Month: September 2020

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.

It was a Victoria Sandwich, with black cherry jam and buttercream, wot done it guv!!!

I can resist anything but temptation….. and damn it! There was temptation again today!! Every. Single. Day. Did I have an excuse? Erm….. Can’t think of one….. could I make one up? No. The only actualite is that I am rather weak-willed. There we have it. A determination to improve my eating habits and… boom! Within a day all good intentions are lost and the spare tyre around my middle is made up of scones and Victoria Sandwich. Ah, well, I am on holiday after all.

Despite the fall from grace on the food front, we had a very good day. I rose early, breakfasted like a Queen on yesterday’s foraged blackberries and apple served with a little yoghurt, and pottered about until the ol’ man got up. He, too, was up early. And why? Because we’d booked to visit Houghton Hall where there would be an exhibition of sculptures by the celebrated Anish Kapoor.

We arrived there, spot-on time and the gatekeeper asked for our booking number. Could I find the darned thing? No. But no worries, “What’s your postcode, love?” and it was all sorted. We were ushered into our parking space, one of the first to arrive, having inadvertently jumped the queue earlier before the gates were even open. I did wonder why there were lots of cars cars parked up on both sides of the roads……

We chose to wander round the formal gardens first and, joy of joys, were thrilled to see a bed of dahlias, which made me think of Pete and Dawn and the times we’d visited Baddesley Clinton together. Although, unfortunately, by the time we got to the dahlia beds, it was, ‘I think I need the loo’ time, so it was a quick photo and off we dashed.

I have to say, my anxiety levels had been decreasing. However, there seemed to be a lot of people at Houghton Hall. Admittedly, the exhibition, bar a couple of pieces, was outside, so we were able to keep our distance. But the visit to the loos raised the anxiety level to full-on. I mean, they had bloomin’ hand-dryers, for a start, flailing every droplet they could find in every direction. I wasn’t so keen on that.

But we persevered, and I kept my fingers crossed and prayed. In the event, the crowds were well dispersed and we really didn’t get too close to anyone. And the sculptures were mind-boggling, so we enjoyed it and stopped thinking about the pesky virus.

Not only that, I was thrilled to have looked at, and admired (in a weird way), Henry Moore’s ‘Mother and Child’ sculpture and, of course, Anish Kapoor’s ‘Sky Mirror’ – loved that, but then, doesn’t everyone?? Especially as I was described as a ‘teenager’ when I was trying to take a selfie. Flattery, my dear, will get you everywhere!!

We did the full circuit, including, I might add, the ‘Ha Ha’ at the end of the lawn…… oh, dear, they do say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit….

It was all thought-provoking stuff. Although John kept saying, “Yeah, but you just need the right tools….” and “This one looks like he got half-way through and his sander gave up.” Always thinking of the practical, my husband!! He did rather like the sculpture entitled ‘Grace’ though…

The exhibition didn’t take as long to go round as we had thought and it was lunchtime when we were ready to leave. John was keen for a coffee, but I wasn’t keen to stay. The queue was long and I was getting anxious about being among too many people. But it transpired that he wasn’t really thinking about coffee – more, sort of, a scone… and jam…. and clotted cream. Once we’d established that, we set off back to our holiday home. Go to the windmill cafe? Or the local cafe?

We plumped on the local cafe which had just the one scone left. Hence the Victoria Sandwich for me.

Because we had more or less a whole afternoon ahead of us we decided to set off for Wells-Next-The-Sea. We didn’t know what to expect, but crikey!! If I was worried about crowds earlier….. it was rammed!!

To avoid too many people, we ended up driving to the far end of the harbour, parking there and catching the little train for the mile back into town. We walked along the harbour wall and back. And then, because the last return train had departed, we walked the full mile mile back to the car park. Now, this may not seem much to you, but for John, who is in a state of ‘where are my muscles?’ it was quite a tall order. But he made it. Only had to sit down once. I was was pretty proud of him.

And all the while, the sun shone and the weather was warm. Delightful.

We had hoped, this evening, to join in with our Quiz Night but technology evaded us and all I can say now is, ‘Happy Birthday, Linda!!’ and send hugs.

There are still an awful lot of people being infected with COVID-19 – nearly 2,500 today, so I continue to worry. However, we’re ‘following the science‘ and keeping our distance, hand washing/sanitising and wearing our masks. If the darned thing gets us, it will be despite our every effort to avoid it. Fingers crossed….

