Project 365 2020 Week 26 – COVID 19 Lockdown Week 15

After the excitement of ending a week with a birthday and Sebby turning 7, we started the week with another birthday and Father’s Day.

It has been another frustrating week for us. Living in Bournemouth we are used to tourist season, but nothing like on a scale of what we have seen in the last few days.

Over half a million people descended on our little town, much of which is still closed because of the COVID19 pandemic and used our beach as a toilet / rubbish tip. I don’t want Boris to shut down beaches, but I do think they should limit travel to within your own postcode. Lets hope there is no spike in cases.

Here is our week………

Sunday 21st June

It’s my birthday!!!

Not impressed I have to share it with Father’s Day, but used to it now. We shared celebrations, with me cooking breakfast and my husband cooking dinner. We made use of our National Trust passes with a pre-booked visit to Corfe Castle and the kids just had to go the stepping-stone way.

Stepping Stones

Corfe Castle is one of our favourite local places to visit and although the kids didn’t get to dress up or do the activity trail, they enjoyed exploring all the nooks and crannies that only a ruined castle would have.

Corfe Castle

There are certain spots where they always stop for a photo, like the leaning wall – I must a picture from each year, so really must find them and make a collage to see how much the kids have grown.

Leaning wall

Every time I see it I do wonder how it is still standing, just look at the angle its at!!

Isaac Wall

I have always wanted to climb the hill that overlooks the castle which you can see in the picture below, so we decided today was the day.

Kids with attitude

It is really quite steep and was very windy, but was well worth it and Sebby, with his new 7 year old legs ran all the way to the top, where the views stretched over Corfe Castle, the village and all the way across Poole Harbour.

 

Windy

From there we jumped in the car to Swanage where I treated the kids to Fortes ice cream. If you ever visit, it is a must as all freshly made locally.

Fortes Ice Cream

There was a bit of excitement on the way home as we witnessed a sailing boat hit the Sandbanks Ferry and get rescued by the local RNLI and get towed to safety.

RNLI

Monday 22nd June

Eliza and Sebby were both in school today and the weather was predicted to be a scorcher. We have been itching to take our paddleboards out for a spin, so headed to the River Stour by Canford School to launch them.

River Stour

It is normally just my husband and I with the kids, but we found it so much easier having Kian to help us pump them up and carry them to the waters edge.

Wimborne Bridge

We paddled all the way from the school to the old Wimborne Bridge and back which works out about 2.5 miles there and back. We spotted all sorts of wildlife from dragonflies to swans and even a snake swimming across the river.

Isaac Paddleboard

Both Isaac and my husband managed to fall in, both whilst showing off – luckily the water wasn’t too cold! We were home in time to pick the kids up from school, before I headed into work for the evening. Not sure what happened to Sebby, he definitely didn’t go in looking like this?!?!?

Sebby school

Tuesday 23rd June

A pre-school work day for me today and my husband did some overtime too. In the evening, we left Kian babysitting whilst we headed out to the poppy field at Badbury Rings to take some photo’s.

Poppies at sunset

We were a little disappointed to find it wasn’t looking a vibrant as it did last year, but have since discovered that the best time to go is July and early in the morning, rather than the evening.

Poppy lensball

It almost ended in disaster when my husband lost communication with his drone and we had to go searching for it. Then, after we watched the sunset from Badbury Rings, the May Bugs came out in force and were literally flying into people as they made a dash to their cars – I even got one caught in my hair, much to my husbands amusement as I screeched at him to get it out!!

Sunset Badbury Rings

Wednesday 24th June

Yet another birthday today. Callan turned 23, but sadly is back at work after furlough, so we didn’t get to see him other than on facetime. Abbey came round with Lilah and we went for a very hot, socially distanced walk to the Sang where I treated us all to an ice cream.

Ice cream

We have been itching to see if the swans cygnets had hatched and today we got our first glimpse as Mum led them around the pond.

Cygnets

I was asked to go into work early as it seems the world and its wife had decided to head to Bournemouth because of the beautiful weather. It was an interesting shift to say the least, with lots of families and groups trying to stock up with supplies, meaning we were very busy until we closed.

Thursday 25th June

Another full day at work for both my husband and I. The weather was sweltering and BCP Council and the hospitals declared a major incident due to the sheer number of people that had descended on the town, more than come to our popular air festival in August. The roads were gridlocked, people were literally dumping cars wherever they could, using people’s gardens as toilets and leaving all their rubbish behind. I love where we live but it infuriates me when people just don’t seem to care……..we pay our council tax to help keep the beaches and town clean but it was treated with utter disrespect.

Echo
Image Credit: Daily Echo

As the nearest supermarket to the beach, we were busy all day with most customers being understanding and polite, but a few were most unpleasant to deal with.

