Still shielding…Day 148

The weather was so wonderful today that, despite a long list of other things to do, we spent the day out in the garden. I started off with breakfast on the patio surveying our ‘estate’ and marvelling at our amazing good fortune to be able to live here. My raised beds are looking fine and I have hazelnuts on my tree. Few apples and plums, mind you, having had a glut last year, but still.

John had a good, long lie-in this morning to get over his exertions of the last few days but, once he was up, he really got to it. There’s no stopping him when he’s got the bit between his teeth.

I had started on weeding, dead-heading and generally tidying up the flowerbeds before moving on to heaving a very heavy bag of wood chips onto the lawn, so that I could dress a little area in front of the rockery. I wondered if I should carry on round to the rose bed? Yes, John confirmed, but, before you do, let’s just get the edging finished first. Well, rather him than me. It was too hot for that caper in my book. John grabbed the sledgehammer, garden spade and fork, a kneeling mat and the edging and away he went.

He wondered why he was out of breath and exhausted. He was convinced that this time last year he was better. Erm….. no? This time last year he was struggling to find any energy to do anything and wondering why he was even alive. Fast forward to now and he’s got the gumph to lift a sledgehammer and actually finish the edging job. Applause all round, I say!! He was clearly having a good day.

So, I weeded out the rose bed and filled it up with wood chips while John finished the edging. It looks rather smart and we’re both pleased with our efforts today. Afterwards, I toddled off for a shower as John put the tools away – and then the thunder started. We didn’t make a special effort to look out for the lightening and didn’t really see any from indoors as I prepped the evening meal, but it was a marvellous rumbling, like African drums, that went on and on. Then huge raindrops fell and stirred up Petrichor (thanks to Susie Dent of Countdown fame for this wonderful word) – that evocative, earthy smell of when rain falls onto dry soil. Heady, heady scent – I loved it.

Mid-afternoon, we had stopped, of course, for refreshments under the gazebo – it was too hot to keep going. It was Magnum time. Such decadence and what a pleasure. We sat together enjoying the twenty-minute respite in the shade before we set to again. I might have said this before…. but we are so delighted with our new gazebo. It really is just the ticket.

We are never satisfied, though, are we? We’re sitting, enjoying the rest, appreciative of the refreshments on offer, delighting in the shade offered by the gazebo – and what do we concentrate on? The lawn. It’s not looking good we say to ourselves. We must get some weed ‘n treat stuff for it. We must water it, get rid of the moss, trim the edges etc etc….. I laughed. I reminded John that, when we first got married we had a book entitled, ‘How to Cheat at Gardening’ and the suggestion was to make the lawn just green and not to worry whether it was a grass or some other plant that made it so. In those days, we had scoffed at people who cared about having the perfect lawn. Oh, how the mighty are fallen….. now we’re fretting about it! Who’d a thought it, eh?

We decided we deserved an evening in front of the TV after our toiling in the heat today, so we carried on watching ‘Line of Duty’. John had watched some of the series before, and I had caught one or two programmes but, because we can, we thought we’d watch the whole lot – not all at one go though, you understand – and see if we can follow it. Ha! Ha! Ha! I don’t know how many times I have turned to John to ask, “Do you know what’s going on?” or “I don’t get it, why is he/she…..?”I am sure all will be revealed. Or will it? No matter, we’re enjoying it anyway.

We did catch a bit of the news today and I am struck by the reaction of people to the refugees arriving on our coast. The reports seem to suggest that we have lost all compassion for our fellow human beings and are just out for punitive action. I mean, the idea that we would just turn any arriving dinghy round, and point it back in the direction from whence it came, is madness to me. Perhaps it is because we are still experiencing deaths and infections from COVID-19 that makes people retract a hand of kindness.

With regard to the virus, there have been 21 deaths in all settings today and 2 in a hospital setting yesterday. However, the infection rate is still high, with 816 people confirmed as infected today. So it’s still around and catching us unawares.

God bless, and peace be with you in all you do and say.