Keep at it, everyone!! God bless.

In anticipation of it being a beautiful day day, I got up early so that we could go to the seaside. Inland, the clouds were covering what should have been a blue sky, however, so I was disappointed. Never mind, I thought, we’ll carry on as planned and when John is up we’ll set off.

So, first up, I put my shoes on, grabbed a carrier bag to store the volumes of blackberries I was going to pick and set off for a walk along the path by the field. As I shut the gate, a neighbour was just coming out of his house, so I passed the time of day. Because we had seen a lovely old vintage car in his garage yesterday when the door was open, I mentioned it. I said we weren’t sure what the make was but it looked impressive. Pleased, he asked me if I’d like to have a look round it. Oooh, I should say so!! He opened up the garage and told me all about it. Honestly, it was lovely. And pristine. It turned out that it was just a little ‘roller’ he’d been polishing yesterday. I was not jealous, as you can imagine.

With a skip in my step, I was soon on my way. It was very mild, if overcast, and I was looking forward to collecting blackberries. I didn’t have to go far before I gathered the first lot, and then I slowly worked my way down until I thought I’d got enough. I do love a bit of foraging.

On the way back, I also picked two apples from a heavily-laden tree, to go with the blackberries. And back at the house, they stewed up beautifully. Ready for tomorrow’s breakfast.

John wasn’t up yet, so I popped along to the local shop for today’s breakfast supplies and bought a couple of newspapers as a treat. We have more or less given up buying newspapers these days, so it was quite nice to have the rustle of a newspaper in our hands.

John was up when I got back so we had our breakfast – made with the fresh eggs I’d just bought – and planned our trip. I decided against taking a packed lunch, and also decided against taking my sunglasses. It was overcast, after all.

We set off to Snettisham, a sea-side resort where John had spent a camping holiday as a child. As we approached, the clouds parted and the sun came out. And it stayed like that all day. Wish I’d brought my sunglasses…..

The stroll along the beach was lovely, and then we sat down for a rest, just watching the world go by. The sea glistened in the sunlight and the birds sang – as best they could being sea-birds – and we listened to the background noises of dogs barking, people chatting, the drone of a plane and the beep-beep-beep of a metal detector. No children that I could see or hear – all gone back to school.

We drove along a bit further to Heacham and did the same again. The sun was hot by now (25 degrees) and this time there was man with a kite instead of a metal detector. Fascinating to watch. Nevertheless, I lay back, put my hat over my eyes and dozed.

Next stop, Hunstanton for a cup of coffee, perhaps? Or so we thought. Despite the school holidays being over, the town seemed very busy. And we just didn’t find anywhere we fancied coming to a halt. So we kept driving along the coast road, round the back lanes, through the beautiful countryside until we found our way back to the house we’re staying in, and there we had a nice cuppa.

The sun was still shining so I took my crossword puzzle outside and sat on the bench. The puzzle was very hard, and it was very warm, I’ll just have a little lie down, I thought. The bench was quite comfy and I was lulled by the children playing next door. Had another doze, don’t you know?

When I woke up, I was starving. “What do you want for tea, John?” I asked. “It’s up to you,” he replied. “I’m not bothered.” Ah….. well, I rustled something up that suited us both anyway, before John went back to watching the cricket. Our rellies in Oz will be pleased. The Aussies won the last game of the series. Not such an exciting match this time, but we enjoyed it all the same.

And that was our day. A pleasant unfurling of good weather, pleasant company, the roof down on the car, and glorious views. I’ll take that thank you very much.

Once again, the numbers of virus infections are at nearly three thousand people today. And, as of Monday, no more than six people may gather together. Yikes! This thing might be like the Hundred Years War if we’re not careful!!

Keep washing your hands folks! God bless.

It lasted twenty-four hours. Just twenty-four hours before I buckled. The diet? Hmmm…. the diet. Started the diet yesterday. Felt saintly. But today we had cream tea and wine. The diet was off for today. I knew it wouldn’t last. Back on tomorrow? Maybe?

So, how did the fall from grace happen, then? It was like this, your honour……

We woke up, nicely refreshed, with our mission to go for a walk this morning in our minds. We ate our breakfast and, while John was soothing his poorly eyes, I did a bit more jigsaw. I don’t know how long it was that I’d been doing the jigsaw, but I was conscious that it was quite long time, when I heard a snore or two from the lounge. John had nodded off. Ah, well… I’ll do a bit more jigsaw then.

