March - ing onwards

 March seems to have flown past for me.  After the very grim winter I can’t help but feel more hopeful as the days lengthen and Spring gets going.  Here’s a brief account of what I’ve been doing:

Gardening:  much time spent on this, most of it enjoyable, some tasks not so much.  I spent ages on lawn repair- spiking the lawn, applying top dressing,  laying new turf on the worst bits and sprinkling special dog wee surviving grass seed. This was hard work, mostly done by me with occasional help from our resident house guest, Calum, Kate’s boyfriend. And I’m not sure it’s worked as there’s not much sign of grass growing - just clover as far as I can see. Oh well at least it’s green. And there are some very fat pigeons around.

Sowing seeds: I’ve never had much success with this fiddly business but seem to have mastered it this year. My summerhouse house is full of emerging mini plants.

Finding new places to walk: our usual places still make us too sad. Last week we did a short stretch of the Sandstone Trail by Beeston Castle and are planning a longer walk in the same location this week.

Sock knitting: I’ve found this quite tricky even though I’m following a beginners’  pattern. I just about succeeded in turning the heel and it looks sock shaped even if there are a few holes where I’ve dropped stitches and a strange ridge where I think I was knitting in the wrong direction. 

Supporting Kate as she works on her dissertation: this mainly involves making lunch and cups of tea on demand, though I am sometimes called upon to proofread.  Just about follow her argument - it’s about aspects of fascism in Britain in the 1930s - but I’m struggling a bit with some of the history jargon. Still can’t remember what ‘palingenesis’  means.  I’m more help at spotting missing apostrophes and adding commas. 

Completing the final sessions of my online courses: these have been great during winter, providing structure to my week.  This week is the final session of my course on The Troubles in Northern Ireland with the focus on the early years 1968- 1974.  We’ve been discussing the attempt at a power-sharing assembly back in 1974 which is not that different to what is currently in place.  In 1974 the assembly collapsed because of a strike organised by a loyalist coalition.  I remember 1974 clearly  - there was a big car bomb in our village in the January. And it was the year my sisters and I were held at gunpoint as we did our homework one evening until my mother opened the safe in the post office and gave the raiders the pension money. . And during the loyalist strike my dad thought it would be a good idea to sell/give away to neighbours the milk which hadn’t been collected from the farm in our post office.   That was until we had a menacing phone call to tell us stop. That was scary. One slightly disappointing aspect of the course is that we haven’t had much time to discuss how the Troubles affected us personally. This week we’ve been promised some time to do this.  It will be interesting to hear who others on the course remember this time. 

Newspaper cutting from 1974 found in my mother scrapbook

And finally I enjoying becoming a ‘Handbag for a Day’ - I took part in an online singing workshop with our local choir A Handbag of Harmonies.  Great fun.  Kate videoed me singing ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ and it as all edited together with other contributions and put on YouTube.  Very embarrassing so I’m not adding the link. 

Green Shoots

 

I am feeling a bit more positive than in my previous post though we are all still very sad.  It has helped that the sun has been shining and the garden is coming to life.  The bulbs I planted are poking through and the little tête-à-tête daffodils and mini iris are already in bloom.

As it is less unpleasant outside, I’ve been attempting a bit of running again using the Couch to 5k programme and taking it very slowly as last time my knees started to object by Week 4. I wouldn’t say I’m enjoying it but I feel pleased with myself afterwards.

I’m also filling my time doing more Zoom courses.  I signed up for an evening course with the University of Liverpool’s Continuing Education Department on the History of the Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1966-1974. It’s been very interesting and made me realise how little I know about what is, in fact, part of my own history.  The lecturer who is from Liverpool is a real expert but he doesn’t give us much discussion time and to be honest doesn’t seem that interested in our contributions.  A few of the others have had personal experiences of the Troubles, including one lady who was at Queen’s during the time of the Civil Rights marches. I’d love to get the chance to talk to her.  

A more enjoyable course is the WEA course I’m doing - Creative Genealogy tutored by a really enthusiastic genealogist and writer, Kevin Brown.  Course participants are invited to use a story from their family history as inspiration for a creative project. Some of the others on the course are producing interesting crafty items using fabric, decoupage and sewing; others like me are sticking to words and pictures.  I am continuing with the family saga I have been working on for a while, aiming to complete one section of the story during this course.  It’s been really interesting to talk to others and being able to share my plans has got me started on my project again.  I have also decided to share my writing on the blog so if you are interested click on the link to The House’s Tale for the first instalment.