Shielding and Bubbling….. Day 147

Not sure what we did yesterday to wear the children out, but they slept on until 8 o’clock this morning, much to everyone’s relief. I must confess, John and I stayed in bed and had a bit of a lie-in, rather than getting up at that time. However, William was keen to get us up and out, and lured us with the offer of Daddy making pancakes. It’s a long time since we’ve had breakfast made for us, so that was rather delightful.

I really don’t quite remember, exactly, the sequence of events today as it seems to have been one wonderful blur of William, Baby, Food, Drink….and repeat: William, Baby, Food, Drink. I’ve had a great time chattering with William – or rather, having been chattered at, as he has such a lot to say; playing with Duplo and jigsaws, imagining mountains as he climbed up and down the slide, and finding monsters in the bath. I’ve dandled or rocked the baby in the pram and prepped food. In between times, of course, there’s been chatting to Michael, Danielle and John and, sharing the task of making cups of tea among us. Just ‘an every day story of village folk‘ – cue music.

There have been some great highlights to the day, with one in particular being a lovely FaceTime conversation with Paul and Harriet, whose sixth wedding anniversary it is today. Being a Pooh Bear of very little brain, I knew the anniversary was coming up but did nothing about it. And this morning, I was just thinking about posting a greeting on FaceBook or the family WhatsApp group but, before I did, William was inviting me for breakfast and I never did it. Shame on me. However, it was brilliant to talk to them in their holiday home in Devon. It looked lush and they looked relaxed and happy.

Yesterday, William had found a very old ‘Direct Line’ miniature phone which one of the boys had been given years ago, as part of a promotional activity at school. It was in pieces as it wasn’t working and, some months ago, I’d dismantled it to see which sort of batteries were needed. Anyway, no sooner had William expressed an interest in it than Grandpa was ordering the new batteries, which arrived today. The pair of them got their heads together to fix it up and, sure enough – đŸŽļ ta-ta-ta-da đŸŽļ – the music sang out, much to everyone’s delight. There’s only one piece of the phone missing……. quite good going, don’t you think?

It being Sunday and there being six of us, we thought we’d have roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding today – even though it was a hot day. I started well in advance of when we needed to eat but, as always, life took over and we ended up sitting down to the table pretty much our standard time of nearly six o’clock.

And we nearly didn’t have Yorkshire Pudding. All of a sudden, we were out of eggs. The pancakes had taken them all. Danielle, bless her, ever practical, said she’d run to the shops. I shilly-shallied and said nervously that I wasn’t sure she should. She grabbed her mask and sanitising gel and strode off up the road, determined. She promised she’d do all the handwashing and cleaning up when she got back to be safe. Oh…. OK then. The Yorkshire Puddings were lovely.

We chose to sit outside at the patio table, bringing the food out to set under the shade of the parasol. We all sat down, ready to start. Someone suggested letting Chester out as he was looking rather forlorn at the lounge door. No-one thought anything of it. But……. Yikes! It was Cat Chase Number Two. This time, it was Shadow. Thundering down the length of the garden, Chester set off like a streak of lightening after him and we all sat, as the French say, ‘bouche-bÊe’, with our food half-way to our mouths as we looked on, helpless in the ‘stop-ability’ stakes.

Barking all the way, Chester helter-skeltered past the raised beds, charged into the wooded area at the bottom of the garden, clambered up the rockery behind the large conifer, and clattered to a halt. There was a great big scuffling of branches and leaves and we feared the worst. Most of us dropped our knives and forks and pounded down the garden to view the damage. There was a mewing nearby. “Chester! Here!” Michael commanded, and Chester stood down, albeit very reluctantly, and was subsequently banished to the lounge again. The mewing continued. I looked and looked but couldn’t see where it was coming from. “Look up!” John called. I looked up. High in the conifer tree, there crouched Shadow, on what appeared to be an inaccessible branch.

“Don’t worry,” Michael soothed, “I’ll get him down. I’ll get a ladder.” Despite the ladder and a pair of stepladders, the coaxing from me, Michael and Danielle was to no avail. John suggested we gave up, ate our meal and tried again later, if the cat hadn’t come down all by himself. Danielle and I thought our hungry bellies were more important just then and complied. Michael didn’t. He persevered and, ten minutes later, he had Shadow in his arms, dropping him gently to the floor, before the cat scarpered at breakneck speed, fearful of another chasing.

The excitement was too much for William. He wasn’t eating his meal and he wasn’t telling us he needed a wee, either. Michael gestured for us all to stay where we were and he’d sort out the clean clothes and the high chair. We’d all finished our food by the time Michael sat down to eat, bless him. I think his roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding was cold, but he hoovered it up anyway as, by then, the poor man was starving.

Thomas, meanwhile, slept through the lot. He had had a very tiring day, feeding and playing on his play mat, so it wasn’t surprising really. He and I had had a good little chat down at the bottom of the garden this afternoon whilst William had his afternoon nap and Danielle took a rest. Maybe that was what tired him out? I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him there under the trees before I popped him into his pram and he slept, enabling me to do a spot of gardening. Such bliss to be able to just be with members of the family.

Michael spent the day studying again and came through to report that he’d spent hours trawling through all the words he’d previously written and managed to create one new paragraph in the re-write. Crikey – it’s going to be a long haul to get this assignment completed.

In our ‘Bubble’ we have relished each other’s company. I am grateful for small mercies, but seeing the family is one big mercy for which I offer thanks every day – whenever I see them. No Andrew today, who we thought might visit, as he is still working hard in his new job. Hopefully we’ll catch up with him soon before another lock down is inflicted upon us all.

Although there were only 8 reported COVID-19 related deaths today in all settings and one in a hospital setting, there were 1,062 confirmed cases of infection. That’s a bit of an increase, isn’t it? I am watching the figures carefully now – and monitoring the areas where my kids live very closely. I’m still rather keen to keep ‘bubbling’ and garden-partying. How about you?

God bless, peace be with you all – and keep on keeping your distance!!

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