P IS READING an article to me about how the pandemic has most likely changed NYC forever. People have moved away to second and third tier cities; favourite restaurants have closed for good, and buildings where 8,000 people once worked now have only 100 who are not working virtually and still come in everyday.
THERE IS AN URGENCY to life here in the UK, that we didn't find in Spain and it seems to be directly dependent on the weather. It's an urgency that's not only sensible, but necessary to help manage the disappointment that will inevitably come during the course of a British summer ...
AT THE END of last week we went to Scotland to visit P’s grandmother for the first time in months due to the lockdown. It was wonderful to see her again, as well as neighbours who popped in, but we all continued to keep two meters apart and wore masks to every shop we visited ...
THIS PAST SUNDAY we booked in for lunch at our favourite pub for the first time in many months. There is a rose garden with socially distanced tables set up and a very efficient system in place that made us feel comfortable and safe venturing out into the world again after so many weeks of lockdown.
ON SATURDAY NIGHT, we went to the one pub in town that was open, our first time out in over 15 weeks of lockdown. There was a roaring fire, friendly people, even a happy black lab. It wasn't exactly the same as always, of course, with hand sanitiser stations and social distancing, but everyone was nevertheless in good spirits, happy to finally see other people around, even if from a safe distance.
WE ARE BACK AT WORK, shooting for a client and the weather has happily been much more summer-like again, after days of cloud and rain. Amidst the marches and protests and worry about a second peak of the pandemic, shops reopened here, after long three months of lockdown ...
WE MISSED LAST week's links completely, for the first time in a very long time, if ever. The site was down for a couple of days due to technical difficulties, and the rest of the time we were having difficulty focusing on work or anything really, while the world was out en force, protesting the gruesome murder of George Floyd two weeks ago. It's difficult to put inspiration out into the world when you're feeling sad and overwhelmed ...
ABOUT A WEEK ago, we did away with our quarantine diet of carbs upon carbs in favour of quinoa bowls topped with raw spinach, blanched snow peas and oven-roasted salmon. It was either that, or buy all new clothes. Although there was a (rather chaotic) announcement this past Sunday of some sort of change in the quarantine situation we've all been living under for the past two months, life seems to only be moving into the outside world very slowly and cautiously ...
IF YOU EVER WANT a challenge, try explaining to a 93-year-old grandmother by telephone how to use an iPhone. P's grandmother had everything set up just so before there was a global pandemic. She's not very mobile anymore and so doesn't get out of the house very often these days ...
BEING ONE WHO tends to overdue things, I thought that to make the best of this lockdown, I could use this time to begin writing a book, or learn another language, but these ambitious goals might be easier to reach if one weren’t in a constant state of anxiety due to the current state of the world.
THIS WEEKEND WE did not go to our favourite pub across the river for Sunday roast as we do every week, for we’ve begun social distancing, spending most of our time staying at home, with the exception of a countryside walk on Sunday, which happened to be sunny and beautiful.
WE HAVE BEEN a little light on the articles this last week as we're in the midst of a few (all-consuming) projects, one of which has been revealed in the links below, and another that will be soon but is still in the finishing up phase, which, as you know, can drag on a bit ...
THE DAYS ARE really beginning to become brighter over the past week or so. It’s almost as if the last week of a rather dreary February finally threw open the heavy curtains of winter and let the sunshine, bright and warm, come streaming in.
AFTER STORM CIARA moved on, the news was filled with calls to “batten down the hatches” for Storm Dennis, which was to pass through this past weekend.
THIS WEEKEND, the weather warmed up enough to show us a glimpse of spring. All through the village, winter blossoms are blooming, a surprise to us, for we thought all the bright yellow petals on bushes nexts to garden paths and pink blossoms on the archways of trellises would wait for at least another few weeks.