Our Jen …

Life goes on. I think we’ve decided to visit Jen and James (she’s not been herself recently) on Saturday – garden only – and then Mary on Sunday, a day prior to the government lifting restrictions on travel. We don’t feel too bad about it. Then, I think, we’ll take a day trip to Mum’s sometime after that (before 12th April) with the aim of getting in Doris on the 12th and heading away to campsites for a month, if and when they’re open. Ordinarily we’d be in Scotland now, and that may be an option for this Spring, but I’m not sure the Scots are ready for us. So we’ll stay put. Next? Not sure. I’ve got some chunks of work coming up and it seems likely that Bex and Steven may be prevented from travelling from Korea, mainly because they won’t be able to get back into the country without quarantine. But we’ll see …

… in-post addendum. We now have Cassie with us. We were called up to Jen’s just now – and have been up there, stayed for four hours and returned; all within the covid restrictions. She’s not been well since Thursday and we found ourselves needing/having to go and see them both. It’s complicated, and I’m unwilling at the mo to share symptoms and diagnoses, but the long and the short of it is she needs help. They have his lovely parents staying in between selling/buying houses (a long story of covid-isolation and a now a wait for house completion) and that has been a Godsend in many ways. Our bit of assistance is to have Cassie for a while, which is no hardship at all. We now have to hope for a speedy resolution … it’s all been a bit of a sad saga. Ho hum.

we have Cassie at the mo

On a positive note the guitar playing is moving on. Whereas at Christmas I was struggling to make any progress, all of a sudden I’m picking up some quite complicated pieces, both picking and strumming, and sounding vaguely competent. It’s when the YouTube teacher says, ‘you might want to try hammering these notes on, but that’s only for the more proficient amongst you’, I’m sensing that progress is being made. Currently I’m half way through ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’, which is a complex picking and percussive piece. I might video it and show it to you if I discover the courage.

a new windbreak for Doris … an early birthday present (happy birthday to me)

Other than all that, we’re fine. I managed to service the bikes on Friday and, because I’m not running (C’s current plan is to run every weekday), I’m trying to get out every day for a one-hour power walk. So far I’m managing that. And, you will have noticed, that I’m avoiding politics. However … the whole Union Jack/Flag business wears me out. It’s not important. As a country we are defined by what we currently do – who we currently are. Traditions, flags, banners and statues are all well and good, but if we bigoted, unpleasant, unwelcoming, incompetent and uncaring, then no amount of flag waving is going to change that. I love my country. I like the Union Flag/Jack … it’s pretty. But I don’t have to like where we find ourselves at the moment.

Stay safe everyone.