Time for a leadership change

It's not surprising, that in these times of such great fear and uncertainty, people are wondering whether the right people are in charge. Clever Bird has certainly been wondering who should be in charge, and she's come to the conclusion that for now at least, there absolutely must be a change of leadership. She has decided (rather controversially), to put The Domestic Goddess in charge of the gang. Yes Baggees, even Baggy was a little surprised by this decision, but to be fair, The Goddess has recently begun to live up to her proper name, minus her middle names of "not a". Aside from becoming a half-decent cook, she's started to sort out the house.

Baggy is on Day 3 of her voluntary self-isolation. Now this really isn't as hard as it is for many of you, as Baggy is used to spending the majority of her time on her own in her house. Only this is different. It's one thing being on her own in the house, knowing that when one of the gang want to go out they can; but when they can't, well that's quite hard! Not surprisingly, Hormonal Hannah is finding it particularly difficult, as she can't get her beach-fix, so she needs to be kept busy, and The Domestic Goddess is fulfilling that duty. Having spent seven hours re-organising and cleaning her kitchen on Friday, today she decided to do the same for Billy Bob Jalopy campervan!

It took hours! But as Baggy's new healthy-living regime means that she's sleeping better, she was up at 6.00am, and Furry Mama was back from her Pooch walk by 7.30, so she has considerably more hours in her day!

Billy Bob was rinsed down, washed, dried with a chamois-leather, waxed-on - waxed-off  and photographed in his new sparkliness, before The Goddess tackled the inside. As he's Baggy's everyday drive, and therefore has been to the beach daily (and not cleaned), for weeks, this was a challenge!

Right half of carpet already vacuumed; left half, yet to be started: sand, sand, pebbles and more sand! Baggy is ashamed to admit that the whole van was like this! However, apart from the fact that it desperately needed doing, Clever Bird has decided that Billy Bob is the perfect full isolation unit! 

This might sound a tad extreme, but Clever Bird is following the news closely, and it's all well-and-good Baggy trying to stay isolated, but number one furry is out in the thick of it all, working up-and-down the country. Should the worst happen, and he contract Covid-19, then Billy Bob would be the perfect place for Baggy and Pepper Pooch to sleep while Calum recovered in the warmth of the house. So, as well as cleaning him, The Goddess made his bed up and he's ready to move into should the need arise.

The Pooch approves.

Other self-isolation tasks achieved so far, to keep Hormonal Hannah and Freda Fretter from having meltdowns:

• Freezer fully defrosted (The Goddess).

• Bug pile made (Gloria Gardener).
• Garden watered (Gloria Gardener).

• Huge critter pile made (Gloria Gardener), with some added art (Creative Clara).

• Butternut squash, and spicy beef soups made for lunches (The Goddess).
• Route to the fridge/freezer in the garage cleared (number one furry).
• Pond cleaned and refilled, water pump cleaned (Gloria Gardener).

There are distinct advantages to having a house that's still a major work-in-progress; it's not a question of what to do to keep occupied; it's more what to do first to keep occupied!

Stay safe; stay inside Baggees...

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Coronavirus - Clever Bird is having a rethink

In the few days since Creative Clara's last blog, the world has changed once more as Covid-19 spreads exponentially around the UK. Clever Bird is not in the least bit surprised by its rapid spread, as it's very clear that people just aren't 'getting it'. Furry Mama and Pepper Pooch's favourite beach at Southwold, is as busy as a summer's day, as the kids are now on indefinite holiday, the second-homers, (apparently 60% of the town) have all arrived from London and other cities, to 'sit it out', and people are booking holiday cottages there as if there is nothing going on. And they're not 'sitting it out', they're out-and-about shopping and socialising. And it's not just Suffolk towns, it's any pretty tourist location that's being landed on.

Clever Bird decided on Friday, that once Baggy had waved her sister off home to her beautiful, extremely popular, tourist village in rural Kent, she would probably not be venturing to the beach again (even at the crack of dawn). She realised that, irrationally or otherwise, Hormonal Hannah's anxiety shot up each time that Furry Mama readied to head off, so Friday was possibly her last visit for some time. And no Baggees, it wasn't busy, but this was before the schools, cafes, restaurants, pubs etc all closed, who knows what it will be like next week?

