Sentence a Day: February 2020 - Coronavirus hits my plans

February is usually an exciting month for me, the culmination of five months of planning for a major annual tech  event in Nuremberg. Sadly this year it was not to be.

Sat 1 Feb
Lovely day. Went for a walk with J, nearly 5 miles. Weeded, hoovered. Finally got to see the Downton Abbey film. Pleasant, uncomplicated viewing.

Sun 2 Feb
Walked to gym, 4 miles. Weeded the rose bed. I should have taken a 'before' as the weeds were so profuse and overwhelming. Still a bit left to do.

Mon 3 Feb
Office. Stress city as it is nearing the critical time for a major event that I manage at the end of Feb. J finished off the weeding of the rose bed - top pic.  I pruned the roses quite drastically this winter but I'm sure they'll be back as beautiful as ever.

Tues 4 Feb
Home. Too busy for gym. Went to London in the evening, met fellow blogger Nikki Garnett from Midlife Chic and 15 of her readers. Sadly no photos (except London at night). The Royal Festival Hall is where we met up.

Weds 5 Feb
Office. Still stress city. No time to stop for lunch. Very tired today.

Thurs 6 Feb 
Eureka moment today: wasn't tired, and reckon it's because I had a lot of carbs yesterday.  Tues hardly any. Long day but not too arduous

Fri 7 Feb 
Shelbee from Shelbee on the Edge did a lovely piece giving me a feature as she did a "steal her style" on my jeans and Bowie t-shirt outfit. Gym and supermarket,  spent vouchers.  Yes, little things cheer me up, like the fact Waitrose send vouchers for what I actually buy!

Sat 8 Feb
Beautiful day, calm before the storm which is due tomorrow. Did the shopping, a blog shoot and editing.

Sun 9 Feb
Storm Ciara.  V windy.  J went running in the forest with 20 club runners. They are a determined bunch. Our granddaughter came for lunch. She enjoyed peas for the first time. Very happy baby.

Mon 10 Feb 
Office. Still windy. The motorway I use to drive to work, the M11, was closed from my junction and beyond, long tailbacks

Tues 11 Feb 
Hurrah, blue sky. Gym.

Weds 12 Feb 
Office. Discussions about the coronavirus and whether or not we should attend the event I'm managing, in Nuremberg.

Thurs 13 Feb 
Decision made to exit the event,  Five months of work down the drain! Very sad.  Got home and found had left PC at work.

Fri 14 Feb
Had to go into office to get PC. Hardly anyone in on Fridays. Lovely sunrise. Light by 7am. Boiler broken again, 3rd time this winter. Grrr. Valentine's Day, but we don't mark it.

Saturday 15 Feb
No hot water or heating. Fortunately 11 degrees., not too cold outside.  Did shopping and  a shoot in morning before rain arrived. Fortunately the gas engineer was able to come a day early!

Sun 16 Feb
Raining.  Went to gym. Roast lamb. Storm Dennis lashed the house and drain pipe came off  the side.

Mon 17 Feb 
We now have a ritual of two Lindor chocs every evening and I spotted a box of my favourite flavour, the strawberry ones. Discovered a new podcast that's right up my street, Mortem. My breakfast was porridge from the cafeteria and some berries.

Tues 18 Feb 
Still blowy. Gym. Tried a new sausage and chorizo casserole. Delivery of my favourite Eau Dynamisante shower products.

Weds 19 Feb 
For dinner, Caesar and falafel salads.  Discovered a good drama podcast, Passenger List, about a plane that came down.

Thurs 20 Feb 
Long tiring day. V cold after bright start. Went for farewell lunch for a colleague  but no tables available so had to go back to the office for meetings with no lunch, boo!

Fri 21 Feb
At home. Realised I felt terrible yday because I didn't drink enough. I'd gone from meeting to meeting without the chance to grab any water. Foolish I know.

Sat 22 Feb 
Blustery. Gym then shopping. Wrote blog post on grey hair. Read it here. Daffodils and hyacinths now blooming well in the rose bed and front border. This is the same bed as shown in the top picture, but a couple of weeks later.

Sun 23 Feb
John's daughter and husband came for lunch. Roast chicken.  Had a very special delivery of a Mulberry handbag. Have never had a designer handbag before but figured that after working all my life since age 18, I deserved one, and would treasure it for the years to come.

Mon 24 Feb
Grey. Robins checking out our new nesting box. Bit sad because today I should have gone to Nuremberg. Still getting reminders to check in because you can't cancel flights on Ryanair. Made a pizza using a ready made cauliflower crust.  Was perfectly good - didn't taste of cauliflower and the crust was crisp.

Tues 25 Feb 
Having awful time at work. Another event I'm campaign managing has not got enough registrations.  Felt down all day, frantically trying to sort out issue with more emails, more advertising.

Weds 26 Feb 
Light by 6.50 and sunny. Pleasant drive. Spent morning in interesting planning meeting. Hearing Kate Garraway on a pod talking about taking more risks (we get too comfortable) made me think about trying new things. Going to start a list.

Thurs Feb 27
All the weather today. Heavy rain, then sleet, finally sunshine.  Went to a building near the Shard for a meeting.  The Shard is one of the tallest buildings in Europe at 306 metres high. The sky was very grey although the sun came out later.

Fri Feb 28
Terrible weather.  Gym, shopping.  Sold a top on Ebay and 2 PC monitors via our staff exchange/sell shop. Date night - we went out for dinner, local eaterie.

Sat Feb 29
The third weekend where we have had ferocious storms: Storms Ciara, Dennis, and this weekend, Jorge, a guest from Spain.  We went to visit J's son, wife and baby who's approaching one year old.

