Corona Journal, 5 May: Day 51
10am Just finished an Italian lesson with M. He is in a much better mood than he has been recently, in part because his parents now have access to a printer which means I’m able to send them various things to print off which he can colour in. This turns out to be a great tactic for keeping him occupied and in his seat. I chat to him while we colour in a police car, asking him to name parts of the car, asking what colours he is doing so that we are actually speaking some Italian rather than just colouring in silence – and he tells me, in Italian and in no uncertain terms – “Annie. I want quiet.”
11:15am Finish a French lesson with my sister. We revise regular present tense verb conjugations and it’s just as much revision for me as it is for her.
2pm Finishing off editing the script from yesterday. It’s very good, intriguing and funny and I’m really enjoying casting my eye over it. Plus, I get on really well with this particular author and she always pays me when she says she will.
3pm Making a cheesecake. It occurs to me as I am bashing up biscuits and melting butter for the base that there is not one single ingredient going into this cake that isn’t atrociously fattening – it is made from double cream, sugar, chocolate, biscuits, mascarpone, butter and Oreos. It’s going to taste INCREDIBLE.
4pm Sit down to do at least an hour of work on ~my novel~. Plan on using the POMODORO method, which is 25 minutes of work and a 5 min break.
4:45pm Damn words! Get on the page and go where you’re supposed to, silly little buggers.
5:30pm Look up from work and check the timer on my phone – must be more than 25 minutes, surely? Realise that I forgot to start the timer and an hour and a half has flown past!
6pm Head out for a walk in time to walk around Queen’s Park. The park closes at 7pm these days and the wardens always come along blowing their whistles aggressively way before then.
6:30pm Through the park and up to Tiverton Green. Oh my God is that – no way – could it possibly be – the dog I was dogsitting for? I haven’t got my glasses on, could it be – ?
6:45pm It was. It was that very same dog and his owner, but neither of them saw me and I was too embarrassed to stop and say anything, so I just carried on walking. Why am I like this?
7pm Back home and planning lessons for tomorrow. I won’t spend long doing this.
8:30pm Bollocks. Where does the time go?
8:45pm Trying to eat all of our stuff from the freezer so what we can give it a good, thorough defrost (it shows how exciting lockdown life has become to say that I’m actually really looking forward to this big event). End up eating a portion of defrosted stew from last month on potato waffles – and you know what, it’s not half bad.
9pm Now planning a lesson for some friends who have asked if I’ll give them one Italian lesson per week. We have our first lesson tomorrow. I won’t overplan; I don’t need to let this encroach into my own time too much.
11:30pm Bloody hell.