As Baggy is probably on the high risk list, she knows she needs to keep her distance from folk, but there is another reason as well. In Clara's last blog she mentioned that Furry Mama was taking Bracket kat and Pepper Pooch to the vets. Bracket will be needing some teeth cleaning done, whenever that will be possible, but the shock was Pepper's teeth! He's only 3, but apparently his obsessive tennis ball chasing is totally wearing away his teeth! Who knew? Certainly not Furry Mama! As when they're on the beach, Furry Mama throws the ball, and Pepper catches it for the entire hour that they're walking, this is not good.

It's also not good that he jumps and spins so much apparently, as it could cause early arthritis. So, both Thursday and Friday's walks were without a ball! Considering how obsessed the lad is, he surprisingly quickly stopped jumping on Furry Mama to get a ball, and started being a dog! But for him currently, beach equals ball chasing.

On Friday afternoon Creative Clara had to pop into Halesworth to post a Realuv parcel off to the United States. The little post office is inside a hardware/general store on the high street. Baggy and the pooch headed into the fairly quiet shop. There was one person queuing for two open positions. Freda Fretter noted the total lack of distance between the customers and the staff; the lack of sanitiser or any other precautions. Clara stood six feet behind the only person in the queue; a woman brushed past her and stood directly behind the first person in the queue!! Baggy stepped back. But what's the point? She'd already pushed the button on the car park machine (with her hand inside a poo bag), then got the ticket out by lifting the plastic slidey-bit (having forgotten the poo bag). Paid for some superglue with the pushy-button thing, which wasn't sanitised. Opened the shop door with the handle etc etc etc.

So that's it now, Baggy is staying put! Furry Mama is walking the Pooch from the house. Fortunately, Baggy has this on her doorstep.

Unfortunately, the Pooch loves it.

But as he's allergic to it - going in is not ideal!

However, as Freda Fretter is showering him after each excursion to get any virus off him, hopefully he won't react. Furry Mama is loving watching him being a proper dog, instead of totally obsessing about his ball, but he is getting a bit stir crazy.

With considerable reluctance, Clever Bird has also decided that Grotty Groom should no longer visit her Boys. She knows that they are safe, and extremely well cared for, so has no need to worry about them, but she'll miss them terribly. 

But unless more people start appreciating the seriousness of this virus, it won't be long before everyone is locked down totally. This was part of the conversation that Baggy had with a very elderly neighbour who was walking her dog this morning, having already said that she couldn't understand why people weren't getting the message:

"How are you coping with all this?"
"Okay, all things considered."
"That's good! I guess you're pretty much at home are you?"
"Oh no, I would go mad if I didn't see people. We're going into town in a minute. And we were going out to lunch on Sunday, but we can't now. But our granddaughter is coming over instead.'

Meanwhile, number one furry carries on as normal (even though he is on the high risk list). He's doing his absolute best to social distance himself while working, but it's not easy. But as an HGV driver, he needs to keep working while ever he can to deliver around the country. Whether he will still be out there in the thick of it in a few more days, is anybody's guess - if this ridiculous panic buying continues, the next thing that will run out is fuel!

Clever Bird is wondering what he will return with from the supermarket shop he has just headed off to do...

Stay in, and stay safe Baggees...

PS. Number one furry is back, with, not a lot! The short list, that The Domestic Goddess sent him out with for her new healthy diet's week plan was not fulfillable - zero fresh meat!

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Coronavirus Care

Well Baggees! How fast things can change! Baggy sincerely hopes that as you read this, you, your family and friends are staying well. And if you're in self-imposed, or government-imposed isolation, that you're coping both physically and mentally.

In the sleepy village in England that Baggy lives in, there has been a seeming bubble of 'safeness' away from all the chaos. Baggy had seen the posts about panic buying and empty supermarket shelves, but her little local supermarket had fully stocked shelves a week ago. Toilet roll shortage - what toilet roll shortage? But last Sunday, the bubble burst. As Baggy and Calum walked around the supermarket, Clever Bird was actually shocked. 

Not a toilet roll in sight. But more than that: no soap of any type; no disinfectant of any type; no painkillers of any type. No fresh bread, very little fresh meat, absolutely no frozen meat, and very low supplies of lots of other things. Suddenly this virus that is rapidly flying around the world, seemed to be inside the bubble that Baggy had felt relatively safe in, and Hormonal Hannah threw her into a meltdown. 

Now this is not entirely logical Baggees, as Baggy does live in a relatively quiet, small community, and so far, Covoid-19 has not (knowingly) arrived there; yet it's not surprising either! Let's face it, Hormonal Hannah can wake up anxious and have no idea why! But this is something worth worrying about!