When John woke up, it was gone mid-day. “Let’s go for our walk,” we said. Good idea. Mind you, took me another half an hour to get our bits of kit ready….

The plan was to walk as far as the windmill if we could. Not far – only half a mile or so – but we took our time. Consulted the OS map first. Shall we take it with us? Nah…. we’ll set ourselves up on the Sat Nav on the phone if we need to know where we are.

It was a lovely walk along the path. Loads and loads of blackberries to pick (I’m going back with a bag!!) and lots of flora to wonder at. Not much fauna that we could see though.

Anyway, we arrived at the windmill. It dawned on us that we hadn’t had lunch. The cafe was serving such delicious-looking scones with clotted cream and jam. How could we resist? Masks on, standing well away from everyone and using the sanitiser available we braved it and stepped inside. We decided we’d have the scones. We ordered drinks as well and took everything to a table outside. It was lovely.

After we’d had our scones we wandered round the little garden and admired the flowers they’d planted and the animals grazing in their fields. The chickens in the little garden were very tame and followed us round. Cute.

A nice wander back home to the jigsaw and a glass of wine while the chicken was roasting for our tea. It wasn’t one of the ones that had followed us, honest!

In between times, we were following Freddie’s First Day at School on the WhatsApp group. Oh, dear. My heart was full and then overflowing. We saw him ready, first thing, in his uniform looking gorgeous and very excited/nervous. Then we saw him walking in through the school gates, getting his name badge and sanitising his hands. Then the handover to the teacher. And the kiss and wave goodbye. And finally, the excited exit at the end of the school day falling headlong into Mummy and Daddy’s arms. It was too much! Ah…. Freddie, love you so. Where did those baby/toddler years go?

This evening, we had another glass of wine each….. and then, there’s only a drop left, shall we finish the bottle? Be churlish not to, we thought. We’ll drink it while we watch a film, so we watched The Good Liar with Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. I thought it was good fun and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Oh, and by the way. We finished the jigsaw! Just wondering what we’re going to do now…..

We did watch a bit of news today, too, and note that the country is going to hell in a handcart. The virus is spreading again, there’s shootings and stabbings and the negotiations on Brexit are all over the place. Eeeh, but it’s good to be British isn’t it?

Nevertheless, we are keeping our distance and feel comforted that the people of this part of Norfolk have clocked on to the safety precautions.

Take care and look after yourselves everyone. Let’s safeguard the future for our loved ones.

We had plans today. However, we decided to shelve the plans in favour of sleep, reading, jigsaw puzzling, TV and eating. That was it. That’s all we did all day. And guess what? It was very nice.

First off, we stayed in bed until we’d finished sleeping. No alarm. No deadlines. No need to get up.

Did a bit of reading in bed before I winkled myself out of it. Once I was up though, I had a leisurely breakfast and watched the birds outside, for a while. To be fair, it was mostly pigeons that were chasing each over and over again, and landing with very large thuds on the top of the conservatory roof. Pesky things!!

I wandered into the conservatory and pondered whether to do some more of the jigsaw. Well, why not? Spent most of the day doing it really, although I haven’t got as far as I’d like. It’s very hard.

John was up and about, supplying the cups of tea, and then it was Grand Prix time. But what about the cricket?? “No worries,” John said, “I’m recording it,” Phew!!

So first we watched the Grand Prix, in fits and starts, which was very exciting and very eventful. John paused it every so often while he baked paleo bread. Sometimes he left it running thinking the race was going to be a procession, and I’d have to call him through to tell him that there was more drama. Rewind to watch.

And then it was cricket. Which was just as exciting as the previous match, but England were batting second this time. With a few balls to bowl it looked tight, but Butler was in fine form so we sailed through. We enjoyed that!

I did a bit more jigsaw before we ate. Had a lovely meal – steak, but without the chips, I am after all, on a diet. No wine, for me either. Saintly. Well, except that I did have a few squares of chocolate this afternoon….

