Friday 3 April 2020
Leila started work at usual time and had a productive few hours. She was trying her best to wait for Alex to wake up so they could have coffee together but was feeling really weak by 10am. She decided to go upstairs and work in the living room so she would stop staring at the coffee machine. Luckily, Alex came downstairs half an hour later and Leila got straight on the coffee making whilst he showered, using the new Rosslyn beans. Coffee was a little grainy but good. Leila continued working whilst Alex had an impromptu video call with Evie and Ed which he loved. It was really great to hear how they’ve been and we planned a 3-way virtual date sometime in the future. Meanwhile, Leila started making Alex his second coffee as it was approaching midday. It was the first day of his caffeine restrictions – max 2 coffees before midday and 1 tea. Self imposed, but well enforced by Leila.
Alex finished his problem set and begun making lunch which was a plate of tasty leftovers from the last few nights’ dinners. He ate lunch on the bench outside whilst Leila wrote the blog. We worked solidly through the afternoon. Leila’s big project got delayed because of Coronavirus which made her a little sad as she enjoyed it and also because it means she’s going to be reassigned a different project (which she doesn’t enjoy as much). Alex did some work collating Global government responses to Covid, the output of which will be useful to QB, Ethiopian Response, MBA Professor and his homework – not quite sure how he pulled that of! Leila was feeling full of work at about 6pm so she decided to go on a walk and ended up walking all the way to the Waitrose near Russell Square. There was no queue so she decided to go in for some “essentials” again – Oatly, Seabass (because it was reduced to £1.95), tortilla chips, leek gratin (also reduced) and the soya butter that they both like. Meanwhile, Alex built the garden chair. Leila had been avoiding doing this for the last 3 weeks but it turned out Alex actually wanted to… win-win. He then joined a call with a Professor to talk about the Covid dataset work.
Leila carried on working for a bit after she returned from her walk and then headed for a shower in preparation for date night. She put on another summer dress (most non-tracksuit winter clothes are in Barnet). Alex prepared the potatoes and carrots which were adequately spiced with cumin, to say the least. He then also showered and put on a shirt. Leila pan fried the Seabass with onions, chilli, sesame, garlic lemon and soy sauce.
We ate dinner in our usual spot with music, red wine, candles and a fake Netflix fire on the TV to top if off. We did some more of the questions and talked about out our proudest achievements, differences in the way we think about living with parents, etc. It got Alex feeling really pensive, especially ahead of his 27th birthday. By this point, it was past midnight and we both dozed off pretty happily.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 