The Daily Echo: Our Shielding Story, Day 179

Cool. A cool day in two ways: the breeze brought the temperature down to about sixteen degrees so we dressed up warm; and then we spent a thoroughly enjoyable day out and about – and it was cool!! Loved it!

Had a lie-in this morning. Woke up feeling a bit grumpy following a bad dream, so I turned over and went back to sleep for a bit. John says he thinks I woke up grumpy because I had too much pop last night. I couldn’t possibly comment.

However, once I was up (John had been up for hours) and had eaten my breakfast and faffed about a bit, it was time to get ready to visit the local windmill. I grabbed my walking shoes for the mooch along the path, only to be met by a pained look from John. “We’re walking?” he asked. “I thought we were going in the car so we could go straight on to our next port of call?” Oh. Abandoned my walking shoes and popped them back in the boot of the car. John had done enough walking yesterday and wasn’t ready for another trek just yet.

Once we arrived at the windmill we donned our masks, sanitised our hands and waited for our timed slot, then off we went. Fascinating history and interesting ‘gubbins’ inside. We made it to the very top and took ourselves a wobbly selfie there just to prove it, but it was very high up.

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Of course, while we were there we had to sustain ourselves with a cream tea too, didn’t we? The diet’s going well, then….

What next then? We decided to drive along to Holkham – I’d seen the signs for a beach there and, despite the fact that we’ve visited one or two seaside places, I hadn’t yet had a paddle.

All I can say is – we were thrilled with our trip to Holkham beach. John may not have been ready for a walk this morning but he was ready by this afternoon and we had a fabulous walk along the beach past the salt marshes and in amongst the pine trees. Not only that, but the sun was shining and the temperature must have risen by a couple of degrees, so we weren’t quite so chilly.

The tide was out so it was a good long walk to the sea itself, but it was a lovely paddling sea. John sat on his walking stick seat while I played in the sea. Oooh, it was fun!! And the water wasn’t that cold either.

Inspired by Catherine’s artwork on her conservatory walls, of shells and feathers and driftwood collected together to make stunning pieces, we collected a few shells from the seashore ourselves. Hands full, we searched in my bag for a suitable container, or containers, to hold our burgeoning collection. Found a pair of spare socks. That’ll do. A sock each. Great. We were concentrating hard on scouring the sand, swinging our socks nonchalantly, when all of a sudden, we came across a couple that we know from our village. What!!?? They were as surprised and delighted as we were to meet up. Kate was so thrilled that she said “Come on, let’s have a photo to send to Rachel (her daughter), or she’ll never believe me when I tell her we met you!!” Photo duly taken, we set off on our separate ways, uplifted by the encounter.

We then took a circuitous drive back to our holiday home via Walsingham, where I’d once been on a pilgrimage with fellow members of church, and Little Snoring where we looked at a house for sale. As you do, when you’re on holiday.

Home again, we sat and had a cup of tea and, to my shame, I fell asleep for half an hour. John got the tea ready which I thought was very kind of him being as I was snoring my head off!

We watched TV this evening as is our wont, and enjoyed the TV film ‘Suffragette’ starring Helena Bonham-Carter and Meryl Streep, which reminded me what dreadful experiences women went through to get the vote. And shocked when I realised that it really is only a hundred years ago. Modern women in Britain have so much to be thankful for with regard to women’s rights. Not so very long ago we were still second class citizens.

If only we could collectively fully learn from history. I am wondering how much learning is going on right now in relation to how we behave in the face of this virus. We’re still spreading it quite well – nearly three thousand cases again today – but the acute phase of panic is over and people are forgetting just how serious it is. Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, of Cambridge University, was reminding us today that the older you are the more dangerous it is. So we do still need to take extra care.

In the meantime, peace be with you and all your loved ones.