This evening, we did a bit of our homework. Our quiz buddies have entrusted us to be James Bond ‘experts’, so we watched Tomorrow Never Dies. I took copious notes. But really it’s a dreadful film. Incredibly violent, which I had forgotten, but at least I know what it’s about. Well, I do today. Might have forgotten all about it tomorrow by the time I’ve slept…

Although we watched TV, we haven’t been following the news. Except on Twitter, which tells me that there were nearly 3,000 people infected with the virus today. Scary.

Take care everyone, please. Might sound dramatic but our lives depend on it. Depend on everyone doing their bit.

God bless you all.

Despite a luxury bed and luxury linen, John said he had ‘a busy night’. He always has a busy night!! I, on the other hand, slept wonderfully well and woke up lovely and refreshed this morning. The sun shone in and the birds were singing their little hearts out to greet me.

We had decided that we’d have a lazy day – perhaps a little walk later – so I took my time over my breakfast, watching the clouds chasing across the sky and warming myself in the sunshine.

Afterwards, John was still catching up on his rest, so I did a little photo shoot to send to the kids. Took a while deciding on the pics and then composing them, but it turned out quite well I thought.

Then it was time to pamper myself. Something I haven’t done for a very long while. We were lucky to get our little trip to Ragdale in before lock down, but since then, I really have done nothing. Not even had a haircut. So this morning I spent hours faffing about in the bathroom. Oooh, it were lovely!!! Had a bit of panic about drying my hair though. Couldn’t get the hairdryer to switch on. Now that would have been a disaster if I couldn’t dry my hair! Mrs Frizzalot here we come……. anyway, all’s well that ends well. The switch I needed was in our bedroom, not the bathroom. Frizzy hair avoided!!

Meanwhile John was up and making me a nice cup of tea before watching a bit of TV. I finally unpacked the rest of our things and joined him. He was watching yesterday’s T20 cricket – England versus Australia. We had forgotten about it yesterday with the excitement of travelling and arriving here. But we’d heard it was an exciting match. Even though I knew the result, I was on tenterhooks. It was such a thrilling cricket. For those of you who don’t know, England won – after Australia looked like they’d walk it with about four overs to go. Great fun.

This afternoon we took a bit of a walk down the road. The weather was pleasant and the terrain not too hilly. We passed the little shop and peered in through the window. “Shall we get a paper?” John suggested. Fat chance. He’d temporarily forgotten that most papers had been held up by Extinction Rebellion blockading the newspaper delivery points. Ah well, plenty of books to read and news to listen on the the telly if we want to.

We meandered on down the road and came upon live cricket at the local cricket club. We ventured in to watch at a distance. Chaps were in their underwear, kitting up, seemingly oblivious to any spectators around the field. We established that the home side had scored 130 runs and the visiting side, Sandringham, were just beginning to bat. “Will you make the 130 runs?” I asked one chap who wasn’t ‘in flagrante’. “Oh, yes, should do, should win” he said, confidently. We watched with interest. I did a bit of a running commentary. The bowler was coming in, and he bowls…. oh!! The batsman’s been clean bowled! I turned to the young man who’d confidently predicted a win, and asked what the score was. “I think that’s five for one,” he grinned, ruefully. “Let’s watch a bit more, shall we, John?” I asked “ Let’s watch them get a run or two,” John agreed, so we stood in the warm sunshine a bit longer. Well, we watched two more batsmen get out and four leg-byes scored, before we left…….. I wonder what the final score was…..

We continued on our walk for a little longer before turning back and considered what we might have for our evening meal. I was starving hungry by the time we’d got back and was tempted by chocolate, or crisps, or nuts. But we’d had a bit of conversation earlier on about me getting fat. I said I thought was fat. John said he thought I was, well, getting….. round. Hmmmm, perhaps I’ll give the snacks a miss. Drank wine with our meal though! Ha! Take that! Oh….. it’s only myself who’s going to ‘take that’……. oh…. best think again then.

This evening we decided to settle into the rather comfy sofa and watch a film. Nothing too dramatic – just a gentle film that wouldn’t tax us too much – Ocean’s Twelve. Always makes me laugh that film – it is all so improbable and impossible but very satisfying. John fell asleep through much of it. He’s seen it too often to care about the capers going on and would probably have preferred something a bit more gritty. When it was finished, I handed him the controller so he could find something a with a little bit more bite to it while I went to do my jigsaw.

