The day has been overcast, but mild. The clouds have scudded across the sky non-stop all day and this evening they have incredibly pretty rainbow hues. Some are white-grey, some blue-grey, others golden-grey or pink-grey, and the stormy-looking ones, iron-grey. But none of them have threatened to pour raindrops on us. Indeed, they have been benevolent today, and were particularly so when we made our second trip over to Sutton, parting their ways and allowing the sunshine to peep through. How blessed we have been.
Our intention was to call over to the new-born’s house sometime later on in the week, to drop in the gifts that Dave and Chris brought yesterday. Our plans for today were to tackle the clearing of the former office area, emptying cupboards, removing the contents of the room, denuding the wall, cleaning and hauling up the carpet to make it ready for fitting the laminate flooring.
It was a job we started and have done reasonably well, having got as far as half-lifting the carpet. However, a chit-chat to Michael and half a hint that we might be welcome to go over to see them and, well, the job can easily be done another day, can’t it?? Any one of the family only has to hint that we’ll be welcome, and we’re there!! Well, within social-distancing and isolation rules, of course.
I had started the day baking, trying to rustle up a bread substitute for John and his wacky diet, which actually turned out really successfully. Sandwich rolls they are called, looking more like very large scones, but they tasted good. Those, and home-made guacamole, made a delicious lunch.
A little work in the garden after Steve, our milkman, had been to mow the lawn, before we set to with the main aim of the day – prep the old office. Gosh, it was grubby. We knew it would be, because it was the main walkway from the garage when John ran the business, and there have been years and years of workmen coming in and out every day.
John was especially anxious about moving the cupboard in the corner, though. He was convinced there might be some damp in that corner as he’d had trouble with it when he built the extension. But no, hurrah!! All dry as a bone. He gave a little skip and patted himself on the back.
Surprisingly, we had loaded the walls with such a lot of pictures (well, it was mostly me attempting to cheer John up at one time or another). There were pictures of the family; of our time in Australia; Andrew in Australia; car memorabilia; old birthday cards with funnies on the front; a couple of large prints – a dreamy scene of mountains and a lake, and a sporty scene of a racing car; plus, a photo of John racing round Silverstone. Not sure where we are going to put them all now – unlikely to go back into that room, I think. But anyone remember this one?
So, after the half-hint that we might like to call over to Sutton, we had our lunch, said goodbye to Mum, who decided for the second time that she didn’t want to come, and set off, bearing Dave and Chris’s gifts, a jar of the home-made lemon curd, Chris’s famous cake, a very large mallet and a piece of wood – don’t ask me what the last two were for……
As we arrived, the sun came out, the air was balmy, and we settled into the chairs on the decking. William was having a nap, Thomas was having a feed and so we sunned ourselves for a few minutes until the family emerged. Thomas was fast asleep and wore a post-feed contented smile on his face. Not long afterwards, William was up and running about, chattering away and telling us what he was doing in great detail. Lots of shrugging of shoulders when he couldn’t find his tools in his shed……. but his kitchenalia seemed to make a good substitute.
It was delightful again and John felt very useful advising Michael on laying paving slabs at bottom of the garden while Danielle and I chewed the cud sat in the warmth of the afternoon up at the top. Time went too quickly, and it was soon the bewitching hour, when Mum turns back into Cinderella wearing ragged clothing, and we had to come home.
Amazingly, for coming home in the rush-hour, there was very little traffic and we were home within twenty-five minutes. Mum was safe and sound when we got back, having alternated her time between watching TV and falling asleep. I had offered her the colouring book before we set off and excitedly encouraged her to show me to fruit of her labour when we got back, but no, she hadn’t been in the mood for that today. So far, we have just a few leaves coloured in……..
Being safe and sound is what we’re all after, and I am still a little (!!) anxious about going out and about, so generally speaking, we’re not. However, as Malcolm said on Saturday during our ‘path chat’ the scale of infection is less and less, so the risks are fewer too – which should give me confidence. And yet, we are not getting the whole picture as I understand it, and the stats remain confusing.
The NHS figures published today don’t fit with those I saw yesterday as they don’t reveal previous data. However, for the record, the NHS numbers stated are 5 deaths in hospitals up until four o’clock yesterday, and 10 the day before. The government numbers are 155 deaths in all settings and 689 people infected.
The confusion appears to be that these figures take no account of Pillar 2 where figures have been unavailable for a good while – and if you can make sense of the blurb explaining why it’s unavailable, please let me know. Dan Walker, the BBC presenter tried to get to the bottom of this today when he interviewed Matt Hancock, but to no avail, and I remain ‘Confused of Coventry’.
All I know is, I am still insisting on keeping very strictly to mask- and glove-wearing, hand-washing and/or keeping our two metre distance whenever we’re in anyone’s company. Stay safe everyone, let’s not get sloppy.
PS….. I had chocolate delivered today….. dear Margaret called to drop it in, and her husband, Chris, is lending John a Lotus magazine, too – happy days.