JUST FINISHED reading "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng and didn't really like it. After finishing Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which was beautifully written, Little Fires seemed much more utilitarian in its writing style, which is fine if things hadn't ended so abruptly and with so many things unresolved.
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 ...
THE WEATHER HAS been all over the place lately, warm and spring-like on some days; overcast, windy and "unseasonably cool" on others. The days are getting longer and tonight, it was still light until around 9:30, with no where to go, P remarked.
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 ...
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 ...
IT HAS BECOME one of these typical British summers, with the weather suddenly turning chilly and rainy and even blustery and stormy at times. We had about three glorious days of summertime last week and made the most of it by spending as much time outside as possible, knowing that it couldn't last.
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 ...
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 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.
THIS WEEKEND WE TOOK the train farther than we've ever gone since lockdown began (about an hour and a half to another county) and it was the first time in nearly four months that I set foot inside a shop. Things were far from normal, as everyone was required to wear face masks while traveling and keep two meters apart at all times, but it seemed slightly more normal than leaving the house only to go for country walks ...
IT’S FINALLY BEGINNING to feel like summer is on the way, and already, there are roses in bloom all around town. With all the bright sunshine comes a feeling of hope, and daydreams of road trips to see castles and visits to quaint village pubs and trips to new places we’ve never been ...
SO WE FINALLY ordered a projector, which arrived just in time for the weekend. We spent the entire weekend watching films projected huge on a blank wall, some of them flipped backwards before we could figure out the settings to flip them the right way around. We ate fattening foods and slept in and I finished another book ...
ON INSTAGRAM, had confessed that sometimes, in the mornings, when I first wake up, I forget and everything feels normal and bright. And then it hits me and I try not to fall into despair for the world, at least until after coffee...