Day 3

Well day 3 and once again the sun is shining here in Kent. Sitting out in my garden, with a morning cup of tea, it would be very easy to forget that there is a war going on in the big wide world outside our four walls and garden!

I set myself two tasks for today, well I set one and the wife the other - guess which was which. First task, phone Sainsbury's. They have been promising since the weekend that they would set up a system to help the vulnerable, just phone their customer service help-line, simple or so it seemed.

Over the course of 2 days I have phoned 143 times, listened to their voice mail message apologising for all their customer service agents being busy, then getting cut off - not even a chance to sit in a queue, just cut off! Great customer service. Thank god (with a small g) that I had the foresight to secure a regular slot with Asda, before this all kicked off big time.

I am not quite sure how Boris expects those that don't have friends and / or family who can step in to help. My porch has been like a Post Office drop off point the last couple of days, with my daughter and sister-in-law both kindly getting supplies for us! They really have been stars and fantastic in these troubled times.

Task 2, make our little one the climbing frame we ordered before lockdown. This was another of those jobs that under normal circumstances I would have tried to put off, but I appear to have run out of excuses for not doing things... Fancy a meal out (x), fancy shopping (x), shall we pop up your Mum and Dad's (x) - all now out of the question, so crack on and get it done!

Instructions say 2 hours, well that must have been a 4 man team of lightning fast workaholics! Anyway, job done, all looked good, just needs road testing, but oh no, little man has decided he was so impressed with my hard work that he has gone to sleep, that's gratitude for you...

As said, it is very easy to forget how bad things are. We have been trying not to look at the news too often, and Facebook and the like are definitely out of the question. There is so much rubbish and misinformation out there that it just isn't worth looking and stressing yourself out too much.

The thing that has been hardest at the moment is not seeing my daughter and her little boy. Having moved to back home from Brighton late last year there has been hardly a day gone by when we haven't seen them, it's only been 3 days, but we really miss them. This was brought home this afternoon, when I went to put some rubbish out, only to discover in our Post Office drop spot (porch) a box containing two beautifully made cup cakes, for DadDad and Nanny! Such a lovely thought, very touching, just makes you realise how much you take seeing people for granted.

Let's see what Day 4 brings - maybe another couple of hours trying to get through to Sainsbury's! Oh joy...!