Quiz time – face-to-face

We were delighted to see that the sun was shining today and it promised to be fair all day. We were going to be entertaining and to be able to do so in the back garden was a real bonus.

We were also grateful that Steve, our milkman and lawn/hedge cutter, had been yesterday and given the lawn a much-needed hair cut. It meant that we didn’t have to plough through lots of overgrown grass today.

I did a bit of food prep this morning, while John went outside to survey his estate. Yep, all good, but perhaps we should move the gazebo? Where it was situated, the lawn was showing signs of too much shade. So we shuffled it along to a different plot, and hammered home the pegs to secure it.

And how about the table and chairs? Yep, all good, but where is the collar to hold the parasol together? Erm…..last time I saw it, it was floating about on the lawn. It wasn’t there now though, and St Anthony didn’t come to my rescue, despite a very earnest trawl of the garden. “I wonder if one of the children chucked it in the pond?” I mused. John was all for getting his hands into the murky water, but I didn’t think that was the best thing to do, so we abandoned the search and hoped for the best, and planned on using our other parasols.

And what about the hedge? Hmmm…. Steve is scheduled to come and cut the hedge soon, but not today. “No worries,” I said, “We’ll clip it back a bit.” Ah… but Paul has the hedge trimmers, doesn’t he? Oh. Never mind, I’ll just use the old-fashioned shears. No sooner had we thought that, than Paul appeared – with the hedge trimmers. Marvellous. Now we can give it a bit of a haircut so that our meal on the patio isn’t overrun by trailing privet.

Anything else? Just the chairs to get out then. Yep, all good. They behaved. And we were ready.

What a delight to welcome Linda and Brendan, Malcolm and Caroline, and Hazel and Nigel. Oh, my! I was so excited to see them all in the flesh again. And to be able to sit and chatter to our hearts content, without having to worry whether the air was full of COVID particles, was bliss.

The gazebo was placed perfectly and shaded us all from the hot sunshine, before we adjourned to the patio table for our lunch. It was just brilliant. To sit round and just be together, so comfortably, enjoying each others’ company was just what the doctor ordered. Everyone was on top form and, once again, I found myself feeling grateful for such lovely friends.

Obviously, it being a Wednesday, it was Quiz time but, instead of Zooming in, there we all were! We could do the quiz face-to-face. How good was that? So, that’s what we did this afternoon and a cracking quiz it was, too. Nigel had prepared the first three rounds, and Hazel the last three, and all the rounds had us working hard to summon up the answers – whether they be right or wrong, it didn’t matter, we were just having fun, fun, fun!

I’d like to do it all again soon, but this was our swansong. Nigel and Hazel have already moved away and were down just for a couple of days; and Malcolm and Caroline are moving in a couple of weeks. Never mind. I’m looking forward to the quizzes on Zoom, and then, perhaps, visiting our friends in their new locations. Something to look forward to – but we are definitely going to miss their presence in the village.

All for now, folks, except a few numbers for the record: 38,975 people tested positive for the virus today; 191 people died in the community and 66 in hospitals on 6 & & September; and 933 people were admitted to hospital with the virus in the last 24 hours.

Take care everyone. Stay safe and savour every moment you can. God bless.