I didn’t do my usual cycle ride to Uppermill yesterday because of family commitments. So this morning I got my bike out and went and bought some rather nice bread from the baker’s and olives and other mediterranean delicacies from the delicatessen. There was no market but the Italian fruit shop was open as usual and I picked up fruit that our local coop does not stock: grapefruit, good ripe plum and figs.
Yesterday I finally got Phil to go out for a walk with me in the early evening. It had been a lovely day but he had been busy most of the day and even after the small people were taken home by our daughter he did not feel he had time to spare. But by the evening it was still fine, if a little on the cool side. And the evening sky views made it all worth while.
My good friend Dee has been making Damson jam. Her daughter-in-law picked damsons and passed them on for my friend to make use of. She says it’s years since she made jam and she feels quite pleased with herself. She is not alone in rediscovering old skills, according to what I have been reading and hearing about in news broadcasts. There has apparently been a boom in gardening and preparing food at home during the pandemic. Over in the USA so many have been doing this that there is a shortage of jars and the special lids to seal pickle jars. Oh, dear!
Our granddaughter’s neighbour has managed to grow a prodigious amount of vegetables in a tiny patch of garden. As a rule she would have been too busy to do so much gardening. She has probably been working just as hard as ever during the pandemic but she has saved a large chunk of time every day because she has not been commuting to and from the centre of Manchester every day. She has been passing on surplus vegetables to our granddaughter: courgettes the size of her forearm and odd vegetables she needed help in identifying. She had so many tomatoes that she then passed some of them on to me, knowing that I can always make use of them.
Time was Brownies and Girl Guides earned badges to sew on their uniforms by proving they could make a pie, or presumably jam, or other interesting dishes with all these vegetables. Now it seems the Scouts, 28% of whom are girls by the way, can earn themselves a truth badge, actually a digital citizen badge, involving the skill of recognising what is fake news and what is stuff to be taken seriously, among other digital media things. Many young people, who get a lot of their news via social media, have admitted they find it difficult to work out what is true and what is fake. It seems to me that such a skill is probably more useful than knowing how to forage for food in the woods.
The badge isn’t new and has been relaunched by the chief scout and TV explorer, Bear Grylls, who said it needed to be “fit for purpose in a rapidly changing digital world”.
“I am known for being able to survive in the wild,” he said, “but it’s just as important that young people today have their wits about them when online.”
There you go.
Now, what about those Covid tests? It sounds a little as though someone is trying to pass on to others the blame for the shortage of tests. It seems that Matt Hancock said there were a record number of tests available, claiming capacity was higher than ever. “However, we have seen a rise in the number of people who are not eligible for a test coming forward and getting those tests,” he told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday.
“If you don’t have symptoms, unless you’ve been asked specifically by a clinician or a local authority to go and get a test, you’re not eligible for a test. But we want the tests to be available for people with symptoms.”
That’s odd, considering that not long ago he was encouraging people to have a test if they had any symptoms that make them fear they have Covid. ““If you have symptoms of Coronavirus, or if you have any doubt, get a Coronavirus test. Anybody who needs a test can get a test, & it’s the most important thing that you can do to stop the spread of this virus.”
Hmm!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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