Reflecting on my week #142

We were lucky with the weather for our day trip to Whitstable. After a day at home, on top of many months mostly at home, it was good to escape and have a relatively normal day out. We hadn’t been to our favourite Kent coastal town this year, nor for a few years probably, but it was good to see that many of our favourites were still there, some had gone, but some new ones had taken their place. The town was probably at more normal levels, after experiencing many day-trippers during the summer, and who as we spoke to some shopkeepers weren’t what I’d call covid-compliant, or happy to respect the rules. Thankfully none of those were evident on our visit, which coincided with the first day of the NHS Covid-19 app, which we downloaded and made use of in a couple of places with no trouble at all. I’m not going to comment on the app, and the flaws that are being reported on, or how long it’s taken to arrive, because I don’t think I’ve really got anything new to add.

boats at whitstable harbour

The weather was a mix of blue, cloudy skies and grey clouds looming. We were fortunate that we managed to eat our fish and chips al-fresco in one of the more blue-skied moments, and that was a tactical decision. I love to house-spot on the coastal path, and try to avoid being caught snapping people’s houses. Even though the terrace below is colourful the greyness seems to suit this photo, later in the week I’ll share a more colourful post.

walking along the front admiring the houses which were a bit grey at times
fish and chips on the beach

We did our best to shop in the local shops, eating fish and chips and tea and cake later on. We left with some cheese from the cheese shop, and rather bizarrely a large duck from the butchers for under a tenner. Not everyone goes to Whitstable and buys duck, oysters or fish are probably more usual.

coastal rooftops

Our luck with the weather ran out though, and of course after carrying our waterproofs around all day, our luck run out while they were in the car. There was nothing else for it, but a mad dash back to the car, launching ourselves into the dry as quickly as we could.

There has been a distinctly autumnal feel to the mornings hasn’t there? Normally we’re not one for having the heating on at a whim, we’ve both come from the “put another jumper on” school of thought. But when we woke on Friday and the radiators were warm, it was very welcome. We’ve come close to relenting though this weekend, but we’ve stuck to the layered approach. The closest we came to breaking was Saturday night after an afternoon outside at the Greenwich Comedy Festival.

in our box at the greenwich comedy festival

This year it was wholly outside and tickets were sold in twos, with each two having a metre box to socially distance within. We were a good way away from the stage, and it must have been tough for the comedians, as the atmosphere was pretty much non-existent. I was hoping that it’d stay dry, but no such luck. During Nina Conti’s set we, along with most of the audience were scrabbling for waterproofs and umbrellas. She had a couple of people up on the stage, and I bet they couldn’t believe their luck at getting under cover.

The show was hosted by Stephen K Amos and Reginald D Hunter had a set as well, but for us the main attraction was Henning Wehn. The show had been shortened, and it felt like Henning’s set had been shortened most, that could be because I’m not a huge fan of Reginald D Hunter (we’ve seen him before and my opinion hasn’t really changed). The arrangements though were totally covid-compliant, even if some of the attendees kept forgetting.

it rained, it was cold

It finished by 5 and our plan was to get some food early (for us) and head home. Though with the new 10pm curfew we thought our best plan would be to avoid Greenwich town centre and the people leaving the afternoon session, along with those arriving for the evening session potentially overlapping with many aiming to eat in restaurants with already reduced capacities. So we headed over to Canary Wharf on the DLR, as we’d spotted that there’s now a Five Guys in one of the shopping centres. It could well have been there a while to be fair, and it’s one of the foods I’ve been keen to eat during lockdown.

We got there fine, the DLR was busier than we expected, but everyone was wearing face coverings and keeping as distanced as they could. In the shopping centre, there were signs up to say that face coverings must be worn. However this was far from the norm, and far from being enforced. There were groups of, mainly young girls, patrolling the centre. We saw two groups of girls, and numerous young couples ignoring the advice, with either no masks or masks under their chins, and it was easy to see why we’re unable to control numbers. The complete disregard for the requirements, and for those around them was quite shocking, let alone respecting the staff working in the restaurants.

While my burger - cheeseburger with jalapeños, my order every time - was great, we didn’t hang around for longer than we needed to and headed back south of the river, walking home from Greenwich. I think it’ll be a while before we head back there, and we won’t be going again on a weekend that’s for sure. Maybe during the week those visiting will be more compliant, who knows. I’ve had my Five Guys fill though, so hopefully that will see me through for a while.

my five guys burger

Like many people we’re keeping an eye on what’s happening, and how the R number is managed. We have a week booked in October, and after not being able to go to the Lake District in June, we’re hoping that this time away won’t be scuppered either. We know we may need to change our plans, as we’re hoping to see and stay with family the weekend before, but we’re hopeful that we’ll still be able too. But as we’ve seen so many times already this year, there’s no guarantees, and there won’t be unless we all act responsibly. But that’s another soapbox, I’m not getting onto in this post.

