FatherInCharge mentioned in his weekly email to the people of Our Place that he, too, had had his first haircut since Lord knows when.
He said it took hours, but that was a Hideous Fib, given that he has a large solar panel, surrounded by a very small fringe of Hair, upon his priestly Head...
Seriously, though, it must be a huge relief for those with Hair to feel once more Neat and Tidy, as well as for the poor barbers etc. who have had to suffer such a massive loss of income pro tem...
I have a haircut booked for Tuesday and I can't wait. Husband says he likes the wild and woolly look, but it's driving me mad.
Said husband has gone away for the weekend to visit friends in the north. This time last year I was at the Newark Book Festival actually in Newark (on Trent not New Jersey). Due to Covid it is a 'virtual' festival this year, but I still managed to take part in an interesting discussion about crime fiction this morning. Of course it meant I ended up ordering all the books talked about, but that was only to be expected.
Tomorrow I'm chatting with my best friend via skype. I've done zoom, WhatsApp and facetime before but never skype. At least that's one thing about the current crisis, my IT skills are improving.
Well, we’re back home in Wales, having had a good trip from the Lake District. The temperature was 21C, 7 degrees higher than it had been most of last week. And we were able to collect the mogs, and yes, we got shouted at. They’ve calmed down, but have been very affectionate as they are pleased to be home.
It is very hot, and I have initiated cooling my bedroom, with a muslin tent over the bed, to be sprayed with water and moved about by a fan. It seems to be working, but I bought far too much cloth, at least two metres more than required! And it isn't cheap.
It's been a lovely day here in Embra - 20° and mostly sunny. We got a message from the rest of the family (except No. 2 niece, who's visiting friends in England) to say they were meeting at my nephew's with a view to a walk to the park where the kids and Harvey could have some fun, and it was utterly delightful.
Some of them stopped off on the way back to pick up things for a picnic lunch, which we had in my nephew's garden, and as S. and I were both quite sleepy when we got back, we've ordered a Chinese takeaway for supper, which should be here shortly.
My cousin and her family visited us in our back garden today. I think we are going to have to re-think our garden seating - we have two garden chairs and two deckchairs, which we had to supplement with our kitchen chairs. Said kitchen chairs feel comfy enough for half an hour, whilst eating at the table, but much less comfy for socialising in the garden.
That's the trouble, right enough. My nephew had brought out a couple of folding wooden chairs for S and me*, which were fine for a while, but then his wife unearthed a couple of padded, reclinable deck-chairs, in which I could have happily fallen asleep ...
* everyone else was reclining on the grass like Dejeuner sur L'herbe (but without the nudity).
After zoom church we had a picnic of cheese, houmous and Polish sausage with baguettes. We then played boules until it was too hot. I made a face mask this afternoon for youngest son and spun some wool before browsing through holiday guide books with a beer (off to north Devon soon).
Tea was cod and cheddar fish cakes with rice, green beans and home grown yellow courgette, followed by tiramisu.
I have an appointment with a hairdresser tomorrow,and will need a facemask. My preferred style is one that ties at the back of the head, but that won't do for having a shampoo and cut, so have experimented with making a couple of different styles with elastic ear loops.
I hope someone will lend you a top, and some socks and shoes!
Haha! 🤣
A dress was duly bought and worn. The Christening was a lovely occasion. In a Catholic Church. The party afterwards was in a ‘party garden’. There are lots of them here as most people live in flats.
They are like large allotments with facilities for partying rather than veg growing. There were eight babies crawling around. Anuka had great fun!
I hope someone will lend you a top, and some socks and shoes!
Haha! 🤣
A dress was duly bought and worn. The Christening was a lovely occasion. In a Catholic Church. The party afterwards was in a ‘party garden’. There are lots of them here as most people live in flats.
They are like large allotments with facilities for partying rather than veg growing. There were eight babies crawling around. Anuka had great fun!