Baggy has had respiratory issues since childhood - her lungs were x-rayed regularly, as whenever she got a cough it would, (and still does), last for weeks, not days. As she got older, she got acute bronchitis in her thirties. Then of course Grotty Groom managed to puncture Baggy's lung in her forties. Since then Baggy's had pleurisy and pneumonia; so yep, Hannah's anxiety is back. And not just for herself. Baggy has family and friends, young and old, with underlying health issues, which make this virus life-threatening, should they contract it. So frankly, Clever Bird now thinks Hannah should be worried; except what's the point of worrying? If Baggy gets it, she gets it. And she can self isolate all she wants to, to protect herself, but number one furry is a lorry driver, and as he pointed out, he's all over the country, constantly in new areas, and in close contact with different people all day.

So, until told otherwise by the British Government, all Baggy can do is to try to protect herself in her own special ways, a) from catching the virus and b) from having a mental collapse.  The latter was already happening on Monday; Freda and Hannah just didn't know what to make of all the news reports, and kept putting Baggy into tearful meltdowns, but Clever Bird came up with a plan - carry on as usual, whilst following the new directives.

It helps that Baggy's sister arrived in Southwold for a week's holiday, last Friday. Baggy has loved spending time with her. And through chatting with Debby, Clever Bird realised that one of the reasons for Hormonal Hannah's anxiety going off the Richter-scale, was because Grotty Groom was so upset that she might not be able to see her horses. Hannah's mental health has been so good, since she's been eating well, and exercising more, and following a routine, that the thought of losing that routine, and being physically confined to the house terrified her. Now, don't get Creative Clara wrong here Baggees, Baggy is used to spending most of her time on her own in her house. The trouble is that when Hannah has a depressive episode, or is overly anxious, that is all she wishes to do - confine herself to her house, and that is far from healthy for her. Her new routine of: Furry Mama taking Pepper Pooch to the beach, followed by Grotty Groom working her horses, had even Hannah smiling all the time. So the thought of twelve weeks of self-isolation, was far from appealing.

Solution: carry on as usual, BUT....

Instead of being on the beach at 9.30, when it's already getting busy, Furry Mama is now there at 7.00am, when it's pretty much deserted (although that's already changing as other people have the same plan - but that's cool, because it's a big beach and they can stay ten yards apart). 

There are all kinds of sensible new rules at the yard, about hand-washing, wearing gloves etc etc, so Freda Fretter feels pretty okay letting Grotty still go there, and walk Wesley and ride Joey. Then when Baggy gets home again The Domestic Goddess will go into overdrive! Washing clothes, washing the dog, washing Baggy's hair, cleaning etc. Now you note that Creative Clara says "will", that's because apart from the hand washing, this new regime will start tomorrow. Why not today, you ask? Well because in a moment Furry Mama has to take Bracket kat and Pepper Pooch to the vets! 

But the truth is that for Hannah, and for many of you Baggees, keeping things as normal as possible is probably the best way to protect your mental health.

If you're working from home - do just that, work the hours you would in the office. If that's not actually possible, and you're just stuck at home, plan your day, your week even, with things to do. The Domestic Goddess has a plan to repaint her bathroom. Should number one furry be home with her, they will start to build her winter-house in the garden.

Do some exercise, outside if you can as fresh air is good, but otherwise discover You Tube. Clara fancies a bit of belly dancing (although Baggy is absolutely useless at it), and Hannah fancies some yoga!

Cook healthy meals; read books; listen to music; write a novel; knit; crochet; paint and try to stay positive because at present, this is the new normal, and everyone will at some point, be in the same boat.

Look after yourselves Baggees...



Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Meanwhile, back in Baggy land.

Clever Bird is trying really hard to stop Freda Fretter from worrying about the coronavirus, but frankly, she kind of agrees with Freda that she should be worried! The truth is that it's pretty awful; especially now that it has officially been declared a pandemic. All this ridiculous nonsense about it being "no worse than the flu", is not helping matters. It is considerably worse than the flu by all accounts, and Freda is praying that Baggy and her friends and family don't catch it. But meanwhile life carries on as usual in Baggy's little world, and at least she's keeping most of the gang so busy, that they can't dwell on it too much.