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Sentence a Day: February 2019

Nürnberg; see Feb 25 

Friday 1 Feb

Woke up to snow- about a teaspoon full! Worked from home. In the evening, Team Hanlon unfortunately lost in the pub quiz that was raising money for J's sister's charity foundation.

Sat 2 Feb

Went into London. Exchanged a Pandora bracelet for a larger size  (the more charms, the more difficult it becomes to fasten). Watched a documentary about vegan ultra marathon runner Fiona Oakes. 

Sun Feb 3

Sunny; did Power Plate and went to Epping to do my shopping. I have a few snowdrops in the garden to remind me spring is in sight. 

Monday Feb 4

Horrible rainy conditions.  Listened to a sad documentary podcast Seriously, about a man with dementia who wrote a book a few years ago, Haunts of the Black Masseur: the swimmer as hero. 

Tues Feb 5

Working at home. Did a Power Plate class before work.

Weds Feb 6

Had time to go food shopping on the way to work. Nice lunch with Berenice. Had my annual appraisal.

Thurs Feb 7

Did an Amazon pre-order of Kindle book You Know You Want this (includes the cult short story Catperson, from the NY Times).  We have a major event at the end of the month and it's now very busy - I'm organising a filming schedule and other activities.

Fri Feb 8

Working at home. Been tough week. Ghastly weather. Getting stuck into the new book. The stories are a little disturbing.

Sat Feb 9

Did an all-day yoga workshop run by a friend, Jodie. It was in a barn out in the countryside. Very enjoyable.

Sun Feb 10

Power Plate followed by shopping, cleaning and hoovering.  Was intending to do a blog shoot but by 3pm had run out of momentum. 

Mon Feb 11

In the office. Awful day. Glad to get away early. 

Tues Feb 12

Working from home. Sunny spring like day.

Weds Feb 13

In office. Went to Tesco first. New blog post, fashion tips for the petite over-50s. I'm not petite at 5'5, so it took a lot of research.

Thurs Feb 14

Didn't do anything for Valentine's Day. In office. Busy but fun day. My favourite night of the week, knowing I'm home until Mon.

Fri Feb 15

Beautiful spring day. Tulips starting to show. At home. Fish n chips. Finished The Necessary Marriage, Elisa Lodato. 

Sat Feb 16

Not sunny sadly. Had patch test at a hairdresssers in Epping.  Did food shopping. Got 2 kitchen magazines as we're finally planning to get the kitchen done. Have been putting it off for years. The naturalized bulbs look lovely in Epping.

Sun Sun 17

Sunny again. Went to Power Plate and Sainsbury's.  Roast beef. Both of John's kids are on holiday so it was just us. Did a yoga session with Robyn Kristen which ended with the most blissful relaxation. 

Mon Feb 18

Half term so the roads are quieter. Saw the Feb full moon. Not a great day. Felt stressed and irritable when I got home. Watched a documentary about one of our favourite hills in the Lake District, Blencathra, which was soothing

Tues Feb 19

Sunny. J took delivery of new cushions and covers for the conservatory furniture, and put them on. 

Weds February 20

Working at home. Did Power Plate. Very busy! Hoping it would have tailed off by now. Published a blog post on outfits I've been wearing.

Thurs Feb 21

In office. Briefed APAC colleagues on the big industry event next week. So much still to get across the line. Started my prep by sorting out my boarding pass, conference pass etc

Friday Feb 22

At home. Very busy. By 4pm, and after PP, suddenly completely exhausted. Went to the pub for dinner. 

Sat Feb 23

Sunny. Hair done in Epping for the first time. Bit nerve wracking as it was colour and a cut, but went well. On the way, watched transfixed as dozens of deer crossed the road.

Sun Feb 24

The usual Power Plate class and shopping.  Tomorrow leave for Nürnberg for the big trade show. Had a lot to print off (the only time I ever print things). Wrote two blog posts  for while I'm away, and did a photo shoot. Changed sheets, cooked a roast dinner. Tiring day. Alarm set for 4.15. 

Mon Feb 25

Got to the airport early even for me. Had porridge in one of the cafes. Arrived in Nürnberg just after 10am. Did some email in my hotel and then went over to the conference venue, the Messe, where our stand was being built. Always amazing to see how untidy the halls are, with fork lift trucks and rubbish everywhere, compared to the next day when it's all pristine.

Tues Feb 26

The show opened. We were ready! Busy day for me, coordinating videos and social media. Had an unhealthy meal from a shop in the train station (sandwich and crisps), and early to bed. 

Weds Feb 27

V hectic day. Our stand was even busier today. No sitting at all. Utterly exhausted when got back to hotel at 6.30. Had a bath to soothe my throbbing feet. I had a healthier diet today but suspect dehydration and caffeine withdrawal are making me more tired than usual. 

The dream team 

Thurs 28 Feb

Last day of the show. Weather still good but J got caught in rain at home. Drank more water and paced myself better. Show ended at 5pm. Had cava on the booth. Team went out for the usual end-of-show celebration. Traditional Bavarian place - I had this braised beef and gingerbread gravy. Didn't eat much of the potato dumpling. Set alarm for 4am for the taxi taking us to the airport. 

That was my month - now let's hear about yours!

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Stay in the loop: follow Is This Mutton? on Bloglovin or Feedspot. I post extra goodies (handbags and shoes) on the Is This Mutton? Facebook page. Check out the Is This Mutton? Pinterest boards, including boards on other bloggers in fab outfits plus beauty, jewellery, hairstyles and fashion picks. Is This Mutton? is also on Twitter. 

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