Week 8!

It's week 8 thousand (or so it feels) of lockdown, but don't worry, here is a cute photo of Lola waiting for Matt to throw a tennis ball in order to cheer you up.

This week has gone both painfully slow and super speedily.  My two weeks away from work are up and i'm back in from tomorrow.  It's surprising just how quickly those two weeks go by.

This week, Matt and I have been on lots of nice walks over the common and down to the beach to collect pebbles (more on that in a minute). We take Lola if we go in the evening.  I had a bit of a wobble on the common on Monday, when I didn't feel well, but that was over pretty quick.  No medical emergencies this week and no calling ambulances, which is always a good thing!

I took, or tried to take some photos of the birds in the garden this week.  They move so quickly, it's impossible.  Plus, they all fly off the second you get your camera out and only come back once you've packed up for the day.  I think they do it on purpose.  I even resorted to some excellent camouflage...

On Saturday night, for our weekly Harris Family skype, we had a horses and dogs racing night, which was fun.  My horses/dogs won 3 out of 12 races, and Matt's won 2, so we didn't do particularly well, but it was fun.  Afterwards there was a James Bond quiz, which Matt scored 16 out of 16.  James Bond would definitely be his Mastermind specialist subject.

Matt had done a quiz on Friday night too, with a group of friends.  It was a quiz on YouTube and they came 17th out of 383 teams, and only 5 points behind the joint winning teams!  He got to bed at 1.30am!

This is the rock that Matt and I found on our walk a couple of weeks ago.  We walked past the same spot 2 days later and it was gone, but it must have inspired someone, because a week later 'Barton on Sea Rocks' had sprung up!  It's a painted rock swap.  Mum and I painted some to add to the collection.  We came back the next day and 4 out of 5 of ours were gone.  Off to live in someone's garden in our neighbourhood.  I love the idea, so Matt and I went on a rock collecting mission to the beach on Thursday and Mum and I did some more painting.

We're going to start our own collection in the front garden, and i'm also going to start one with the kids at school.  I think they are going to really enjoy it.  We'll keep the school ones in the reception so that they don't get taken though, for the teachers and kids to enjoy!

I particularly like my half eaten m&m chocolate rock!

Matt and I went for a walk yesterday, going via the roads, trying to avoid the very busy beaches now that people are allowed to sit on them all day if they want to.  We found an open bakery that sold bacon butties and a coffee shop too, where we sat on a bench on the cliff top watching the para-gliders.  We enjoyed so much going out for a coffee.  I still can't decide if that's incredibly sad, or if it's just making us appreciate the little things in life more.

We went for a walk today too, as Matt is now on the car insurance.  We wanted a change of scenery, so drove to Brockenhurst and had a walk on the plain, where there were so many horses and cows.  We saw several lines of 6 or 7 horses, galloping just for the fun of it.  It was wonderful to see.

Matt collected a computer monitor from school this week, to help him with his data analysis.  It happened to coincide with the restart of the German football...