At home with Ruth: Cleaning with Marigolds and military precision
Our columnist Ruth Langsford opens up about what’s getting her through lockdown right now – and Marigolds are involved…
LOCKDOWN LIFE
I’m not a super mum – but I am a mum. I’m not here to paint the way I’m dealing with social distancing, lockdown or how to keep occupied as some gospel to follow, to preach to you or hold Ruth’s way up as The Way. It’s just My Way.
As it became clear how serious Coronavirus was becoming, I knew our lives would change. Although we work together at least one day a week on This Morning, outside that, Eamonn and I are often like ships in the night. We are not just a ‘TV couple’. Throughout our careers, we have been separate presenters, had separate work commitments that involve long hours and travel. It wasn’t lost on me that I like my space, my routines and I wasn’t used to the idea of Eamonn getting in the way. That what I refer to as My Home is in fact Our Home – and, pretty soon, it would begin to feel very shared.
There is only one other person I would trust to look after our home as well as me, and that’s our housekeeper of 20 years. The isolation rules mean that she can’t come to see us – so keeping the house clean, tidy and ticking over falls to me and Eamonn. Well… make that just me.
He offers, but he doesn’t do things to my standards. By his own admission, one of the things that attracted him to me in the early days was that I wore Marigold gloves a lot. It reminds him of his mother! She
keeps a very clean home – and so I do. That was my target from day one. Keep everything clean, keep moving and keep motivated. I had to. I am an anxious person by nature, and I have to be careful of how much news I’m watching, aware that it makes me even more anxious. Housework is tough, but I’ve always had a lust to do it and do it well. Walking the dog can be tough for some people (Eamonn!), but scrubbing, cooking and cleaning were instilled into me at a very early age by my military parents – to such a degree that they’ve all become second nature.
So, every day I have a routine. I’m up from 7am. Then on goes my first wash, accompanied by some ironing, while I watch Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. I walk Maggie, our dog, from about 9am. Already my footstep count has reached around 4,000, but before the day is out it will have totalled 15K! Much better than I did before.
What I realise lockdown has given me is time. Time to choose. Time for exercise. Time to de-clutter, time to think about what will change when all this is over. I have been cooking from scratch and storing food. As a family we are better off for eating clean and fresh produce. I’m not a person to take an afternoon nap. There’s too much to be done!
By the end of the day, I slump on to the sofa and chill, by watching a whole range of my favourite programmes. Needless to say, come bedtime, I have absolutely no difficulty sleeping.
This is what works for me. In between, I have an ideas book, which I work on updating and amending my QVC Fashions and then whatever research I need to do for This Morning. So, life is pretty full as opposed to fulfilling – but I’m getting through in my way.
Whatever your way is, I hope it’s helping you – but I think we all need a way.
These are scary times and goodness knows how long the Coronavirus threat will last. The main thing is, we have to outlast it.
So from my family to yours, keep well, keep safe... and find a way.