Friday 26th June

The influx of visitors has meant I picked up more overtime and it was another busy day. The kids enjoyed their half day at school and my husband has news that he is starting a new job, on 6th July. It is not quite what he was doing before, but it is a stepping stone and a regular income. Tesco were brilliant and even gave him a card and voucher to thank him for all his help.

Thank you card

Saturday 27th June

Another work day for me, but on the early rather than a late shift, so it means that I get to enjoy a proper meal this evening. I had planned on taking the kids for a walk, but I am shattered and its a bit drizzly today, so I have just chilled on the sofa, whilst they have been playing online with their friends.

Gaming

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22 thoughts on “Project 365 2020 Week 26 – COVID 19 Lockdown Week 15”

  1. It must be so frustrating living where you do with the idiots descending on you.
    Happy belated birthday to you! My great Aunt had to share her birthday with Father’s day too and she wasn’t impressed. lol It looks like you had a lovely day and I love the photos from your day.
    The paddle boarding looks like fantastic fun. x

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  2. Your children have your husband’s smile! Especially your daughter! It looks like you had a fun week outside!

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  3. Sounds like a fun week! I remember going to Swanege for a Geography trip years back, and from some of the pictures you sent, memories are flooding back!

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  4. Happy Birthday for last week! I live in Cornwall so am used to tourists to. The beaches have been busy here as well..but nothing like the scenes I saw in Bournemouth.

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  5. The paddle boarding looks amazing. Would love to give it a go. Couldn’t believe the crowds at Bournemouth. I just don’t understand why people would think it’s ok to do that, plus of course why you’d want to sit on a beach that busy at a normal time anyway

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  6. Your birthday and Fathers Day, double celebrations. Looks like you had a great day with the paddleboards, I’ve used one once but just couldn’t stand up on it (I have awful balance!) x

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  7. Honestly feel so sorry for people who live near beaches. The volumes of people who have been going there are so bad. I love how you have worked your birthday and Fathers Day out. Hope you both managed to enjoy 🙂 Take care lovely

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  8. Thats a fab photo of you all. Happy birthday and happy fathers day. I agree with you in regards to limiting travel, yes to beaches if you have living there, but no for just a day out, even when I travel an hour to see my family, I don’t use any facilities or go in any shops

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  9. Can’t believe Sebby is 7 now! The paddle boarding looks a lot of fun – I would like to try it some time. I haven’t travelled more than the 7 miles in any one journey since March and most people I know are similar – it does make me wonder who is doing all the traveling to the seaside and so on. Hope your husband’s new job goes well.

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  10. Happy birthday!

    The scenes at the beaches were shocking!

    Paddle boarding looks fun and wow that wall…I’m surprised to that its still standing!

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  11. It must be horrible to have so many people descend on your area with the pandemic still going on, and awful that they used the beach as a toilet/rubbish tip. I love Corfe Castle and it looks like you had a lovely day out there. It’s amazing that the leaning wall is still standing, isn’t it? The view from the hill is gorgeous. How lovely to get out on the paddleboards, and it was certainly good weather for it! The sunset is stunning but having May bugs fly at you is not much fun – I’d have reacted in much the same way! Lilah is getting so big. She looks a bit unsure about her lolly. #project366

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  12. Some lovely images this week and how fab of Tesco to give your hubby a thank you card and voucher! Nicely done on the work too!
    Hope you had a lovely birthday, despite having to share it with Father’s Day!
    When I saw reports of 500,000 visitors descending on Bournemouth I seriously thought someone had added in an extra zero! If that truly is the number then I am really sorry, sorry that so many muppets decided to do that! 🙁 Sim

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  13. I sympathize with you, that’s a crazy amount of people arriving to the beach but it’s not realistic to limit the travel to the post code. I don’t drive and haven’t travelled anywhere this year. The Corfe castle is a beautiful place to visit, I’ve been there with my friends over 20 years ago.
    The poppy field photos are gorgeous.

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  14. Amazing pictures!! Happy birthday! OoOoo the trip to the National Trust and the castles looks great! Woah, those walls are leaning quite a lot. You all look adorable together and the background looks amazing. Paddleboarding looks fun! Hahahaha, I bet Sebby re-arranged his outfit when you weren’t looking. Sunset at the poppy field looks beautiful. Wow, look at those swans. That’s A LOT of people at the beach. Awww so sweet of Tesco.

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  15. It must be horrible to have so many people descend on your area with the pandemic still going on, and so awful that they used the beach as a toilet/rubbish tip. That is disgusting. The view from the hill is gorgeous and how lovely to get out on the paddleboards. xx

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  16. I can not get over the crowds on the beach! I mean how stupid! And to leave all that rubbish behind too it really is unacceptable. Love that you made it to Corfe Castle it is one of my favourites but a bit far for us, unfortunately. Good news on the new job too.

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