We had another slow start today and I had another cup of tea in bed this morning. Good, eh? I could get used to this! And once we’d drunk our tea we meandered downstairs and took our leisurely time with breakfast.
By the time we’d finished our breakfast and cleared the plates away, it was well past eleven o’clock. And there ensued the now-standard conversation, much in the way of the two vultures in The Jungle Book, of, “What you gonna do today?” “I dunno, what you gonna do?” John planned to play some more poker. I planned to do some more sorting (ish) in the messy bedroom and the loft. And we both planned to take a walk later.
I wasn’t all that pleased with my efforts today, although I did get the last of the Christmas decorations boxed and put into the loft. There are two aims to this work: 1) a tidy loft in which we can find what we’re after (and perhaps with an inventory of some of the antique-y things?) 2) a tidy room on the first floor where the children can play, now that I have razed their play area in the lounge.
The trouble is, my decision-making is shot. For example, we have a large trunk in the loft. Heaven knows what we used to keep in it, but now it houses only boxed birthday and Christmas cards from our teenage years and early twenties when such things were fashionable. ‘Right!’ I thought, ‘I’ll shift all those out and put the treasures in there instead.’ Ha! You think? As soon as I started looking at the cards and the sentiments written in them, I found I couldn’t actually sort them and I just dumped them back in the trunk. Maybe tomorrow…..
This afternoon we chose to walk alongside the canal at the Knowle locks. It was a lovely walk, with super views, great excitement at seeing several species of birds, and a feast for the eyes with wild and cultivated flowers. As well, of course, as admiring all those interesting barges moored alongside the path.
John was OK going downhill. “Shall we walk as far as the house and then turn back?” I said. “No, we’ll walk a bit further,” he panted. We walked past the house and on a bit further. “Do you want to turn back now, John?” I wondered, hearing him out of breath. “No, we’ll walk a bit further,” he replied. And so on. When we eventually did turn back, I am not sure whether John was ruing how far we’d walked or not. He certainly wasn’t going to admit it. But the uphill return journey was certainly a battle. “Shall I fetch the car, John?” I asked. “No,” he growled, and determinedly strode on, his walking stick tapping out a Morse code all of its own.
He fairly flopped into the car, relieved at having made it back up the hill. “Hot chocolate when we get back?” He nodded – he thought that would be a lovely idea. “And cakes,” he said, grinning.
Home again with hot chocolate and cakes having been ingested, John had a snooze while I watched a bit of TV – my eyes also feeling heavy. And that was it then. That was us done. We ate our evening meal and watched more TV but nowt else. More of the same tomorrow? Perhaps.
In the meantime, there is still the pandemic going on and we continue to be cautious. Oh, for the days when we don’t have to be!!
- 5,947 people tested positive for the virus today
- 236 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
- 93 people died in hospitals with the virus on 3 & 4 March.
I want to stop counting the days but here we are on Day 58 of Lockdown 3; Day 346 since the beginning of Lockdown 1; and Day 354 since the beginning of our voluntary self-isolation last March. I think we should all get a medal for courage and fortitude, don’t you?
Take care everyone. God bless.