Hello! Fell off the thread for a few days, just catching up.
I was thinking of you Lane - not surprised you are feeling the stress but very glad to hear from you, and to have you popping back Unescorted.
And what a huge compliment re DD’s school feedback, definite pat on the back due there!
I’d love a knit and natter. I am sure Skype adds 2 stone though so bear that in mind 
Work is manic with Covid stuff (central London acute trust). I am not front line and don’t manage very much In the way of Front line services but it's starting to affect everything massively. Also as I have been a senior ops manager previously I may get redeployed to cover sickness/gaps. So no extra wfh for me (I usually do a bit due to limited childcare). I may even do less wfh if the staffing situation gets awful. I’ve already had contact with several staff who have had contact with someone who tested +ve so we wait to see if anyone develops symptoms.... plus we all take the tube to work anyway. I am not especially scared to get it myself, for most people it won’t be worse than flu, but it’s the disproportionate impact on the elderly and those with underlying conditions that worries me. I really don’t want to be the one to pass it on to someone vulnerable. And that includes my mum, who provides some of our childcare.... that’s something I’m grappling with but at some point we may need to keep her away. And I’m refusing to visit PIls (nearly 80) for the foreseeable future as people can be contagious before they are symptomatic and again, I don’t want any of us to be the ones to make them ill. They think I’m massively over-cautious but they are at high risk 🙄
Anyway, apart from that I’ve spent scandalous amounts recently. £££££ on the bathroom, Phase II of which is underway over this weekend and will hopefully finish on Monday. Phew. I was keeping everything crossed that no one got ill or quarantined before it was finished as I had a bath Installed but no floor, shower, loo or basin in the main bathroom. That would not be any fun for weeks /months. Attached is a picture of my lovely herringbone tiles, because why not?
Also spent more than usual on groceries. I already had lots of soap, loo roll etc as I generally keep lots of stock of stuff, but I have bought an extra of everything we eat routinely (jam, peanut butter, extra cereal as that goes v quickly...) and also some fresh stuff to make some batch cooked meals with. Just in case I’m too sick to cook as raw ingredients are no use to DH 
.
ALSO, £495 on a new washing machine being delivered tomorrow morning as mine died. Engineer said it was the heating element and it would be quite pricey to fix and probably not worth it with a machine 8yrs+. That machine has seen me through two babies and doesn’t owe me anything so I can’t be too upset. And at least it had the courtesy to die BEFORE a lockdown, so I can get the delivery guys to install and take the old one away (I bet they will only do doorstep deliveries before long). The ao.com guy said there were no next day delivery slots because everyone is buying cheat freezers!
AND DH’s birthday next week. £260 on fancy noise cancelling headphones he asked for. He usually doesn’t ask for anything expensive and really wanted these for commuting on the tube. Fair enough.
Anyway, the upshot is I feel very poor indeed.
Kitchen/loft project likely to be delayed by CV - once the bathroom is done I will be reducing traffic into the house as much as possible. Might even stop the cleaner when the schools are closed, but feel obliged to keep paying her if I’m still being paid as she won’t find alternative income at the mo. It’s awful being a casual worker right now. Or in various small businesses /self employed. The human cost of this is going to be massive 