Yesterday. Instructions from our PM. And some language stuff.

Well, yesterday got swallowed up in a variety of activities, resulting in late evening coming around and no blogpost written. So, apologies to anyone who looked for and did not find me.

A large part of the day was taken up in a visit to my granddaughter’s house. Cycling over there in the late morning, I was struck by how many people were out and about as I went through Uppermill. The promise of better weather must have brought everyone out. The return journey in the late afternoon was much quieter.

At my granddaughter’s our main activity was clearing the huge pile of weeds and brambles and nettles and such that had accumulated in the clearing of the jungle that was her garden. Gradually the pile is being placed in the garden waste bin to be taken away by the council workers. However, as there is only one bin and rather a lot of waste this has taken some time. And she wanted to clear the flagstoned area of the garden as today she is hosting a barbecue for her housemate’s family. So we stuffed mostly dried out brambles and suchlike into the bin.

As we got further down the pile it got soggier - it has been quite comprehensively rained on over the last week, after all. At one point, to my granddaughter’s delight we found a frog in the soggy mess. She could have been 3 years old instead of 23, such was her delight, after her relief at not having sliced the creature in two with a spade! So the frog was caught, taken inside to be displayed to her housemate, chased all over the living room as it escaped, and eventually placed in a tank. And so a wild frog joined the menagerie - bearded dragon, small snake, African snails, landcrabs, and a couple of baby frogs caught be the aforementioned housemate. Not to mention a cat and a small tortoise! 

Having cleared the debris, we set about sweeping and hosing down the flagstones. First I had to purchase a stiff yard-brush from the hardware shop up the road. And hosing down consisted of carrying buckets of water and pouring them over the surface. But the job was completed quite efficiently!

The housemate, an old school friend and rather eccentric character, did a little washing up meantime. She is given to only sporadic bursts of activity and is not averse to reminding us that she does not like to be constrained into a routine as she is somewhere on the spectrum - ie the autistic spectrum. But she is a pleasant companion, a support for my granddaughter in times of stress and anxiety and ever so polite. Whenever I visit, she thanks me for coming, for helping out in the garden, for providing home-baked scones to eat and anything else I may have done. Such a gracious hostess!

Today I expect a visit from our daughter and her smaller offspring so that we can all go for a walk together. The promised sunshine and mostly blue sky has returned.

In the wider world we have two messages from Mr Johnson: go back to work; lose weight.

Going back to work instead of working from home seems to be another way of boosting the economy. Presumably people working in offices will start to buy coffee and snacks en route to and from work and will make occasional purchases in city centre shops. Cities can come back to life. People might be in contact with contagious others but the economy can revive.

Of course, all the snack consumption will contribute to the obesity problem, which we are told must be combatted before a second wave of the virus hits us. Hmm!

I think our Mr Johnson should set an example - let us know his current weight and then do weekly updates on how much exercise he has done, what he has eaten and how much weight he has lost. This could spur others on to do the same. And provide a little diversion at the same time. Maybe a reality TV show. People could place bets on how well he would get on. Oops, that would contribute to the gambling problem. It’s very hard to find a winning solution.

It seems the UK has decided not to join an EU plan to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine to its most vulnerable citizens. Some of the justification for this is that as we are outside the EU now, we would not have a decision-making role in negotiations over purchasing. So instead we will go it alone. Presumably this is part of taking back control. Just when it seems to me that a world-wide scheme, let alone a Europe-wide scheme would be the best thing!

Hey, ho! Here’s some language stuff.

I discovered that the French for “distancing” is “la distanciation”. Now, if that doesn’t sound like a made-up word, I will eat my hat!

And in his column in the weekend paper Séamus O’Reilly wrote about his sister Dearbhaile, prompting me to wonder, yet again, at the amazing names the Irish have and how on earth you pronounce them. So I looked Dearbhaile up and found this:-

 * A user from California, U.S. says the name Dearbhaile means "Daughter of Ireland. Fhaile is the ancient name for Ireland. Bh in Irish sounds like a V. therefore pronunciation is Derv-a-la".
* According to a user from India, the name Dearbhaile means "Daughter of destiny".
* A user from Ireland says the name Dearbhaile is of Irish origin and means "Truly desired".
* According to a user from Ireland, the name Dearbhaile is of Irish origin and means "Dearbh=Truth/certain/true Aille=admiration (for)/love (of)/loveliness= Love of Truth/True love/True loveliness From two old Irish words with several meanings. The "bh" is a soft v sound; almost like an f. So phonetically Dearbhaile is pronounced Duhr-flah with the emphasis on the first part; sounds like grrrr and hah! Often anglicised as Dervla, Dervilla, Dervela etc. Derived from the more ancient name Dearbhuirgile. E.g. Wife of Diarmuid Mac Murrough (Dermot McMorrough) but ran away from him! Mother of Aoife, who was married off to Richard de Clare "Strongbow". Daughter Isabel, grand-daughter Isabel, who is ancestor to British monarchy to present day.".

It’s amazing what you can find out!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!