Lounging like lizards

Ooh, thank the Lord for good friends! Firstly, dear Jaime, who sent me a YouTube link to a yoga session for this morning, as I couldn’t join in her Christmas Special – because I’d double-booked myself. Then, secondly, dear Dave and Chris whom we met at Abbey Fields in Kenilworth, for a walk around the lake. How glorious a morning is that?

Felt marvellously upbeat after the gentle yoga that Jaime had sent through to me, which really set me up for the day. Then, after a rather delicious breakfast of banana pancakes, smothered in pecan nuts, tropical fruits and maple syrup, we set off to meet the Halls for an exchange of Christmas gifts and a walk. I was thrilled to see the sun shining this morning, too – I knew it was going to be a good ‘un!

When we arrived at the car park, however, we found it was rammed. Not a spot to be had anywhere. “What about that black car there?” John wondered, “Do you think that one’s leaving? Or arriving?” It turned out to be arriving. It was Dave and Chris in front of us trawling the car park too. I dropped John off and Dave dropped Chris off as we offered to find parking elsewhere. However, we were lucky. Two spots right next to each other were to be had eventually.

And so we wandered along the path around the lake. It was fabulous. The boys walked slowly behind as Chris and I nattered away and strode off. After a while, we turned to look and see where the boys were. They’d stopped. “Now then, is that John stopping because he’s tired? Or is that Dave stopping because he’s tired?” We didn’t know. But, as we neared a bench, we paused to wait for them to catch up. I looked longingly at the bench. It was in full sunshine, overlooking the lake. The only trouble was, there were three young guys sitting there, with their dogs, having a good old chinwag. We waited a bit, then I thought I’d be bold and see if they were planning to stay long. Well, I think they would probably have stayed a good while longer but, being gentlemen, they said they’d vacate the bench in our favour and allow the two old men, who were bringing up the rear, to take a rest there. Tee-hee!

We sat on the bench, intending to stay for a few minutes but, honestly, we were like lizards warming themselves up in the blazing sun. We lounged there for absolutely ages. It was fantastic. We were relaxed. We caught up on all the news. We caught the rays and drank in some Vitamin D. Such an unexpected treat.

Finally, we reluctantly left the cosiness of the bench and moved on, ready to make our way back. Coffee was on our minds though. And we kept seeing people with paper cups full of the stuff. “I wonder where they are getting it from? Perhaps the café is open by the swimming pool.” But it wasn’t. Eventually, I asked someone who was nursing a large cup of the steaming liquid, and we were directed to a café on the High Street, where we ordered a couple of coffees and a couple of hot chocolates. Another unexpected and delicious treat.

Back at our cars, I glanced at the time. Crikey! It was nearly two o’clock. I don’t know about Dave and Chris, but I hadn’t been expecting to be that long. We’d been there nearly three hours. Not that we minded. We were having such a good time. That’s when you know you’ve got good friends, isn’t it? When time flies, and you don’t realise it. We are very blessed.

Once we were home, John lay out on the sofa to rest his weary legs, while I prepared some lunch. Then I settled down the sofa for a while too, and watched a bit of TV. Phew! All that fresh air was exhausting!

Once we’d had our rest, we pottered about doing a few bits and pieces. Notably, John put together Freddie’s Christmas present from his Mum and Dad that we’d had delivered to our house – a nice, shiny bike. It looks wonderful and we both thought what a lucky boy he is.

I did an update to the Christmas grocery shopping list and kept my fingers crossed that I haven’t forgotten anything, But, as John says – as there’s only going to be the two of us, why will it matter if I have? I don’t know – I only know that I’d like it to be perfect on Christmas Day for just the two of us.

We enjoyed our day, and hope for continued decent weather. Goodness knows we are going to need it if we are to see people ever! We are still in Tier 3 after today’s announcement, so the best we can do is a socially-distanced walk with our masks on for the foreseeable. Oh… groan.

However, it is the right thing to do I suppose, because the picture regarding the COVID infection rate is still very gloomy. I mean, did you see today’s figures? Shocking aren’t they?

• 35,383 people have been confirmed as infected today. Thirty-five thousand.…. that’s up over 40% in the last week.
• 532 people died in the community from the virus today
• 1,725 people were admitted into hospital with the virus today – that’s up by nearly 20%
• 194 people died in hospitals in the last couple of days

Heavens above, this isn’t what we want to hear just before everyone gets together at Christmas, is it? I am hoping that people will heed the message about not gathering, but I am not all hopeful.

In the meantime, we are now into Day 1 of our new Tier 3, which makes it Day 16 since we went into Tier 3…… and it’s Day 274 since our decision to isolate as much as we can. I think I might be burbling now…..

Take care everyone. God bless.