Toilet roll situation:  I’m gonna level with you, here. On the previous days I was estimating how much loo roll I had left based on how full the toilet roll looked from what I could remember about the last time I went to the loo. This isn’t a very scientific method, especially as I am one of those people who can’t visualise things in my head, so I was mostly just plucking a number out of the air. As a data analyst by profession (I have a badge and everything) this is Not Good Practice.

So, today I have measured. Toilet roll width comes in today at 2.2cm. A control sample of unused loo roll came in at 3.3cm. So I have used 1/3rd of the diameter but, given there is more loo roll when the diameter is bigger, I’m going to estimate that I am about half way through the loo roll. I am sure there is a more accurate way of guessing this, but I am not going to do that.

(Unless self isolation turns into a month long thing. If that happens then I absolutely will).

Pasta stocks: Well.

My Morrisons order arrived today.  I put this order in a week or so ago and I am ashamed to say that I ordered some pasta without realising how much pasta I own. I then meant to go on and cancel the pasta that I ordered because I don’t want to be the panic-buying type, but I forgot.

So, pasta stocks:

• an open half packet of shells 
• A unopened packet of impracticality large pasta
• Out of date lasagne sheets from the Foodbank + one packet of lasange sheets the gluten free housemate told me she has that are full of gluten-y goodness that I can eat if I am ‘running low’ (seems unlikely)
• THREE packets of spaghetti 
• TWO AND A HALF packets of macaroni

I am ashamed. Am swapping 4 packets of pasta with friend for kidney beans because they were cancelled on my food delivery and we now live in a post-currency world where we are bartering for food items. #TheEndIsNigh (I would have just given her these, but she offered me the kidney beans. I like kidney beans.)

Cough: Much better.

Temperature: Nooopeeee!

Today’s verdict on whether I have coronavirus: Shrug face emoji. 

Human contact: 

Phone calls:

• Morrisons for an hour to tell them I was self isolating. Not sure if this counts because I spent 67 minutes on hold and didn’t actually speak to anyone. I did, however, listen to their advert about their match and more card approximately six thousand times. 
• The actual Morrisons delivery driver who told me he was in my area and he could drop off my food early. Thank you nice Morrisons man. 
• Dad / Not-Scotland-Sister for remote ticket to ride.

Video calls:

• LOTS of work meetings. Highlight was when whole team put on the matching Christmas PJs we wore for our annual Christmas photo for a team meeting with our director (I wish I could explain the christmas photo matching PJs thing but there isn’t really an actual explanation. We just decided to do it. Other teams at work do not have christmas pictures. Needless to say, woman in shop was very confused when I bought 12 pairs of matching PJs and told her it was because my colleagues and I were doing a ‘Christmas Card picture’). 
• Friend who is on the ‘needs a flu jab list’ who has been asked to socially distance for 12 weeks for a remote lunch date. Productive lunch time as this led to the satisfactory pasta-for-kidney-beans swap. Plus, I miss her and she’s great. Discussed how might be better for her to get COVID earlier on while NHS not yet overwhelmed, so offered to come over and infect her. Ultimately concluded that my inconclusive diagonsis meant this was unlikely to be worth it.

Visitors: 

• Person from Just Eat who bought round my curry. Put in notes that I wanted a ‘contactless delivery’ but this appears to have gotten lost in translation, as he still waited for me to answer to the door. NO actual physical human contact there, but I am still sorry if you end up with Coronavirus Mr Food Deliverer! Especially as he is likely to be part of gig economy. I’m sorry!! I tried!! Even said through the door ‘just leave it there!’ but communication didn’t work out too well
• Morrisons Man! Not only did he bring me a surprising amount of food, but we also shared a moment of great humour when I had to stand on my sofa and crouch to try and show him my ID through the window and he had to squint at it with a torch to verify that he could leave my wine on my doorstep. 

It is a v. strange world.

Mum’s top tip of the day: Didn’t actually speak to my mother today, but I’ve got this tidbit from yesterday. 

Write down all the places that you’ve been to for the past couple of years, because you won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

Lovely.

