More of the same?

Yes, please, Vicar! More of the same. The plan was to get up early and get on but, in the end, I didn’t ease myself out of bed until 9.30. By the time I’d done all the early morning stuff like ablutions, breakfast and taking John a cup of tea and his tablets, it was almost 11.00 before I even started thinking about the decorating.

In the event, I did get on with it. I thought, if each piece of paper took me an hour to put up, I might get three, or maybe four, pieces on the wall. As it turned out, I did all of the wall that spills from the library into the lounge. It’s amazing how long each bit takes though. The instructions were to allow the paper to soak in the paste for ten minutes before handling it. Well, that was good, wasn’t it? It meant that I had a rest just before I popped the next strip up.

There was lots of measuring and trimming and tutting and sighing. The first piece was complicated. Not only was it two different wall measurements, but it went round a corner and a beam too. I cursed a little bit because, unexpectedly, the paper was prone to tear. Had to do a patch job on the first piece. Ah, well, a blind man on galloping horse would like to see it, I expect. However, I wouldn’t like anyone who likes perfection to give any of it a close inspection. The fiddle around the plugs doesn’t bear close scrutiny either. Where’s that galloping horse with a blind man on it?

Despite the difficult bits, I was quite pleased with my efforts. Just the wall in the corner of the lounge itself to do now. Probably tomorrow. John, bless him, stripped that bit for me while I did the rest of papering.

Once I’d put the first piece up though, we looked at each other and wondered if we’d made a mistake. It’s quite dark – well, darker than the light beige that we had on previously. “We’ll have to get the lighting right on it,” John suggested. Hmm…. OK. But, to be honest, once I’d put the rest up I thought it didn’t look too bad. In fact, I thought it makes us look quite posh. We’ll see once it’s all done. If we really don’t like it we’ll have to change it, won’t we?

Towards the end of the day I scampered about trying to have a bit of a clear-up before cooking our evening meal. John was absolutely exhausted after all that scraping, so he had a sit down and promptly fell asleep for half an hour. I got on with cooking before nipping up for a shower and a bit of a rummage through my wardrobe. We were going to be taking part in a murder mystery even with Centre Stage members, so we thought we ought to look the part. John even looked out his dickie-bow to wear. He did look nice.

I had to smile to myself though. Rather than trawling through all the lovely clothes I’d recently bought and slimmed down for, I thought I’d select an old favourite LBD. Now this little dress has always been on the slightly big side for me, which is why I chose it. I thought I’d feel nice and comfy in it. Well, I did feel comfy but, what a shock – it only just fitted. Fatty Sleath step forward.

Really enjoyed the Murder Mystery though. The actors played their parts very well and people asked lots of interesting questions trying to suss out who the murderer might be. With every murder mystery I have taken part in though, I have to confess, I always think that the plot is rather thin – leaving the guessers very little to really go on and it’s just pot luck as to guessing whodunnit. As chance would have it, I guessed right, but not for any discernable reason over anyone else really. Ah well, it was a bit of fun – although perhaps half an hour too long?

What was particularly delightful about the evening though, for me, was the sight of so many familiar faces. Just lovely to see everyone. There are one or two new members as well, so that was nice to see, too. Mind you, they are new to me, but I think they’ve been in the group for about three or four years, it’s that long since I was actually in anything and went down to the school hall join in.

Whilst we’ve been inward-looking and creating a new environment in our home, of course, there has been a world out there still dealing with the virus. A not-very-nice news story of how an hospital in London is (or isn’t) coping with the volumes of people coming in with COVID, really set my teeth on edge. It’s still distressing isn’t it? I am certainly not inured to it all yet.

• 33,552 people tested positive for the virus today
• 1,348 people died from the virus in the community today
• 403 people died in hospitals on 21 & 22 January

We are now 18 days into Lockdown 3 and 311 days since we chose to stay in and isolate in March last year. It’s a long haul and we know it will go on. Good job we’ve got things to keep us entertained here at home, eh? Now, where shall I decorate next?

Take care everyone. God bless.