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 ...
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.
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.
EVEN THOUGH WINTER comes every year, always forget what an ordeal it actually is. How early the days get dark. How overcast and blustery and how much all of this makes me never want to leave the house until spring. It feels like we're on the 174th day of January and there's still February ...
THERE IS A STORM on the way, very high winds, rain, and perhaps even snow tomorrow. At the moment, though, it is still up swirling about up north in Northern Ireland and Scotland and making its way down. Here, it feels as if we've been hibernating since the start of the new year, venturing out over the weekend only for a quick drink in the cosy pub ...
HERE IN THE UK, TODAY IS considered the first day back to work after the holidays. We were away to visit family in Scotland late last week, and spent the weekend lingering over festive things for the last time, so it's back to work for us today as well. On Sunday the weather was beautiful and we spent most of our time outdoors in the beautiful English countryside ...
THIS WEEKEND WE watched two films: Knives Out (Rian Johnson, 2019) and Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach, 2019) and both were really good. Knives Out was fast-paced and funny and great fun to try to figure out, while Marriage Story was deeply moving and heartbreaking and made me cry several times.
THERE ARE ONLY two days left until the General Election and for the past two weeks, flyers have been dropped through our mail slot and canvassers have been ringing the door bell.
AFTER FINISHING Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow last week, was a little stressed about choosing the next book to read as that one and most of the ones before were all so good. (This one is a beautiful read, by the way.)
