Bread, glorious bread. I am the proud owner of 2 loaves – little and large but perfectly formed. The little white loaf was with the yeast activated in water, which Mum advised me was not required as its a fast yeast and can be added dry. So it peaked too soon bless him and was a little smaller than expected. The 2nd mahoosive loaf is a mixed fruit and nutmeg one with the yeast added dry, pretty nice, although both are a little drier than I expected, so I will read up on how to avoid that. Today a huge storage bin big enough for horse feed arrived so the flour is safely stored away. With homemade jam the bread tasted so good, I cannot remember the last time I had a loaf (well not a whole loaf, but a few slices if you get me!).

Another sleepless night last night, I think I will avoid coffee in the afternoon and evening and go back to decaffeinated Rooibush in the evenings as that usually helps me to sleep. I am now covering a 7 day working week rota with extended hours, including on call and need to get quality sleep, including early nights and trying to get some reading time in. I am not reading very much at the moment as I used to do this on the 3 hour daily commute as well as listen to my music on headphones. I have commenced the Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey, which is comical as the residents of a silo cannot go outside as there is a toxic deadly atmosphere and its a bit close to home. So far so good, I have a great love for dystopian novels so it is hitting the right notes so far. Reading is great escapism and I aim to do more of that plus the Wii fit yoga and crafts to switch off. Working with COVID-19 I really need to get some head-space and down time on my time off.

In my spare time I am also doing some manager training online, which is self directed learning and a COVID-19 FutureLearn online free course. I have been a line manager for over 10 years in the past, but its always good to learn new skills and refresh knowledge. My brain always needs more knowledge, you would think I would have had enough after 7 years doing an online MSc course but I think I will always want to learn more. Probably the reason I forget things at time because I always have to fill my head and keep myself occupied and prevent boredom. FutureLearn is great for free courses if you are bored and fancy a look https://www.futurelearn.com/