That sounds brilliant, Boogie! A lot of fun is being had. Glad the Germans bombard us with inspirational stuff these days, rather than that somewhat unlucky WW2 thingy.
(Or have I watched too many 'Foyle's War' episodes again, recently? After all, I've got all the DVDs...! )
Today is my 51st birthday and I am spending the day (as I will the rest of the week) on a research training programme. As my doctorate programme is distance learning (I’m doing a professional doctorate ie I’m in my usual teaching job as well as being a research student) it is quite novel chatting to other students for a change, some doing studying while working in education like me and others full time researchers, and from all round the world. I suspect I’m one of the older participants.
Fried egg sandwich for lunch. Tonight we are going to the village gastropub for dinner, my first visit to a venue since lockdown.
Many happy returns, Heavenlyannie! 🎶
I've spent the morning filling in a very frustratingly-formatted application form for what I think might be my dream job - timetabling admin and music assistant at St. Mary's Music School. I'll be very surprised if I get anywhere with it; it's probably literally as well as figuratively above my pay-grade, but I couldn't not go for it, IYSWIM. I even got a bit emotional writing the "blurb" bit where you tell them why you want the job, writing about singing in cathedral choirs ...
If D's thinking of looking out for me from above, now would be a good time!
The weather seems a bit of a mixed bag here today: it was tipping it down earlier on, but might be amble-friendly now.
I had a busy afternoon mowing our lawns. No one told me about "No Mow May" until after I had done a drastic cut at the end of that month, which was then followed by some very hot dry weather, reducing said lawns pretty much to brown dust. Fortunately we have visitations from lawn professionals several times a year so after the treatment in June ("I'm going to increase the dose of feed for this one" said the nice young man, managing to keep the look of horror off his face) and the following of instructions ("Don't mow it again") with much watering and some helpful rain we have lush green meadows which were quite hard work to cut but rewarding to look at. I needed a nice cup of tea and a long sit down with my book after that. Rain has obligingly also arrived.
Happy Birthday @Heavenlyannie . Enjoy the meal. I haven't been brave enough to go and eat our yet or visit a pub. @piglet - good luck with the application.
Husband was away for the weekend so we celebrated his return with a good long walk and a bottle of wine. We've just spent the last our looking out of our spare room window at the parakeets. There are an awful lot of them in South West London.
We are off to foie gras land the day after tomorrow for five weeks, which I'm looking forward to immensely. Between the strikes and the lockdown, we haven't been out of Paris for almost a year. I've spent the evening setting up an automatic watering system on my balcony. It's going to be plugged into the kitchen tap, which means leaving the window open a crack, but I rather think anyone who manages to climb up to the 25th floor deserves to burgle me
Thanks for the good wishes, everyone, and have a lovely holiday, La Vie.
Supper this evening was salmon, as it was getting near its sell-by date (in a vacuum-seal pack, so OK), and S. decreed that she'd like it "with sauce". She also pointed out that we had a shed-load of herbs, some of which needed using, so I made a sauce with crème fraîche, cucumber, fennel, dill, mint, basil, coriander and spring onion, and it was really rather nice.
I don't know if I'll be able to replicate it, as it was rather "what was there", but I think I'd do something similar again.
I'm heading off shortly for my weekly Tesco's foray and am planning salmon this evening. We also have it with sauce but I'm not the domestic goddess you are and will be buying a ready made sachet.
The weekly shop always felt like something of an ordeal and even more so nowadays. Such a good feeling when it's done!
I used to enjoy my morning amble to the supermarket a couple of mornings a week. I’ve only walked there once in 4 month, and only been driven there twice. Now I’m fitter I really should start walking there again.
Another day of training after my morning walk.
Now that the one way system in Tesco's has been taken out it feels less focussed and a bit less safe, but that's probably perception rather than reality. I wouldn't like to go at a busy time, but there's no reason why I should change my current habits, nor do I intend to.
