What I’ve been up to | Lockdown

2020 has taken a turn that no one expected.

For the purposes of the future 

- We are currently living through a global pandemic due to a virus called COVID-19 aka Corona Virus. As I am writing this we are currently on week 7 of lockdown which means not going to work/working from home and only going out for essentials. it's been weird. 

- As I am posting this I have no idea how many weeks it’s been I mentally disassociated in March. It's currently September and I'm back at work after having 12 weeks off.

I wanted to share a couple of things I have been doing during lockdown, not going to lie I wanted to be a lot more productive than I have been. I have been in the mindset of "i'm never going to have this much free time again..." so I cant decide whether to relax or be productive, i've decided to be a bit of both.

Driving

In January I passed my second test and bought a little red Suzuki Swift named: Taylor McQueen and having a car has been a real life saver for me this year. During lockdown I was able to safety travel to the supermarkets as well as I had somewhere I could be safe but out of the house. I went on endless drives as-well as just spending time at the beach in my car. 

Now we can socially distance within our bubbles it's been perfect as myself and my friends have been able to go for drives, go through drive thru's and just be in each others company without having to venture into the outside. 

Reading

I love reading and I kept wanting to just pick up a book and turn off for a while but I never knew what I wanted to read. The world of books is so vast I didn't know where to start, I decided to google 3 things I find intresting;  the 1920's, superpowers/fantasy and murder.

I found the book; The Diviners by Libba Bray 

I am about half way through and I am really enjoying it so far. I always find that reading before bed helps me switch off easier therefore fall asleep better so I've been loving that.

Entertainment 

Althought I've been trying to limit the time I am using screens, before lockdown I was doing really well due to being a work all day and then driving for 2 hours a day. Within the first week of lockdown my phone told me my screen-time was up around 300% I was gagged. 
Aswell as watching TikTok's for hours on end I have been watching lots of Disney Cruise Vlogs and Disney+ think im just bitter my Disney Land Paris trip was cancelled.

Evening Walk

I have been using my hour of government alotted hour of exerise to go on an evening walk and have a good natter on the phone. I've been trying to go a little later around 7/8 to try and limit the amount of people I could come into contact with not trying to get corona. I have loved this time to just chat with my friends and get some fresh air.
Due to lockdown restrictions starting to loosen I have been going in walks with my friends, meeting up for coffee or chilling in back gardens. Being able to see friends and family again has been a real game changer.

Gaming

I'm not the biggests gamer in the world my main gaming achievement is 100% in both Lego Harry Potter games, that being said Animal Crossing has once again taken over my entire life 200+ hours spent and really not that much to show for it. I used to love animal crossing on my Nintendo DS so when we were going into lockdown my want for a switch grew astronomically and my mum very kindly bought me one as an early birthday present and I have been addicted.
For my birthday in May my brother kindly bought me Luigi's mansion and my auntie Claire has kindly lent me some of her games to try out and I am loving it!

Volunteering 

My mum works in the NHS so once I was furloughed I decided to do something with all my free time and help out. I have been going into the practice two days a week (8 hours a week) calling patients ti see how they are doing during this time. I am really enjoying helping out, thankfully having previous work in a call centre has been really helpful!

Mental Health & Covid

Anyone with mental health issues will know that some days are better than others, I want to be more open and talk more about how my brain works on here as I find it helps me a lot to publically admit it to myself, my twitter can sometimes be a personal diary.

Covid has really been a rollercoaster in regards to my anxiety, I really struggled at the beginning panicked beyond belief I was going to catch it, as I think many people were. As the world started to change it and masks and social distancing have started to become more normal my anxiety started to calm a little.  

I am taking each day as it comes, we'll be alright.

Please speak up if you have any mental health issues people are great and they will help.


I want to remind you all that we are living in a pandemic you do not have to be productive! Use this time to do whatever you need to do, if that is sitting on the sofa watching Netflix all day, starting your own buisness or writing a book. Take this time to do what you need to do.

Stay safe and stay smart.

Harry Potter Studios 2.0 | Pandemic

As I write this I should be living it up in Disneyland Paris with my best friend but due to COVID-19 that has not happened, yes I am very sad.

Last year myself and Molly planned this trip to celebrate her birthday at one of our favourite places but just days before we were meant to set off all 6 Disney Parks closed. I accept that it's for the best but it still sucks. I am trying to keep a positive mindset throughout this entire lockdown situation.

We were determined to make the most out of this trip so we decided to go back to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. We went last May for my birthday (post) and weren't planning on going back until the summer as they are showcasing the Slyherin common room and we need to show our house pride. Both Molly and I are big Harry Potter fans so it might not be Disneyland but there's still plently of magic.
We also decided to extend our trip an extra night and go and see the West End show Jamie. I personally have never seen it but Molly loves it so I was excited.

My trip started on Saturday, I jumped on the train down to Derby to meet Molly and her family for her birthday meal at Pizza Hut and starting off the trip well I had to pay £110 on the train as my railcard had expired (who knew they had to be renewed thought after I was 25 I couldn't use it anymore apparently not). As you can imagine I was thrilled.

Once I arrived in Derby we went for a lovely meal and then I got to hang out with Molly's dogs Paddy & Seamus who I love very dearly and miss so very much.

The next day Molly and I travelled down to London where we followed our tradition of having a Nando's every time we see each other. Nandos baby I miss you. We then went back to our hotel chilled and watched Tik Toks and chatted all night.

Althought we had been to the Harry Potter Studios only last year it is still so interesting and fun to be there. We got extremely lucky as the studios was closing at 8pm that day, so although Disney let us down Harry Potter did not! 

We spent the day going around the studios being idiots and getting our fake passports stamped (low key so fun & free highly reccommend) which was something we didn't do last time.

I have so much love for Harry Potter so going to the studios is one of my favourite things in the world and one of my favourite places to visit! I can not wait until we get to go back and celebrate Slytherin in all it's glory.

I didn't know what to expect walking into the studios but it was relatively busy. No where near what I have experienced before, we got the first avaliable slot of 10am to make the most out of the day, I highly reccomend this as you can stay at the studios until it closes if you wished. Jumping on the train from Euston to Watford Junction at 9am and waited for the hogwarts express! 

The shuttle bus from the train station to the studios is a £3 return which I dont think is bad. It's always exciting seeing Warwick Davis talking to you about the studios as you drive through Watford.

After a day at the studios we headed back to our hotel to collect our belongings and move to our second hotel in covent garden. We decided to move hotels to be closer to the theatre and it was cheaper.

We sanitised every inch of our souls before getting on the tube (Corona tings you get it) and ventured to Covent Garden. 

We checked in to our hotel and went out to meet Becca who I have known for years and years but never met (Vamps friends who lives at the opposite end of the country problems) before we were going to go to see Jamie on the West End.

We had a lovley Bella Italia, it was so nice to finally meet Becca! Make sure to check out her Youtube Channel - Link
Then 40 minutes before the show was meant to start the tories started acting up and the show was cancelled. That was fun. 

Mol & I really went through it this trip all we have ever wanted was to go to Disney together but we can go next year and we will go Florida together. I still had a lovely time even if I did complain the whole time about how much I hate Corona. 

I hope everyone is staying safe, regularly washing their hands and self isolating where possible we can get through this! Can't wait to be in a GCSE text book. 

Here is a collection of images from my few days off work before I was furloughed: 

love ya mol cya after Corona