Lockdown life seems now to have begun to put strain on even the most resilient of folk myself included. Cravings for putting on nice clothes & eating out seem to be gripping even the biggest homebody amongst us.
Given my penchant for road trips when hubby mentioned he needed a drain cover I leaped at the chance to drive out to get it. My daughter thought it would be fun to come along for the ride & suddenly we were on a road trip.
Not quite the bright blue skies & warm weather but it did mean a day out. Soon we found ourselves whizzing along the motorway singing our favourite tunes at loud volume. Even the torrential rain didn’t dampen our spirits & as we neared our destination we spied a drive through Starbucks that was actually open.
Alright Love?
You may recall from a blog or two ago my experiences at builders merchants haven’t always been positive but in comparison this place oozed with enlightenment.
Social Distancing led to everyone performing a strange dance involving a lot of weaving around one another. Desperately trying to avoid poking an eye out on a protruding pipe or come within ‘spitting distance’ of one lest we break the rules.
Its likely that a good laugh was guaranteed for anyone watching me attempting to place a heavy metal grating securely inside my car. Left me wondering if I should have filmed it for Tik Tok?
Drinks & Snacks
Feeling buoyed up we retraced our steps & drove to the Starbucks to join the queue. The excitement building as we crept towards the board displaying all the delights on offer.
Ordering & eating out alone in Fort Lauderdale pre lockdown hadn’t felt difficult. However in this Swindon carpark it felt like some dystopian ordeal as I feebly tried to enunciate my order clearly in to a speaker on a stick.
Home application of a precarious dental patch in place I reeled off the order for a tooth friendly non toasted cheese toastie & included several abortive attempts to pronounce my daughters choice of beverage correctly.
I imagined the servers eyeballs rolling in her sockets at my oratory failings but quicker than you can say ‘ruby flamingo frappuccino’ our meal in a bag was ready.
The question we asked ourselves “Does a road trip without snacks even count as a road trip?” The answer is most definitely NO! So I persevered & finally the car rolled forward enabling us to collect our goodies.
All paid & parked we sat in the carpark tucking into the goodies watching the queue ebb & flow in front of us. Feeling almost high with the fact we had ‘eaten out’ & my tooth was still in tact we drove on to complete the mission to deliver a dozen eggs & potted herbs to my son & his partner.
Dentistry At Home
I was grateful for the degree of anonymity of remote ordering having broken a front tooth. Under Lockdown rules unless you are in imminent danger of exsanguination or asphyxiation all appointments are off.
As I write & despite careful eating I am on my second go at DIY dentistry with no real idea of when a professional one will be possible.
I fortunately as a former nurse who keeps a comprehensive first aid kit I actually had some repair product as recommended by the dentists.
Using a temporary filling product to attempt the sort of repair needed was challenging. Surprisingly I did find some You Tube videos on home dentistry although not close to what I needed to achieve.
I know this because I came across several. Who knew this was such a thing? In light of this discovery I regret not making a potentially viral video involving the use of icing tools doubling up as dental probes.
All joking aside. The experience made me think how others may be coping with troublesome medical conditions during these difficult times. At least I have some medical knowledge & an ideal of how to deal with simple illnesses at home.
Keeping Your Spirits Up
The day out revived our spirits & made us appreciate how easy it is to forget how small treats are important. We headed for home & back to the reality of being trapped in our home due to the Covid rules.
The link is to a short clip that shows some of the ways to pass the time in a pandemic when confined indoors.