The change the weathermen have been going on about for best part of a week seems finally to have arrived. It’s noticeably chillier + not mid-winter cold but still decidedly cooler than we have grown used to. It’s not actually raining yet but my weather app promises me a 30% chance of precipitation later today.
There won’t be much sunbathing going on in the neighbouring garden today. I wonder what they will do. It’s one thing to sit doing nothing in the sunshine but quite another to sit indoors doing nothing but stare at the wall.
If the change continues it also puts a stop to the occasional “visit” from the family, where we stand in the doorway and our daughter and the children stand in the garden and the three year old keeps up a running commentary as she collects twigs and pretends to build a fire. How does a three year old know about rubbing sticks together to make fire though? Children’s TV, of course!
Our house is next door to a pub, usually bustlingly busy but currently closed. I reckon the landlord must have lost thousands of pounds over the last few weeks of fine and sunny weather. In the interim they have been doing a lot of renovation work on their “garden terrace”, in other words the sectioned-off bit of the carpark where there are tables and chairs and, oh yes, a tree! Repairs of various kinds have taken place. All the garden furniture has been cleaned and in some cases repainted. The pavement area has been power-hose cleaned, getting rid of any of that sticky residue that comes from being under a large tree.
I overheard two of the workmen talking yesterday about the possibility of a staged reopening. One had heard that pubs with beer gardens (does a “garden terrace” count as a beer garden?) would be able to reopen the outdoor areas. Social distancing would have to be maintained and it would be waiter service only and people would only be allowed inside the pub one at a time to go to the loo. How likely such a reopening is remains to be seen.
All over the world people are getting itchy and impatient to end the shutdown. Some states of America have decided to open up anyway. I suppose there are some parts of the USA which have hardly seen a case of the virus at all as there are still so many wide open places with small towns. Indeed, it sometimes seems that there are two separate USAs: big city USA and rural, small town USA. Mind you, even the states which are reopening are divided about it. On the news last night Georgia was one such place. Most of the state wants to go ahead but the city of Atlanta is more wary.
The whole business needs to be treated with great caution. We still know remarkably little about the nature of the disease. And now there is talk of a sickness affecting children, attacking their immune system, a new illness, possibly connected with Coronavirus. This is not a good time.
The Guardian newspaper does a sort of feature where they ask readers’ opinions about things and suggest that readers send in accounts of their experience of events. The latest is an appeal for the over-70s to send in details of their experience of lockdown. This was accompanied by a photo of an aged pair of hands clutching a walking stick handle. So there it is: over-70 = old and decrepit. I object to being pigeon-holed and am tempted to write in and tell them so.
I may be in the over-70 bracket and therefore unlikely to be allowed out freely and extensively for a good while yet, but shops like Gap and Fatface and Accessorise still bombard me with adverts and emails about their special offers. (What was I saying about advertising yesterday?) Somehow I don’t think I am going to need new outfits for a while yet, even at the bargain price of 50% off. I have not reached the point of wearing pyjamas all day but it’s unlikely that I will be getting dressed up to go out to lunch in the immediate future.
On the menu today we have some chicken casserole to finish off, with some spicy potato wedges (a fancy name for oven chips but made by me, not ready prepared in a packet) and green beans. There is also rhubarb crumble for dessert. Not bad at all. Who needs to go out to eat?
Life goes on! Stay safe and well, everyone!
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