Look to the future - it’s only just begun

The new year has begun and we continue our quiet life, So instead of going to the Post Office to return a couple of parcels, I’m taking the Chief Medical officer’s advice this morning and avoiding any non-essential contact. They can wait. Time to write a blog post instead. 

Life is not so bad here in lockdown.  I’ve been amusing myself creating origami creatures from this book Kate got me for Christmas.  In the photo above you can see my Origami Swallow (beside it Kate’s sequin art elephant.)I’ve loved origami since I acquired a book aged 11 from the Scolastic bookclub leaflet I got at school - the only way you could buy books then as there wasn’t a bookshop in Magherafelt in 1970. I found this book when clearing our family home though I could still make my favourite Spanish box from memory.  Paul has also rediscovered his creative skills producing this pencil sketch - you can guess who it is. 

I’ve also signed up for an online course with the WEA called The Novel and the City.  For this I’ll have to read Balzac’s ‘Old Goriot’ (Paris) - I vaguely recall studying it in French at university or at least owning a copy. I don’t think I ever read it in full as I can’t remember a single thing about it when rereading.  The other is ‘Crime and Punishment’ which should get my brain working and perhaps inspire me to visit St Petersburg when we are able to travel again.

We still have Kate at home and her boyfriend has joined us again for lockdown as there’s no prospect of them returning to university for a while. To liven things up we have introduced a weekly ‘Come Dine With Me’. It was my turn last Friday and I hosted a 70’s night with Stuffed Mushrooms, Chicken Kiev and Baked Alaska followed by dancing in the kitchen (with the disco ball going) to classic 70’s bands such as Earth, Wind and Fire.  Kate and I wore flares, Calum a flowery T-shirt which is usually banned and Paul surprised us all in an outfit he’d purchased specially for the occasion. Next week Kate is doing Gatsby night so another reason to dress up.  

....Merry Christmas - everybody’s having fun

 The lyrics of Slade’s Christmas favourite don’t quite fit Christmas 2020 do they? Especially the line that goes ‘Are you waiting for the family to arrive?’.  Despite this I have quite enjoyed our quiet Christmas.  It was just the three of us and the dog.  On Christmas Day we had cinnamon buns for breakfast which I made myself with the help of the bread maker. We scheduled a Christmas family Zoom for 9am so we could catch the NZ branch of the family before bed. Also included in the call were nephews in Melbourne and Verbier in Switzerland.  Hard to actually converse with so many people on the call but good to see everyone and be introduced to the giant bear one of the younger nephews had got for Christmas.  After that we walked into the city centre and along the river, a route which is usually too busy for incident-free dog walking. Then we cooked Christmas dinner together. I was responsible for stuffing, though we couldn’t actually stuff our turkey ‘crown’, and also dessert. We abandoned tradition and had chocolate profiteroles. I may make a Christmas pudding before the holiday ends though as I do like it - just not after Christmas dinner.  The rest of the day was spent lazily in front of the fire. In fact this pretty much describes the rest of the week too. With Kate at home we have wrenched control of the remote from Paul and have been watching The Crown - we’re on Charles at Gordonstoun. And we’ve also been watching ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. I’ve never watched so much TV in my life. Not exactly ‘fun’ but relaxing and there’s not much else to do - especially now we have all been instructed to stay at home again. 

So here it is.......

I’m feeling more cheerful now with Christmas approaching. Kate has returned from university after her negative rapid test result so I now have company on my dog walks.  In the local country park where we walk her we discovered a tree with a kind of knothole in the trunk and the trust which looks after the park has fitted a door. If you open it there is a tiny Christmas tree and two little toy figures in there.  I love this - it reminds me of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' when Boo Radley hides things in knothole of a tree for the children to find. 

Other Christmas preparations are on the way now that Kate is back.  She liked the idea of a pink themed tree and persuaded me to buy this tinsel.  Personally I prefer the coloured lights and mishmash of random baubles like we had when she was little but I went along with her wishes.  I also made a wreath with bits of greenery mainly from the garden though I did sneakily snip a few berry branches from a heavily laden roadside hedge. I also purchased a rather twee light up house like my mum used to have which I always coveted. I bought a Village Post Office as I grew up living in one.

Last night we went also went out for the first time in ages to Storyhouse to see a production of 'A Christmas Carol' - Chester has returned to Tier 2 for now so theatres have reopened. It was a real privilege to see live theatre again.  I'm rather weary of this particular novel as I have taught it so many times but this production directed by Alex Clifton made it fresh again with some clever contemporary references and a lively musical score with lots of 70s classic punky tunes like London Calling and A Town Called Malice.  It wasn't quite normal as the audience were very spaced out and had to wear masks throughout but it was better than another evening in front of the telly. And this evening we are venturing out for a meal in a pub.  I’m torn between wanting to go and being extra careful as I don’t want coronavirus for Christmas. Paul is even more uncertain - he didn’t come to the theatre and avoids any unnecessary social contacts. Let’s hope for the best - it is quite a large space so we should be ok.

November...ing

 

It’s not been a great month for us. Inspired by Christina ’s post, I’ll give you a flavour of my November. I’ve been:

Looking after husband who has injured his ankle after being pulled over by over-excited dog lunging at crow while he was picking up her ball;

Persuading him to contact medical professionals for advice on his ‘torn ligament’  rather than trust Dr Google;

Trying not to say I told you so when he eventually gave in, three whole weeks after the original injury,  and discovered he had a fracture when it was x-rayed;

Walking the darned dog on my own and trying to avoid any further injury;

Watching in horror as the lawn, now the location for ball chasing, is transformed into a muddy field;

Planting half dead looking bare-rooted strawberries and a rose called ‘Silas Marner;

 Hoping the garden will recover in the spring. 

