Normality is fragile
I'm used to our new normal and I'm used to the normality shifting on a regular basis but tomorrow our electricity is off all day and it's at times like this when I realise how fragile our hold on normality is.
In the past if we were to have a whole day without electricity we'd just get in the car and drive. I'd begun to say there that we'd have gone out for coffee then lunch and then a wander around a garden centre or somewhere similar but then I realised it would have been in the days when Ash would have run a mile from a garden centre and once again I was reminded how much our life has changed.
So it wouldn't have been a garden centre and I'm fairly sure it wouldn't even have been lunch out. Instead Ash would have been hugely enthusiastic about driving a couple of hours up into 'proper' hills, donning rucksacks and walking boots and spending the day out in the fresh air with a picnic and a flask of tea. Not only that but it would have happened whatever the weather. Rain? sunshine? sleet? snow? you name it and we'd have had the appropriate clothing.
Tomorrow then will be very different and I'm already planning the day with military precision because the difference between getting it right and getting it wrong will have a huge impact on the rest of the week.
If you consider Ash's daily activities you'll see how important electricity is to them. If he's not walking the dog he's watching television or on his laptop so staying in and waiting it out really isn't an option but what should we do instead that won't make him unsettled and what do I have to think about?
Usually we go grocery shopping on a Tuesday morning but this week (can you hear the drum roll?) I'm moving it to tomorrow afternoon. This may make life slightly difficult not so much because the day itself has changed but because the time of day has changed but my plan is to find somewhere for coffee then on to somewhere else for lunch, then shopping before coming home and hoping the electricity is back on again. The other thing I'll need to judge is when exactly to tell Ash that things will be different.
We won't be cold because we can light the fire and we can still boil water for hot drinks because we have a gas hob but for my sanity as well as Ash's we need to be out of the house as much as possible. Only being out of the house means being out of routine which will be a challenge.
On the other hand it might just all go without a hitch but to find out you'll have to check in tomorrow.
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