General:

Today is probably not going to go down as the most remarkable day in my existence. It was all just kinda fine. Managed to sleep in and be ‘late for work’ despite new flexible routine and indulged in my nice ground coffee and breakfast during my first meeting(s) which is more or less what I do when I actually go to work, so I suppose things are becoming normal at least.

I own instant coffee again (thanks Morrisons) so we’ll see how long I keep up the ‘enjoy the luxuries’ routine.

I did my laundry. 

Turns out it doesn’t actually take that long. 

(I say ‘did my laundry’. There’s still a load in the machine that I need to take out and hangup. This may or may not happen. What I mean is that the massive pile of clean clothes on the bed in the spare room is either hung up or in a neat pile. This means the last of my Christmas things are now ‘away’ — except of course for my Jeremy Corbyn Christmas jumper, which I wore yesterday). 

Morrisons delivery was v. exciting. Own more food than I strictly feel comfortable with. I’m pretty anti food-waste (the kind of anti-food waste that would occasionally bring food from my fridge on a weekend away if I knew that otherwise it would go off even if this means carrying half a courgette on a three hour train journey in a backpack, but not the kind of anti food waste where I eat the token salad that they give you when you order indian take out) so I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with all the things. Kept adding to it while I was cooped up inside and uninspired by my fridge.

 Problem is, I’m so used to batch cooking as a time saving activity that I already have plenty of food to eat. Currently, I have a 

Lot

Of

 

T

 

I 

 

M

E

I’ve been more aware these past couple of days about the amount of time I spend multi-tasking, in the name of saving time, or whatever else. Watching a TV show while cooking; laundry-and-audiobook; tidying and talking on the phone; clearing work emails while spreadsheet loads. CHECKING MY PHONE, during literally anything. I hate that I’m so addicted to my phone. I want to BE PRESENT in the one single thing that I’m doing and give all my time and brain space to that. 

That book about not hurrying hypothesizes that part of our addiction to busyness is because we’re rubbish at accepting our limitations. I will never read every book and watch every TV show and be completely up to date on work and learn six different languages and train to run marathons and be up to date on politics and the news and speak to and see every friend as much as I want to. I have so many hours in a day and I need to eat and sleep and wash, so then it comes down to working out what I actually want to prioritize and enjoying it.

I like cooking. I want to spend time cooking. 

I don’t think I actually know how to cook just enough food for one meal (unless it’s those fresh stuffed ‘serves two’ pasta). 

Tomorrow, will do better at enjoying things being slower and simpler, as self-isolation sentence nearly over.

Side note: if anyone wants a potentially coronavirus infected side salad from my take out, yours for collection. I’ll be in all day.

Today’s top 5 benefits of self-Isolation

1. If I’d slept in till 9:20 and had to go into the office I’d have been super late
2. Feel slightly morally off the hook for mild ‘panic buying’ when am stuck self-isolating, even though I ordered the pasta before I got my cough and even though I can leave the house in like… 2 days now, anyway.
3. Good excuse for not returning library book (library book is more than 12 months overdue)
4. Rediscovered lots of clothes when dealing with my laundry. Mostly PJS. I own a LOT of PJS. 
5. Can use ‘might have coronavirus’ as a good reason not to hang up clothes that are currently in the machine

Today’s top 5 pitfalls of self-isolation

1. Lack of excuse for not doing laundry has meant that I’ve actually done laundry. Laundry is dull. 
2. As more people are doing it now have lost sense of ‘self-isolation-hipsterdom’
3. Have discovered that I don’t really know the best way of getting rid of coffee grinds after you have made coffee. They just get everywhere! Try and scrape into bin, but still wash them out so that everything in dishwasher doesn’t end up covered in coffee grinds, but now sink is covered in coffee. What if it blocks up the sink?
4. Use the dishwasher more than when not in the house. 
5. Well, it’s just a bit inconvenient, really. 

I’ve actually nearly run out of ground coffee, now, so it’s probably a good thing that I’ve got some instant back in stock.