On a more positive note I had some success with the NaNoWrite project which I signed up for. So I have been:

Writing around 1000 words a day of my ‘family saga’;

Reimagining real events using research, memories and things older relatives have told me;

Exploring the British Newspaper Archive which has given me access to old copies of The Mid Ulster Mail;

Using the details from the newspaper stories as inspiration for my writing;

Feeling like a granny when I joined the local NaNo online forum and encountered rather geeky young men in hoodies;

Accepting that ‘word sprints’ where you race others to write as many words as you can in a set time with no concern about quality are not for me;

Discovering that most of the local participants in this project are writing fantasy and other worlds;

Failing to reach the NaNo target 50000 words;

Feeling happy, nevertheless, that I have written 25000 words and have enjoyed the experience. 

For the Record

 It strikes me that this is a very significant moment in history so I’m going to record my experience of it.

We are waiting for the result of the US election. It is extremely close. This is scary.

My daughter is self-isolating in her student flat in Sheffield because her flatmate has Covid.  She is missing two weeks of face  to face seminars because of this- her course isn’t online. The flatmate had a message on the NHS Covid app on Sunday to say she’d been in contact with someone who had tested positive. At the same time started to feel feverish. She went for a test. It came back positive on Monday. She’d watched Strictly on Saturday evening in the same room as her flatmates. Including my daughter.

I am trying not to worry. My daughter, usually a worrier, is fairly relaxed about this. No symptoms yet except a slight headache tonight. 

Her flatmate with Covid is fine. Yesterday she cleaned the house. She has now lost her sense of taste and to check this out she ate a whole chilli, drunk a shot of vodka and one of vinegar. She couldn’t taste any of these.  A young person’s response to the virus. 

As part of the ONS survey we signed up for Paul and I have had five Covid tests. We are getting paid for this in shopping vouchers though we’d have been happy to do it for free. We had weekly visits where we answer questions and complete the test ourselves. You swish a long cotton bud type thing around the back of your throat and then up each nostril. It makes you gag but isn’t a big deal. They’ve all been negative so far. 

This week I’m nervous that I’ve caught it too as I’ve been to a pub with friends (outside in a ‘beach hut’) and to the hairdresser before lockdown begins. There are many people with Covid in the local area. A friend who has a small business has nine staff off with the virus.  I’m torn between wanting to stay in all the time to avoid any chance of infection and wanting to make the most of the time left before lockdown.

Life is very different to this time last year. 

Lockdown is coming

 So it looks like we’re in for another period of lockdown if the BBC news this morning has got it right.  It’s going to be harder this time with winter weather and also just the two of us at home. In April and May much time was spent gardening but now there’s not so many things I can do outside especially in the unrelentingly wet weather we’ve had recently.  I picked the last sunflowers which looked unlikely to open and persuaded then to flower inside for a last splash of sunshine. There are tulips to be planted - Monty on Gardener’s World says wait until November - and possibly a bare-rooted rose but that’ll be it until it’s time to chit the seed potatoes again next January/February. I’m turning my attention to expanding my houseplant collection.  This can get expensive but I’ve discovered you can buy small versions in shops like Lidl, Morrison’s and my favourite venue for garden purchases, Home and Bargain. I bought a dahlia from there which has flowered all summer.  I also grew the coleus below from a cutting and then took a cutting from it for my sister which has also flourished. I love these plants with their pink leaves - my dad used to grow them and they lined the kitchen windowsill back home.

 

And of course as you can see above spider plants have babies.  I’ve already potted up two from this plant and there’s another ready to go here.  Thanks toGanching for inspiring this post with the tale of her spider plant.

To keep me busy in November I have signed up for NaNoWriMo, a challenge where you attempt to write a novel of 50000 words in a month.  The name makes me cringe and it’s all very American but I’m hoping that this little bit of accountability and a deadline will help me establish a writing habit.  I’ve got plenty of time now though I am back Zoom teaching a few hours a week. And I have plenty of ideas.  I envisage a kind of family saga loosely based on my own family a bit like The Cazelet Chronicles, my favourite books. Lofty ambition for someone who can’t even establish a weekly blogging habit. We’ll see! 

Looking back to 1999

 

This photograph of my parents taken outside our family home In Ballyronan during August 1999 was posted on Facebook this week by Ardboe Galleries.  A lovely surprise as neither my sisters nor I had ever seen it before.  I rarely bother with Facebook but this time I enjoyed reading all the comments and seeing the list of familiar names who ‘liked’ the photograph.  I’m pleased to see they have not been forgotten.  My mother was the village postmistress for over 35 years and when this was taken she had just retired. The photograph was taken by Pat Grimes who was in the village that day taking pictures for a magazine called Loughshore News. I contacted him and he has kindly sent me copies of the photographs and given me permission to use them here. His website features many other old photographs including some from the local newspaper. I found one of myself pictured with my Girl Guide group when I was about 12. 

Later that same year in October my daughter Kate was born so next week she’ll turn 21.  We’ve had to bring forward the celebrations as she’s at university in Sheffield which is in Tier 3 measures from today.  So on Thursday night we met her and her boyfriend in a pub/restaurant in Hathersage, a short drive from Sheffield in the Derbyshire Dales.  We had to sit at separate tables to keep within the rules but nevertheless had a lovely evening.  Here she is with her cake.  I think her grandparents would be very proud of her if they were here today.