Baggy's now in week 9 of her 12-week programme to change her habits from bad to good. It's really working well. So far she's lost 20lbs in weight; but actually that's not the best of it. Obviously losing weight is great for Baggy's health, and is already helping considerably with her arthritis; but it's the change to her mental health that's so amazing. Clever Bird can't actually recall when Hormonal Hannah has felt so good; it means that the gang can function fully, without her stopping them from thriving.

Grotty Groom is loving life! She seems to have figured out long-reining; well almost, and Wesley is enjoying it.

Especially when she is walking behind him, Grotty can see the muscles working in his back and buttocks, so he's definitely feeling better for it.

As it's quite hard work for him, mentally and physically, Grotty long-reins him one day, then just wanders about with him (like a giant dog on a lead) the next day, so that he can stretch and chill out.

Although seconds after taking the above photo today, the big dope jumped about a foot in the air and nearly squashed Baggy. Just proving the point, as to why currently Grotty is riding Joey, and not Wesley!

Furry Mama continues to take her pooch to the beach every day.

Not that there's a huge amount of the beach left at the harbour end of Southwold and as for the poor dunes, well, they are now a cliff!

But the pooch loves it, to the point where he now gets so over-excited on the way there in the campervan, that he whimpers and shakes! But Furry Mama and Calum love the little chap and would do anything for him, after the rough start that he had, so as he feels the cold...

...yesterday, Furry Mama gave him his newest jumper, handmade to measure for him.

He loves it really Baggees!

Meanwhile, number one furry's shed is coming along nicely.

Last weekend Calum and Steve got a fair bit of the external cladding on.

Baggy is probably more excited about it getting finished than Calum is! The sooner it's done, the sooner The Domestic Goddess will be able to get her house back in order!

It's great when things start to come together...

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

The days when things were less complicated.

The days when every field was surrounded by a hedgerow and trees.
The days when the roadside ditches were deep and clear from overgrowth.
The days when drinks came in glass bottles that were returned to receive the deposit.
The days when milk was delivered to the door by a milkman driving an electric cart, and the empty glass milk bottles were collected.
The days when children walked the two or three miles home from school.
The days when children entertained themselves by cycling for miles at the weekends.
The days when fish and chips came wrapped in old newspapers.
The days when you chose your sweets from a big glass jar, and they were weighed, and put in a paper bag.
The days when your summer holiday was at an English seaside resort.
The days when you carried an old Penny coin in your pocket, so you could use a roadside phone in the case of an emergency.
The days when life wasn't all about gadgets.
The days when life was simpler.

Those days should be now, in Clever Bird's humble opinion. Not all progress is good, and sometimes it's just too fast! Yes Baggy is getting old. She's 60 now, not that old really, and yet in many ways, the world is almost unrecognisable from her own childhood. Clever Bird believes it might be time for a rethink!

Last Friday, Baggy had to drive number one furry over to Sudbury and then to Colchester, to visit two dental specialists. Furry Mama and Pepper Pooch wandered around the first smallish town, while poor Calum had horrible things done to his teeth. Then they all headed over to the much larger town of Colchester. Hormonal Hannah started to stress as they hit the traffic of the town, and quickly got quite gridlocked, even though it was only lunchtime. They managed to park and walk to where they needed to be, but the pooch was becoming more and more stressed, by the traffic, the noise, the fumes, the sirens and the people. 

Cal was early for his appointment (by over an hour) and suggested that perhaps Baggy wait in the pub opposite.

'Urrrm, nope! That's not happening! I'm not going into a pub on my own.'
'Okay, I'll call you when I'm out.'

Furry Mama and Pepper headed back up the steep hill to a place that they'd passed on the way to the Orthodontist. It was a little oasis of calm amidst the chaos, where they could sit in a pretty garden and have a bit of lunch while they waited for Calum. Baggy resisted the sausage rolls and cakes, and had a healthy salad, while Pepper laid down and started to relax. Suddenly, shouting and swearing invaded the quiet, from the other side of the wall surrounding the garden. Pepper shot up, ears pricked on full alert. Baggy's hackles went up. The garden was no longer tranquil.

Fortunately Calum arrived shortly after, and they headed into the town so that he could look for a new cap. As they walked, and the streets got busier, Furry Mama watched Pepper becoming anxious. Indeed, it wasn't long before his tail was firmly tucked up onto his stomach and his ears were down. Psychic Ploppo wasn't surprised - she's always been able to sense an atmosphere from two hundred paces - and there was an overwhelming feeling of unidentified threat in the air.