I am determined to do the jigsaw this holiday. We had bought it last September when we were up in Northumberland, with a view to completing it at Christmas. We didn’t do it then, though, having selected a more Christmassy one. When the lockdown started I got it out, fully intending to complete it in the ‘couple of weeks’ we might be isolated. Then Mum came to stay and I didn’t fancy doing it over the following weeks and months we were isolating. So it’s never got done. Now’s my chance!!

As you can tell, haven’t watched the news. However, I did see on Twitter that over 1,800 people are reported as being infected with COVID-19 today….. I know not so many people are dying as at the beginning, but the infection rate is climbing which really isn’t good news.

I am not thinking about it too much though as we’re keeping well away from people (even at the open air cricket match!). I am determined to enjoy our break away and leave Anxiety behind. Take care everyone. God bless.

So today was THE BIG DAY! Having a break away – very excited!

I woke up early and did a spot of meditation to prepare me for the day and was just at the end of it when, surprise, surprise, the phone rang and it was Michael phoning from Jersey. All the family were there, so it was delightful to chat to them all – including Thomas, who did lots of smiles and gurgles. They all look well and relaxed for their break – although, to be fair, Michael hasn’t really had a break as he’s been working more or less non-stop.

After the little chat with the Sutton Sleaths, I was up and raring to go. The most pressing thing to do was to run up to the pharmacy to see if they’d had John’s prescription through. So, off I toddled, mask in hand (and on face when I got into the shop, I hasten to add). Yes, they’d got his prescription from the doctor. No, it wasn’t ready. OK, I said, I’ll wait. I waited for a minute or two in the shop then realised several others were coming in and there were too many people inside. I waited outside, where there was a queue of three more people. One chap was complaining. “Look,” he said, gesturing to those inside, “there’s only supposed to two people in the shop at any one time.” I nodded, feeling guilty. I’d added to the number originally. “This is first time I’ve had to queue to get in,” he continued, disgruntled. I shrugged. I really had no idea, not frequenting the pharmacy very often in the last few months. It was quite a long wait. There was a lady in the shop waiting for her prescription too, but, unlike me, hadn’t realised that she really ought to wait outside to let the others in. Ah, well, it was good fun as I chatted to those in the queue. And successful in the end, when I triumphantly brought home the spoils.

Once home, I got on with sorting all the things we were taking with us. John, bless him, was feeling a bit ‘meh’ today so stayed in bed for most of the morning. As a result, he hasn’t a clue as to what I’ve brought with us. When he emerged, his first thought was ‘pharmacy’ – ah-ha!! Job done!! Which he was pleased about as it meant he didn’t have to walk up the road. His second thought was ‘money’. A visit to the Post Office to pay some in. He didn’t look keen. “Shall I go?” I asked. “Well…. if you wouldn’t mind…” So, off I toddled again. No-one in the shop. No-one queuing for the Post Office services. Yippee!! I plonked everything down on the counter, only to be told that money and a paying-in book doesn’t work any more. You gotta have the bank card, too!! Oh. Oh? Yeah. They changed it a couple of months ago. Oh….. home again; rummage in drawers; toddle back up the road and finally do the deed – although this time there were people in the shop and there was a queue.

Would we ever be on our way? John, of course, having done the washing up, was ready and waiting. I was still emptying bins, chucking out dead flowers in vases, bleaching sinks and loos and chasing the cats out for the umpteenth time as they kept escaping into the house each time I left a door open. But finally, finally, we were ready to go. It was two o’clock. Only a half an hour later in departure than I’d promised myself. Not bad…… We got in the car. Clicked on our seat belts and pulled off the drive. “Once round the roundabout?” I asked. John grinned. “Might as well.” But actually, we didn’t need to do the traditional ‘once round the roundabout’ as it turned out, as we hadn’t forgotten anything. At least, we’re here now and we don’t think we did!!

Journey was good – only one packet of Minstrels devoured in the way – and we located the premises very easily. And, well, suffice to say, it’s a very nice barn conversion, thank you. Don’t mind if I do. Thank you for your generosity, Catherine and John. How lucky are we?

There was the most fabulous sunset this evening, too. I sat in the conservatory, with a glass of wine and watched the sun go down. Can’t get much better than that, can it?

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And…… breathe……..

I am not sure what the figures are today in terms of COVID-19 infection rates and deaths. Am using my lil’ ol’ phone to write my diary, and can’t be sure I’ve checked the figures properly. However, I think the figures as the up. Not good.