Tuesdays are a sociable days for me, lunch with friends and then coffee and prayer with other friends in the afternoon. We've been meeting in each other's gardens when we can, which was cold and windy last week and looks as though it might be showery today. (Good for the gardens, it's good for the gardens...)
We started having veg, salad and fruit boxes delivered when lockdown started. Also fortnightly deliveries from our local butchers.
We’ll continue - it’s good and fresh. It means supermarket trips are much shorter.
Today we have booked seats outside at the local restaurant to celebrate our birthdays. There will be twelve of us. No forecast of rain and 25° here in Heidelberg.
Today we have booked seats outside at the local restaurant to celebrate our birthdays. There will be twelve of us. No forecast of rain and 25° here in Heidelberg.
That does sound lovely and I admit to being a bit envious! Hope all the Birthday Boogs (and everyone else) enjoy the day. We expect full reports later on to cheer those of us who are meeting in small groups in the English Summer Dampness.
I am waiting to hear back from the Dr, The set up at the moment is that all medical stuff is done over the phone and I am not a happy bunny. A telephone is no substitute for face to face encounter and I need the latter since I nhave been feeling ropey for a week.
Much discussion in the Puzzler household about what level of risk we are now prepared to take, given that the virus has not gone away although rates are low locally, but there may well be a spike to come. Mr Puzzler is shielding, not on The List, but has enough medical conditions to assume that he would not survive Covid 19. He is not intending to go anywhere, having only left the house in his car and then once on his mobility scooter. I have been out for walks, mostly round the block, and visited my daughter in her garden, keeping our distance.
We have various deliveries set up, but our neighbour pops over to Aldi every Tuesday for a top up shop. We are trying to decide whether to make this the last one. Yesterday I did an experimental visit to Aldi and I felt safe enough. I have a hair appointment later this week and car MOT, So I am starting to get out and about.
But the risks are still there and it is so hard to know whether these plans are risking bringing the virus home.
It looks like a good ambling day today: partly cloudy and 16°.
Due to sell-by date issues (there were other things that Needed To Be Used First), the chicken cacciatore was postponed, so I'm going to have a crack at it today. It should be easy enough: casseroles are what I'm best at, as they don't involve the exact timing demanded by steaks, which seem to go straight from "a good vet could bring it back to life" to "shoe leather" without stopping at "medium-rare" on the way ...
I think that is a difficult one, Puzzler, as measurement of risk is very subjective and there is the unknown length of time of which the danger continues. I had this discussion with a public health researcher at church last week, the idea of what constitutes meaningful living balanced with risk taking. He says a lot of people were beginning to leave their homes because they had weighed up the decision and concluded that they would rather take the risk and live a more ‘normal’ life. As I said, subjective, because one does not really know what our individual risk is.
I ve still not entered a shop. Got a face mask, just not used it.
Yet.
I m not on an official shielding list but after chats with the clinical team made the decision to act as if I Were.
Starting to slowly go out and about a bit more now but I am finding myself alarmed by other people’s unthinking reactions. Last week someone grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. I froze.
Yet the week before lockdown I was fine with just stepping back and very publicly declining to shake hands with our visiting minister.
Starting to slowly go out and about a bit more now but I am finding myself alarmed by other people’s unthinking reactions. Last week someone grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. I froze.
That would make me freeze in normal circumstance - how rude given the current state of affairs.
It's not just you, all of us have been taught to fear other people and to see them as a threat. They might just be the carrier who infects you. As we do with any fear you have to decide what you can tolerate. Nearly always that will depend on circumstance. With coming out from shielding you will be registering just being around other people as threatening anyway. If an individual then starts to actually break the rules however mildly the already present fear will intensify your reaction.
In other news my calabrese are hearting up very nicely and we are visiting the beaches often, hurrah!
Rodents appear to be snacking on my courgettes 😠
This is obviously some sort of Sinister Code Message.
