Plodding

It was cold and (very) wet on the second half of last week. It made the enforced home stay even more grim. We made it through however, and Week 7 of working from home has started to make me feel really flat.

To stay sane and anchored, Tress and I had a lovely home cooked meal on Friday night. Beautifully steamed salmon fillets bathed in a Nyonya sauce,  warmed us well. On Saturday, after our usual weekend breakfast, we did some cleaning. We normally have proper coffee (from the espresso machine) on weekend mornings, together with Tress’ wonderful poached eggs on avocado on toasts. It meant we both had a routine to stick with – a sense of structure in a world that has otherwise lost many useful boundaries – as well as having a good breakfast.

After brekky Tress vacuumed the house and cleaned the toilets. I cleaned a few kitchen drawers, and the fridge. It was good to then spend the rest of the weekend in a clean house and every time we opened the fridge, it felt good too, to see the clean shelves and racks.

The northern states have started to ease up restrictions – people are swarming beaches and parks again. Last night, we went to a local shopping center to pick up a pair of home slippers for me and the shops were really busy. It felt like people are getting restless and maybe also a bit more positive and less fearful.

St Alf’s online is starting to feel more normal too, which isn’t great. Attending the services in track pants, coffee in hand, and wandering in and out of the kitchen or toilet, didn’t feel right but the usual boundaries have been removed and the result is a dispersed, diluted and unfocused service. Thankfully, my continuing note taking habits allowed me to retain parts of Mark Simon’s talk better than if I abandoned  that practice too. A large chunk of the text was on Jesus’ genealogy and I picked up numerous tips on how to read those Hebrew names in greater style, from Tim Dehn the reader. He’s always great value in delivering high performing skills in this space.

I start Week 8 of working from home, with annoying sniffles. I guess that is a good thing about having to stay at home. My sniffles would have annoyed more than just Tress and I, had I been on a train or in the office.