In the meantime, I am determined to enjoy my holiday and hope that we, and you all, stay safe anyway. God bless.

We had a very lazy morning, both sleeping until late. The only real task for the day was packing. Neither of us felt any urgency to get up so we took the opportunity to have our sleep out instead of leaping from our beds and getting on with things.

For most of the day, my head has been full of ‘what to pack’ and making lists. It’s a year since we went away and, goodness me, how easy it is to forget just what, and how much, to take with you when you have a week away. I did that thing whereby I washed everything, so that I had a good choice of what to pick to pack. There were some things that needed ironing too, including my Mum’s coat which fell foul of the tumble dryer the other week and was rather creased.

I did the ironing while watching Judge Rinder on daytime TV. Just as I was putting the ironing away, John started watching a daytime TV film – you know the sort, girl meets boy, boy is married, boy turns out to be a baddy, falls over the balcony and (we assume) is smashed to a pulp several stories below, girls sobs, but is relieved that the baddy is gone and it all ends happily ever after. It was a rubbish film, but once we started watching it we carried on, so whiled away the afternoon without doing much of the packing.

Of course, by the time the film had ended it was time to sort out something to eat for our evening meal. I have been a bit concerned that John hasn’t, perhaps, been eating all of the right things recently, and that is affecting his health, so I decided to make a meal in a soup – chicken and vegetable – with all of the recommended ingredients for a healthy gut. But why, oh why do these things take longer than I think they are going to? The recipe was easy – roast yer veggies, blend half of’em, then bung everything in some stock and simmer for a bit. Well, it was easy but it took me a good forty minutes to get it ready. Tasted delicious though – even John thought so.

After we’d eaten, I left John watching more TV and went upstairs to pack the case. As it turned out, that wasn’t so difficult after all. I just consulted my lists and chucked stuff in. Nearly there. Left a load of items on the bed for John to pop into his case though – tee-hee. What a shock when he goes to bed…… no room unless he does his packing.

I had thought I wouldn’t take a great deal of foodstuffs with us, having ordered a ‘click and collect’ order at the local shop near where we are staying. However, having failed to get up and at ’em this morning, time drifted on, and I suddenly realised that the deadline for amending the order had passed. So I’ve had to raid the cupboards a bit now….

This evening was a Zoom gathering with the college crew, but I wasn’t able to join in as I was behind on sorting out me bits ‘n bobs, so sent my apologies. Shame really, because the last time we met up we had a pamper session, which took up all the time and we didn’t get to chat much then, so it’ll be six weeks before I catch up with them all.

It’s nice to know that they are there though, even if I haven’t done the Zoom chat this evening. They are always there, whenever I need them. How wonderful it is to have such good friends and how blessed am I when I think of all the dear friends I have. Lucky, lucky old me.

Of course, many of our friends are in different parts of the country, flung far and wide, and with regards to the pesky virus we hear that some may be living near the hotspots for infection, which is a bit of a worry. However, each and every one of them is sensible, so I expect everyone is doing everything they can to avoid infection.

Today the government report tells us that there is another rise in the infection rate with 1,735 people infected and thirteen deaths in the community, but only one in a hospital setting.

The darned virus is circling around us and is still waiting to pounce if we get too relaxed about it all. I must confess, I had started to relax, but I am not so sure now with the ever increasing numbers. However, I don’t think we’re in a hotspot and where we travelling to isn’t either, so perhaps I’ll breath easy.

Take care everyone. Keep washing those hands!! God bless.

Well, hello, Wednesday! What a great day. Love, laughter, friendships and general all-round thankfulness for the gift of life. For a start, the sun was shining in this morning, and smiling on us. That, for me, was in itself a good beginning to the day, so I got up and set about getting things ready for Jack coming mid-morning to valet the car.

It is such a long time since Jack has been round – I miss the days when we did the gardening together and we’d sit for our elevenses and have a cuppa and a biscuit. I think the last time he came was over a year ago and it was another car valeting job then too. Our gardening together days are over.

John is still feeling the effects of the physical effort he’s been putting in recently, so he dozed on this morning while Jack did the car and I labelled all of the photos I’d put into the ‘Lockdown 2020’ album. Jack did a wonderful job of vacuuming and washing the car, so it’s all set for its holiday next week. Just need to check the tyres, screen wash, oil etc – and buy the chocolate Minstrels to sit in the glove compartment ready for the journey – and we’re good to go.

