Created by Julie Goucher, July 2019

I am not planning on turning this post into a discussion on COVID-19 because discussions are everywhere; and not all of it accurate.

I am a news junkie, so I watched the news very frequently last week. Because of a health condition I am classed as “vulnerable” as is my  husband, so we were advised to practice self isolation and if we did go out to practice social distancing. By the end of last week the situation had changed and the Country was told that individuals should stay home, only venturing out for essentials. Then, over the weekend, we went a stage further. It was a directive to stay home. Pictures filled our news screens of jammed packed tube trains as people ignored the sensible directive to stay home.

Courtesy  – NHS England 2019

My mind turned to the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, also known as Spanish Flu, where 500 million people were infected. I have no idea how my family felt of the situation as there is no written word in our family papers and no one is left to ask. That is of course, different to future generations of my family, because I have made numerous references in my journal.

So, whilst we are locked down, not allowed out apart from essentials and for exercise I have been keeping busy, doing an assortment of tasks and writing – rather too much of the former and less than I would like of the latter. My office is still a room in transition from when we moved here 18 months ago. I have been reorganising a few things, though I use the word reorganising rather loosely!

Curver Boxes 2016

It started about three weeks ago when someone wrote to me about a Butcher family in my part of Surrey. I read the email and recognised the names. I went to the filing cabinet and located the file marked Butcher.

It was bulging and there was a note, written by me, directing a future me, as the note had been written in 2016, to a Curver lidded container with a picture of a Highland Terrier, where I would find more Butcher material. I looked for the box and there it was located next to my comfy chair where I had placed a stack of folders on top and behind a stack of books for some reorganisation. I set about moving the material. After an hour, I had accessed the box, and gone through the contents. The material in the box is Butcher material to be digitised or added to my study, except the item I wanted was not in the box. After a couple of hours, after sorting a few assorted piles of paper that was awaiting filing, I had not found the paper. I was being to panic – I recalled the last day I had the paper, it was recycling day, had I put the paper in the wrong place?

At 3 am the following morning, I was up early and heading to the bathroom, when I recalled where I had put the paper. My iPad case has a slip pocket in the front and I do have a few papers in there. I tiptoed into the bedroom opened the drawer next to my side of the bed and extracted said iPad. Making my way to my office I put the light on, sat down and extracted a few sheets of paper, including the sheet I had spent considerable time seeking the day before. The moral of this story is always put away papers you get out.

“Be a filer, not a piler!”

The latest Pharos course on One-Name studies started last week, just as I shared  a day or so ago. That is going well and I am keenly awaiting feedback and comments from the first cohort of students.

The only other news is that I came across a notebook series made by Moleskine a year or so ago, smaller than the usual size and a mixture of plain and ruled paper, the latter is on the right of the notebook. It also has less pages. I ordered one and eventually began using it, finishing it at the end of last week.

Next up, is another Moleskine, and this time I have opted for the Moleskine expanded (400 pages) and in plain paper. As my planner is also Moleskine and I use the same pens as usual (Uniball Eye), I was disappointed to see the paper is a little different, in that there is ghosting on the reverse page. I am six pages in, so for 394 pages I am going to be driven crazy unless I switch pens (not going to happen!), so I had best get use to the paper & ghosting. In case anyone wants to see this, here is the option that I bought, but I notice the price has significantly increased from the £17 I paid. On further checking I see the price on Amazon mirrors that on the UK Moleskine.

I am hoping to have another post up later, after I have dealt with a few domestic chores whilst the sun is shining!

Stay safe everyone!