Wouldn’t recommend it to a friend. Also would tell a friend that it’s totally manageable, especially if I had infected said friend. 

Temperature: No temperature today. Definitely did have one yesterday & day before.

Today’s verdict on whether I have coronavirus: Probably? Doubts based on providence of illness and the fact that housemates and the people I cooked for last week all seem perfectly healthy. Maybe they are better at not touching their face than me??

Human contact: 

Phone calls: 

• Friend for a chat during our mutual break. Also set up a remote video call lunch, which was nice. 
• Work asking if I needed anything to get all set up working from home, as almost everyone is going to be doing this from next week.
• A different person at work who I thought had called me, but who had not. This was a short conversation. 
• Friend who came down with flu before flu-like-symptoms meant staying inside, but who has residual cough and is now scared of coughing in public. It’s a challenging time for coughers. Think of the habitual smokers at this time, folks. Coughing is a way of life, not just for COVID.

Visitors:

• Friend who dropped me off cake from work (from a safe distance)
• Friend/work colleague of IT help desk fame, who came round to fit a wifi extender so I can actually use the home office I set up.

Also, work meetings. Also whatsapp. 

Mum’s top tip of the day: No top tip yet, but she did send me this horrifying picture. 

This is her mother’s old doll. She split a cup of tea and had to undress it and once she took the clothes off it fell apart. She is trying to repair it, so I assume this has sentimental value.

Am going to compare my life to this doll’s whenever overwhelmed by isolation and or any other issue to remind myself that things could be much much worse.

General:

Have done much better today in embracing the positives about being at home.

Am drinking my nice ground coffee as there’s no longer any instant. It tastes a lot more like coffee and is much nicer, generally, but usually I make myself coffee in a rush while stumbling out the door because the-person-who-is-giving-me-a-lift-to-work is already outside. This is really a gift of time and I can use that time for important things, like nice coffee. Am taking this as a metaphor for this whole situation. 

I actually really like my home and I don’t get to spend enough time in it. Housemate is off long term sick and I get occasional wave of irrational jealousy that she gets to do things like sit in the conservatory during the day during that sweet spot of the year where it isn’t a sauna-torture-chamber or sucker-of-warmth but is instead bright, warm and lovely. By the time I get home from work, it’s cold and depressing. Often find that I’m away or out during the day at weekends — so when do I get to enjoy this room of my own house?

Well, the answer is: quarantine. 

I’m also not a morning person. My morning philosophy is that if it means I have to get out of bed more than 5 minutes before I have to leave the house, then I have wasted valuable sleep time. This includes: actually looking in the mirror, eating breakfast, being on time for work (am not horrible employee; we have flexi time so I just stay late). Great thing about COVID Quarantine is I can finally fulfill my dream of:

Starting work later, getting home at the same time and not being paid less. 

It’s perfect! My commute is actually pretty short (10/ 20 mins) but —- usually after the appropriate flapping about tidying up my desk and the traffic I get home for 5:30 or 5:45. Meaning to finish work at that same time, I can start work later, meaning I can either:

1. Get out of bed later
2. Have breakfast and nice coffee in my conservatory 

Yesss!

Obviously, things are not ideal. Yesterday when I was crying over the 14 day announcement one of the things I was thinking was about hugs. I don’t know how often I’m hugged, but I’m pretty sure that it’s more than once a week, and having that physical barrier pushed upon me did not feel great. Had a bit of an internal debate about whether I’m allowed to go outside to put my bin out  (I did) and lost half a day of work because, as it turns out, my cheap-as-chips wifi doesn’t actually stretch to my study when you’re trying to load really complicated spreadsheets, so I kept having to relocate. Ran out of onions (but food delivery on Thursday)

Most of the office is moving to work from home for tomorrow, so guess I won’t be going back next week anyway. It’s a strange time to be alive.

(Morrisons email about deliveries said I had to put on my ‘delivery instructions’ that I am self-isolating. I cannot find this part of the website anywhere??? Loathe to contact their customers services, because already submitted a complaint that they had an offer of 3 for £3 on alpro nut milk, but have limited purchases to 2 types of nut milk.  This is fine, but the nut milk is £1.70 or £1.80 each, so now I am paying MORE for 2 than I would be for 3?? Have not yet got confirmation for Morrisons as to whether they are happy for me to pay £3 for 2. Or if they will just remove the offer to avoid the mild annoyance that I experienced. Still v. greatful that they will be bringing me food. 

Maybe I will write ‘PLAGUE’ in big letters and stick it on the front window. This feels like it would work).