No sooner had Jack left than Michelle and Tim arrived. What joy! It is more than year since we’ve met up (might even be two?) and so I was delighted to greet them. Sad not to be able to give them the biggest, squeeziest hugs though….

We settled ourselves outside and lit the chiminea – although to be truthful it wasn’t that cold – and Michelle handed me a bottle of Prosecco. Ah….. couldn’t resist of course, so we cracked the bottle open to accompany our chicken sandwiches. Haute cuisine or what?

The warmth of blazing wood in the chiminea was keeping us all warm except John. He was huddled in his chair, wrapped in a blanket, yet still feeling a bit chilly. We persevered, however, for most of the visit, and nattered away, sharing stories and generally catching up with each other’s news. There were a few drops of rain, but nothing too bad so we stuck it out.

Towards the end of the visit, however, the rain started falling a little bit too hard to be sat outside. John had dismantled the gazebo the other week in deference to the storm that threatened any unstable structure, and he hadn’t had the time, nor the inclination to re-instate it. We knew there were going to be showers today but we were hoping to dodge them. But no. Oh, dear, what shall we do? I didn’t want to be out in the wet, nor did I want John to feel any chillier than he already did.

We thought about it for a bit then John suggested that we might step indoors – with the Broadribbs at one end of the lounge and us at the other. And it was a case of, “Don’t touch anything,” then, “Put your masks on,” and finally, “Sanitise your hands,” I’d also like to have said, ‘hold your breath’, but I thought that would be a bit unfair and they might turn blue with trying.

So, we braved it. I got the collywobbles a bit, but we were very well distanced, and they didn’t stay very long, so it didn’t detract from the pleasure of their company. And they didn’t touch anything, they sanitised their hands and talked to us through their masks so, fingers crossed, none of us regret the ‘indoor’ socialising ……. I went round with the bleach afterwards though, of course.

John was still chilly after they had left, so we turned the heating up to ‘a lot’ degrees, and he stayed wrapped in his blanket to watch TV for the rest of the afternoon.

I spent a little while looking at some ‘Interval’ quiz questions that Nigel had sent us and printed a copy off for John to have a go at later. They were hard. As Linda said, they’re the sort of questions you used to get when you did your Eleven Plus. My brain has atrophied so much that I don’t think I’d pass my Eleven Plus now.

After our evening meal, it was Quiz Time. Malcolm and Caroline had accepted an invitation to visit Dorset where their son lives and didn’t join in this week, so we were depleted. He had sent his answers to the ‘Interval’ questions through though. I loved some of his answers. Question One: Can’t be a***d to work it out. Question Ten: Not a foggiest. Despite our struggles, between us, we got all of the questions right for that round, to which we did a big whoop, whoop!! And our percentage for getting questions right across the whole quiz worked out at 83%. We were cock-a-hoop at our own cleverness.

What a wonderful day. To see Jack and to benefit from his generosity in cleaning the car for us (although I did pay him in sweets); to spend time among dear friends whom we haven’t seen for ages; and then to spend time with dear friends who make us laugh each week at quiz time. Bliss. A blessed day.

In the meantime, while we have been enjoying our day, there are others who haven’t been enjoying theirs and who have been fighting the COVID-19 virus. Numbers of those infected seem to be rising, with 1,508 reported today and 10 deaths. Ten people have died with the new counting system, but in the old system this would have been 101 people today. Which is a bigger number than we’d like. Just one death reported, however, in a hospital setting yesterday.

Taking care as to how we behave is a must now that the autumn is upon us. God bless you all and peace be with you.

I decided on a slow start this morning with a bit of prayer and meditation. John, however, heaved himself out of bed and went to make cup of tea, which we sat and drank in bed. I always think it is the height of luxury to be having a cuppa in bed in the mornings, don’t you? But then, I am easily pleased.

I had a look at Twitter to see what the subject matter was of the little e-jigsaw competition we have, and found it was a portrait of Mrs Cooper, the wife of the founder of the Art Gallery that shares the puzzle with us. I wondered who was taking part this morning but no-one had posted a time, with the exception of Ken, who sent us this rhyme: ‘Can’t compete today, Mrs Cooper didn’t want to play, She came to me completed, Before I even tweeted.’ There must have been a glitch in the system, but the pressure was off, no-one had done the jigsaw, and I could take my time… how nice.

