Walking the dawg….

With the Kenilworth Sleaths still suffering from COVID and unable to get out of the house, I offered to walk Mac yesterday afternoon. John thought he might come too, so we set off and did a reccy of the woods I was planning to go to. In the end, it looked a touch too hilly for John, so he set off on his walk around the streets near where Paul and Harriet live, and I toddled off to the woods.

We both had great walks. Mac was as good as gold – not once pulling on the lead, which I thought he might do – and very obedient to all the commands I gave him, sitting at the kerb, waiting to cross the road, and generally following me on beautifully. He was great company and here he is looking as happy as anything, enjoying the woodland:

John, meanwhile, took a circuit that took him towards the Kenilworth Newbies’ house. His phone told him that it was just about a mile away and a twenty-minute walk. What it didn’t take into account of course, is that Kenilworth is unexpectedly undulating, so John felt like he was walking uphill and down dale. After I’d taken Mac home, I walked along and met up with John who was just on his way back. He’d done an excellent job of walking 1.4 miles, but he said it felt like three!!!

Despite a good session of yoga in the morning yesterday, and a really lovely walk in the afternoon, the doldrums returned when I got home and I didn’t go to my prayer group in the evening. Everyone in the group is very kind and thoughtful, but I just couldn’t get myself bucked up enough to go. Ah, well, maybe next time…..

We had a very enjoyable morning today, with Pete and Dawn calling in on the way back from Dawn’s hairdressing appointment. They are very good company and they were also very useful today – explaining what the ‘Ides of March’ is. A question came up about it in the Quiz this evening, so we were well-informed!!

This afternoon, I decided I was going to start ‘killing’ the dining room. The refurbishment of the dining room is going to be a big job. But you’ve got to start somewhere, so I filled boxes with our glassware from the dresser and stashed them above the cupboards in the kitchen. Heaven alone knows what I am going to do with the mountains of the other things in there, like my nick-knacks, the crockery and the booze……..I think I may never find anything ever again!

While I was unearthing everything from the dining room, John took himself off into the garage to have a go at some bits and pieces on the Lotus. He came back in later, however, disgruntled and distressed. His eyes were not at their best today, and he couldn’t see clearly enough for those very fiddly bits he’s got to fit. So, we’re both in the doldrums now…….Mind you, I told him that he wasn’t allowed to be because I am relying on him to keep my spirits up.

Anyhow, we had Quiz Night this evening which we both enjoyed while it lasted and we were glad to see everyone. A great quiz and I was very pleased, because…. we both knew a fair few answers! It was a great feeling to be able to answer the questions and even remember answers from things we’d had before. Note to self though ……. must remember that Nokia started out as a mill producing pulp for the paper industry. That’s a question we’d had before that I’d forgotten the answer to tonight.

While our life goes on, albeit still a bit stilted by the coronavirus still swirling around, the news from Ukraine continues to provide us with a horror story background. So very, very distressing to see people fleeing and no knowing if, or when, they might ever go back to their homeland. War is never justified in my view and to be shelling residential areas is just unforgiveable. I do hope that the starvation of the Russian economy will stop this madness soon.

Take care everyone. God bless.

516,289 people tested positive for the virus in the last seven days, and the figures are still going up. This latest figure indicates a 49% increase on the previous week. And with Cheltenham Races currently on the go, I imagine we’ll see another rise in ten days’ time. However, 744 deaths in the last week have been reported, which is a fall of 4%. There isn’t anything much to read into that though as far as I can tell. The data for hospital admissions hasn’t been updated today, so it’s unclear what the situation in hospitals is right now, other than busy and full of stressed-out staff.