Let go of the little distractions

Monday, I had to sign on. For obvious reasons, they were rushing people through as quickly as possible. When I go to sign on, they give me a card with the name of my work coach on it. They did so on Monday, before realising they shouldn’t be doing that at the moment.

It won’t be long before I don’t have to go in at all. Guarantee it. While they are trying to get people to self isolate and social distance, it’s stupid. I’m kind of surprised they haven’t banned it yet, to be honest.

Tuesday was the Frank Turner livestream on Facebook. Which meant I actually got to hear the support acts. Jess Guise has a beautiful voice and Micah Schnabel is a good singer and his songs are great.

Then, Frank. He very quickly said that, as there were more people in the audience (3) than there were on stage (1) it counted as gig 2473. He kept shouting out his road family and urging people to donate towards helping them out and introduced us to his cat. The set was good, but cut short. Facebook cut it because they thought it was spam. The line he was going to sing before the feed cut?

“Because we’re not dead yet.”

But still, it was fun and it was great to be able to smoke whenever I wanted rather than having to fight my way outside. Besides, as someone pointed out on Twitter, getting your house show busted by the police is incredibly punk.

Now, I had a plan. I decided I would go swimming today then see about getting my tattoo updated, so I would be forced to stay out of the pool for a month. Then I got a text from the gym on Friday saying that they’d be closing for a month as of 6pm tomorrow. So, I was going to go swimming today and tomorrow and see about getting the new ink after that.

Then the PM said yesterday that all bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes, gyms, leisure centres, theatres and cinemas had to shut as of last night. So, the swimming is out. (My membership has been suspended and the days I’ve got left this month will be used when they reopen.) I’m just glad my last swim went well, I’d hate for a frustrating experience to be my last.

Today I went into town, got a few bits and pieces. Came the closest I’ve ever come to panic buying when a shop had only one of something I needed, I didn’t think (correctly) that anywhere else would have it so just got it rather than going back and hoping it was still there.

I picked up book 4 and 5 in the Hitchhikers Guide trilogy and got some hand sanitiser. It cost me £4 for 50ml, but there’s a phrase involving beggers and choosers that springs to mind.

I went to the tattoo studio to see about booking my tat and they could fit me in in about an hour. Came home, dropped off my shopping and went back. The guy was good and here’s the result:

Yes, the number in blue is Tuesdays gig. I watched it live, so it counts. The artist put a plaster on it, rather than using clingfilm, so that can stay on until Wednesday. (also explains why it’s not clean. The blood is normal, don’t freak out about it.)

I had to phone a cinema to get a refund for a booking to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail next month. I’m still waiting for the inevitable confirmation that the Sci-Fi Weekender is at least postponed so I can cancel my train booking (though I won’t get a refund, just credit for the train company) and possibly get my money back from that.

Don’t need to go out tomorrow, so today is rewatching Leverage, the stream of Frank Turner show 2000 and The Invisible Man (which I didn’t get to see in the cinema, despite wanting to) and tomorrow is catching up on wrestling and phoning my mum to wish her happy Mothers Day.

I leave you with Something Beautiful:

Will