John got up and started making banana pancakes. I followed on and wondered why the kitchen door was closed……..oh!! On opening it there was a great fug in the kitchen. I hastily shut the door again lest the smoke alarm did its thing. John was growling at the frying pan and wafting at it. ” Bl***y things, keep burning,” he said through gritted teeth. We opened windows and the back door, doing more wafting.

As it turned out, despite the fact that there were black bits – well, front, back and sides – the pancakes tasted OK. We smothered them in raspberries and pecan nuts, drizzled them with maple syrup and plopped a spoonful of yoghurt on top. Not bad at all.

I had just put my plate into the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. We did that double-take to each other, like you do, of ‘whoever can that be?’ and ‘I wonder who that is?’ before even going to the front door to find out. My heart leapt as I pulled the door open – it was Paul, looking beautiful and grinning at me, pleased with the surprise he’d created. Ahhhh…. how wonderful to see him!

Paul strode round the back and I flitted through the house, calling to John on the way, “It’s Paul!” delight ringing out in my voice. Having let Paul in, we sat in the warmth of the sun in the garden, having a lovely chat. He’d been to check on the rental properties the other day, and was calling in, on his way to work, with an update for his Dad. He wasn’t in a hurry to get away – or, at least, he didn’t give that impression – and we just savoured the moments together. It’s a while since we’ve seen him on his own, so it was good.

We chatted about the family, of course, and what the kids were up to. And realised, with a jolt, that Freddie will be starting school on Monday. Crumbs!! We knew he’d be starting school this September, but we only realised it when Paul reminded us. Crikey! Where did those years go to? How did they gallop by so fast? When did Freddie turn into a little boy rather than a toddler? I mean, he’s got a uniform and everything……

After Paul had left, I meandered about the garden for a while. It was so balmy and I felt so relaxed that a little bit of dead-heading was just up my street. John, meanwhile, had put his feet up on a chair and his head back…..obviously equally relaxed but clearly exhausted by the trauma of filling the kitchen with smoke, he decided to have a bit of a doze.

Once the kitchen was habitable again I got on with my promise of yesterday – that I would do the washing up this morning, after having left the pots overnight. I spent a while tidying up the kitchen, then I emptied out the car, which was full of the tools that John had been using for Michael’s ‘man-shed’.

Why am I telling you about the car?? Well, I needed an empty boot because I had geared myself up to go to the shops.

My on-line shop had only delivered some of the items I wanted for Mum. When I visited and took her shopping round, I made a note of what else she needed. It was a good half-dozen things. Where should I get them from? Order them on-line? Go to the local Tesco? Sainsburys? The One-Stop? And how about the Co-op? I mulled it over. I ruminated. I talked to John about it. I talked to Andrew. I mentioned it to Paul. Finally, I decided I’d go to the Co-op.

I got everything I wanted bar one item and, surprise, surprise, no gremlins leapt out at me. I went round the shop unmolested, my path clear all the way and on through the checkout with no hitch. Phew!

Mum was pleased to see me when I dropped her shopping in, but then disappointed again that I wasn’t staying too long. I had agreed to pick up the key (for the barn in Norfolk) from Nuneaton at five o’clock, so I was on a relatively tight timeline. We had chance to have a cup of tea and a bit of a chat though, before I left.

When I got back from Nuneaton ‘we had us tea’ and settled, once again, before the TV. Nothing much on and, anyway, John was snoozing again. I was delighted, therefore, when Michael phoned. He was taking the dog for a walk along the beach and thought he’d have a natter while he walked. It was lovely.

Meanwhile, what has the ol’ man been doing all day? Well, mostly, I think he’s been snoozing or watching TV ensconced on the sofa. Poor man, he’s worn out with all the exertions of the recent weeks. Time for a well-deserved rest. Get his strength up for a week’s holiday – there’ll be lots to do…… well, maybe.

All the while that we’ve been enjoying our day, whatever we’ve been doing, there have been people catching the COVID-19 virus. 1,295 of them today to be precise. At least, that’s what the government has reported. Not sure how precise it is. 3 deaths today in the community and one yesterday in a hospital setting, and two confirmed for the day before. As Nicola Sturgeon said today – it’s still out there…….

Take care everyone. Don’t let the gremlins get you. God bless.