Stay safe this week, and stay warm - it’s October on Thursday, and my heating just might be going on.

Reflecting on my week #141

Well, we did manage a paella as I hoped, though we’ve not managed as many barbecues in the last week as we’d hoped. What we hadn’t accounted for was how early it’s dark now. And how quickly it’s chilling down, that’s definitely more than a hint of autumn, but it’s not all bad.

I’d rigged up a string of solar lights across the garden in a very small attempt to get some light out there. Of course it doesn’t give anywhere near enough light, but they do look pretty. It’s across the garden, and has quickly become affectionately known as the washing line.

MOH spotted some battery garden lights, which can be connected to make longer strings. And so a master plan has been formed. Armed with a length of solar lights, a measure and today’s equivalent of the back of a fag packet, the plan was hatched.

a garden light master plan

The plan is to add three further strings of lights across the conservatory, the patio and further down the garden to transform our garden into a twinkling wonderland, although not so much of the twinkling. MOH is tasked with making the purchase tomorrow, and now all we need is some lanterns to supplement these. If I’m lucky i’ll have sourced these by next spring!

I took some time Wednesday afternoon away from my laptop, and away from work. Not quite as soon as I wanted, but some time nonetheless. I was dithering about what to do, and where to go, as I was waiting for the doctor to call, and with impeccable timing, he called. My blood pressure average for the past week wasn’t so different from the reading when I visited the surgery, in fact he asked me if I’d been taking the tablets. I had, and now I have more, so hopefully we’ll see a difference. And all because of a routine medication check, which has been a few years overdue, as it turned out.

notmycat on the roof of the little shed

I said last week about how the littlest #notmycat has an unhealthy interest in the squirrels, it seems her attention has been turned. Not for the first time this week we’ve spotted her making full use of the small shed’s roof. Yesterday instead of darting off, she tolerated my attempts to get closer. Not quite up to a tickle like her brother Sid (aka Killer) but comfortable enough to settle down.

We spent most of Sunday gardening, which is the first time for a while. But it looks much better for it, and I even found a lone sweet pea.

a single sweet pea

Gorgeous, I wish there were more!

I’ve only got a couple of days at work this week, but looking at the weather forecast I’m not sure that our planned trip to the south coast will happen. But then again if Boris has an announcement anything like the predictions we might choose not to go anyway.

Who knows, I think we’ll just have to wait and see. That’s much the story of 2020 though, isn’t it?

Reflecting on my week #140

The weeks are going past in a ‘blur of sameness’ at the moment, even though schools are back and more people are heading back to work. Last week was week 25 of working from home, and while there may be occasional trips to the office, for me, things are likely to stay the same for a little while yet.

I skipped posting here last week, I seemed to have run out of time, which on reflection I think is a manifestation of priorities out of kilter that’s been building for a while. Though a reality check quite often comes along, and mine has too.

I’ve posted before about not quite switching off and needing to be offline, and that’s true, but while my online time can’t always expand how that time is spent should be within my control. So I’ll be working more on that, as well as trying to get my blood pressure down. A routine blood test and an actual visit to the doctors last week identified it was more than a tad on the high side.

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In the garden, the roses are starting to flower again perhaps sensing the burst of warm weather that’s expected. I caught the squirrel sitting in one of our mysteriously nibbled pots of salad leaves, which has somewhat dampened our interest in picking some leaves to eat ourselves.

The smallest #notmycat has developed an unhealthy interest in the squirrels, who chase each other round and round in circles. On Friday the cat joined in, and watching them made me laugh out loud. Even more so when the squirrel headed up the tree at full pelt, leaving the cat confused and wondering where it was. As only cats can, it styled it out, wandering nonchalantly off in the other direction.

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In other news I’ve finally finished a crocheted item, and it’s been a while since I have. I have many projects on the go, so it was good to finally sew something together. This laptop sleeve is practical as well as pretty, and will help protect my laptop in a bag, but more on that in another post soon.

The weather is looking good for at least the first part of the week, and we’re planning to get the barbecue fired up again, it’s been a while. The last time we used it was the middle of August when MOH slow-cooked some fabulous pork belly. This week it’ll be more usual fare, though we might get as far as a paella if the weather holds.

Let’s hope so, let’s also hope the ‘rule of six’ does what it needs to in the next few weeks and months.