A matter of choice

Last week here in Cyprus the country started to open up and attempt to get back to some sort of normality after many weeks of lockdown.  Not a huge amount has changed for us personally as the boys are not going to school and we are mainly working from home but it is liberating to be able to go shopping without requesting permission to, and most importantly to be able to see our friends. 
We had a lovely afternoon in the park and an afternoon round our friends house,  the boys were so happy to be able to get out and play with their friends. 
I am very grateful though that for us, lock down wasn't too terrible.  It sucked of course generally but thanks to us always finding '3 good things' we had some good times among it all and mostly focused on the positive things rather than dwelling on those we couldn't change. 
PE with Joe was a lifesaver, especially at first and it started off many of our days on a good note. Louka wasn't so keen but would hang around doing the bit…

Since I started my blog I have written a post for boys on their birthdays, it was getting harder to do as they got older and last year I decided to stop at 10 years - conveniently of course as Leo turned 10, but it was a nice round number and also a good time to print them all off and give them to him now he was old enough to appreciate them all. 
So this year I've saved myself a job but I can't have a birthday go by without a birthday collage...


And a little flashback to his first birthday...

For the last few years we have had Leo's party on a different day to his birthday because the last week of May is 'crazy week'.  Due to half term in the UK it's usually the busiest week of the year here in Cyprus for weddings, of course this year is a little different as we still have no tourists but luckily we are out of lockdown and so we can still have a party for him.   Our parties are always very small so we fit within the rules too!
Every year I end up retelling the sto…

Like most of the world Cyprus has been in lock down since March.  It all happened quite suddenly here, first the schools closed on 12th March, and these were quickly followed by bars and restaurants closing on 15th March and airports and borders closed with exceptions for repatriations who had to go straight into government quarantine for 14 days. 
I was really surprised at the speed it all came about, it seemed like one minute people were sharing info on facebook with a list of European countries that were free of the coronavirus of which Cyprus was one, and then the next everything was closing around us. 
Towards the end of the week of March 15th,  there had been cafes and bars voluntarily closing,  I was watching the comments and the general mood on facebook as it started to change.  Some were being praised for shutting up and many were being judged and also slated for continuing to open,  it was even said that bars were trying to 'profit from a pandemic' - I thought they wer…

I last published a blog post on here at the end of March.  The Cyprus lockdown had begun but had not yet reached the strictest measures. 
What a strange time the last couple of months have turned out to be, a time that none of us could have predicted or even imagined just a short while ago. 
Like many others I was full of plans, ways to keep busy, and making lists of educational online activities, home schooling plans and fun family activities to do. Exercise plans, jobs around the house and work.  I was going to blog!  (I always say that, but I do still miss the ol' blogging days) 
I've not done everything, but I've not done nothing either.
While it hasn't all been wall to wall productive time, I'm doing pretty well I think, I'm sure others out there are 'doing better' but I'm even more sure there are many doing worse..... and by worse I don't mean doing less productive things, but fighting with some sort of guilt that they are not 'doing enoug…

Be careful what you wish for...you might just get it

I don't know when I first heard that expression but it was a long time ago and I remember thinking how ridiculous it was,  surely if you wished for something it would be good to get it right?

I also don't know how many times since then I've realised just how true it is.

This morning I woke up at 6am. 

The curtains were open as they usually are on weekdays to make it easier for me to get up for school. I'd left them open for the last two weeks despite the shutdown just so it was waking me up naturally around 7 ish.   Not as early as a usual school day as my alarm is usually set for 6:30am, but not as late as I'd normally get up on a weekend these days.

The clocks went forward yesterday, but I forgot how much lighter it would be in the morning so when I woke at 6am it felt later.  I lay there for a while trying to get back to sleep, I tried for about 5 minutes and but restless.   I debated whether to pick up my ph…

Well, that escalated quickly didn't it?

Only a couple of weeks ago the word seemed like a different place,  then schools closed,  followed by restaurants, cafes and pubs,   then 'non-essential' shops and now  we have to text for permission to leave the house (or complete a form when the text message service is not working.)

It's a crazy situation and totally surreal.

We are doing fine,  feeling grateful for many things knowing that so many people are struggling in so many different ways.   We can't go out to the beach, and we can't meet our friends but it's a small problem compared to many, we can power through.

At the start I thought slightly enviously of the people who could lay around watching endless TV, and spending their days exactly as they wished, while we tried to work from home, cook dinners and entertain and educate two over excited kids.

Then I realised that they are actually a great distraction, although drive us crazy, they keep us busy, keep…