'Cal, the pooch is freaking out,' said Furry Mama, while Freda Fretter resisted being honest and saying that so was Ploppo, 'so do you think we could be quick?'
'Of course. We can go if you like.'
'No, it's okay. But please don't be long.'

As Furry Mama waited with Pepper outside the department store, she tried to reassure the pooch, who was by now shaking like the proverbial leaf. But Psychic Ploppo had cold shivers of dread running up her spine, which wasn't helping. Baggy tried to distract her, by watching the police car that was parked opposite where they were waiting, it's flashing blue lights lighting up the surrounding street. Then sirens sounded, and the policeman started to look up the street, as two ambulances rushed towards him. He hopped back in his car, and drove forward to let the ambulances enter the side street, that Clever Bird finally realised he had been blocking, as he reversed back into position. 

'Where the heck is your dad pooch?'
'Dunno mum, but reely wishes he woz wiv us.'
'Ah, here he is Pepper. Looks like he found a cap.'

Baggy and Pepper couldn't get back to Billy Bob Jalopy campervan fast enough! 

'I reckon I've been Holtonised,' said Baggy to Calum, referring to the sleepy little village that they live in. 'I hate being in big towns or cities now.'

It was such a relief to be home once again, away from the chaos, and the threat! And away from people wearing masks! Yes really! Baggy was shocked to pass people wearing masks, as currently the coronavirus isn't making its presence felt in the area. But then she realised that the girls wearing the masks were both of Asian background, (although they were clearly British as they chatted away to each other with beautiful BBC English accents), and Freda worried that they were wearing the masks, not because they were afraid of catching the virus, but rather because they were afraid of being accused of spreading it. 

The days when the news was on one of two television channels, or on the radio, or in the newspaper.
The days when the news wasn't constantly scaremongering.
The days when people looked out for, and helped each other in a crisis.

Those days need to be now...


Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

How can a change of diet stop depression and anxiety?

The weather has been all over the place recently. High winds, rain, sunshine, even a couple of snowflakes. Clever Bird worries that nature is getting a little confused, and Baggy certainly is, but it's lovely for Gloria Gardener to see daffodils popping up all over.

Freda Fretter is a tad worried about what critters are coming into the garden and drinking out of the little pond...

... but something is, as it's constantly emptying! Plus, Clever Bird realised that something is nibbling off the tops of the plants! Gloria has various bits of baggy's body crossed that the various plants that she planted last summer, will reappear this year, but truthfully, Freda Fretter isn't optimistic!

Meanwhile, Furry Mama has been racking up Baggy's steps, doing her daily march along the 1 1/2 miles of Southwold beach in each direction each day. 

On various days, Creative Clara couldn't take any photos, as it was raining too hard! But on others, the sky was blue, and the sun was vaguely warm. Today, Furry Mama was on the beach by 8.00am, and it was a stunning day.

The sea was gently lapping the beach, rather than battering it violently, as it has been doing so often recently. The beach was virtually empty of anyone, except the seagulls.

The pooch, who is thankfully now fully recovered from his sickness bug, has the time of his life chasing his ball, and Hormonal Hannah is at peace, watching him.

Grotty Groom is still then walking Wesley around the school for thirty to forty minutes. He is definitely benefitting from it, as he is no longer anywhere near as stiff as he was! Like Baggy's, Wesley's waistline has also reduced!

What's more, he seems to really be enjoying it, as is Grotty, who has missed her Boy a lot in the last few years when illness, and Hormonal Hannah have prevented Grotty from spending much time with him.

But, more amazing yet Baggees, Grotty is now also bringing Joey back into work, by riding him. It's early days, today was only the fourth time, but still...

... the lad is a poppet! There can't be many horses that will happily pootle around in walk without being silly, after having three years off work!

The only downside of that being, that if Baggy can lose enough weight, Grotty would love to ride her own Boy again, and that will likely be a very different story!

Grotty is however determined to at least give it a whirl at some point, so getting Baggy and Wesley fit enough is her priority.

Clever Bird still can't quite believe that changing Baggy's diet, by simply removing most of the sugars from it, could have such a dramatic affect on her mental health - and yet it has! She could never have imagined six months ago, that Grotty would be excited about riding once more. Her depression and anxiety were too bad to allow her to contemplate it; yet, after just eight weeks of eating fresh, home-cooked food, with no added sugars, and only limited complex-carbohydrates, Hormonal Hannah has taken a backseat in the gang, allowing Grotty to resume her rightful place as a key member...


Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!