I think we should be told...
ION, not a bad day here. Early rain has freshened up my little plant trough (the Basil and the Parsley are looking well). Pilates session wasn't too gruelling (we're back in a RL studio in a couple of weeks!), my optometrist appointment tomorrow is all booked, and taxi ordered.
Yesterday, I received a sombre reminder from DVLA that my provisional driving licence, renewed in 2017 after I'd been free from seizures for over a year, expires at the end of September! A massive 14-page questionnaire has been filled in, and sent back - alas, it couldn't be done online for various reasons known only to TPTB.
Hoisin Duck, with cucumber, spinach, spring onion, and plum sauce, in a tortilla wrap, for lunch! Should it be accompanied by BEER, or by WINE?
Starting to slowly go out and about a bit more now but I am finding myself alarmed by other people’s unthinking reactions. Last week someone grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. I froze.
That would make me freeze in normal circumstance - how rude given the current state of affairs.
Me too - that's tantamount to assault, however kindly meant!
Farmers dread unkindly May - frost by night, and hail by day!
June just rains, and never stops - thirty days, and spoils the crops!
In July the sun is hot - is it shining? No, it's not!
(With due acknowledgement, as before, to Michael Flanders and Donald Swann)
Pretty quiet day for us - went out to buy a couple of bits before leaving tomorrow, and then to the playground, which was curtailed when it started to rain.
I'm not sure if there's many fireworks displays happening this year. If there are any, we should be able to spot them from the 25th floor balcony.
Comments
FatherInCharge mentioned in his weekly email to the people of Our Place that he, too, had had his first haircut since Lord knows when.
He said it took hours, but that was a Hideous Fib, given that he has a large solar panel, surrounded by a very small fringe of Hair, upon his priestly Head...
Seriously, though, it must be a huge relief for those with Hair to feel once more Neat and Tidy, as well as for the poor barbers etc. who have had to suffer such a massive loss of income pro tem...
Said husband has gone away for the weekend to visit friends in the north. This time last year I was at the Newark Book Festival actually in Newark (on Trent not New Jersey). Due to Covid it is a 'virtual' festival this year, but I still managed to take part in an interesting discussion about crime fiction this morning. Of course it meant I ended up ordering all the books talked about, but that was only to be expected.
Tomorrow I'm chatting with my best friend via skype. I've done zoom, WhatsApp and facetime before but never skype. At least that's one thing about the current crisis, my IT skills are improving.
Some of them stopped off on the way back to pick up things for a picnic lunch, which we had in my nephew's garden, and as S. and I were both quite sleepy when we got back, we've ordered a Chinese takeaway for supper, which should be here shortly.
* everyone else was reclining on the grass like Dejeuner sur L'herbe (but without the nudity).
Tea was cod and cheddar fish cakes with rice, green beans and home grown yellow courgette, followed by tiramisu.
Haha! 🤣
A dress was duly bought and worn. The Christening was a lovely occasion. In a Catholic Church. The party afterwards was in a ‘party garden’. There are lots of them here as most people live in flats.
They are like large allotments with facilities for partying rather than veg growing. There were eight babies crawling around. Anuka had great fun!
I reckon a neck gaiter might be easiest to manage, given the doffing and donning of various lens frames etc. etc. that will probably take place!
Hope all goes well, BF! <votive>
That sounds brilliant, Boogie! A lot of fun is being had. Glad the Germans bombard us with inspirational stuff these days, rather than that somewhat unlucky WW2 thingy.
(Or have I watched too many 'Foyle's War' episodes again, recently? After all, I've got all the DVDs...!
Fried egg sandwich for lunch. Tonight we are going to the village gastropub for dinner, my first visit to a venue since lockdown.
Hippo, Birdie, two Ewes!
Hippo, Birdie, two Ewes!
Hippo, Birdie, Hippo, Birdie,
Hippo, Birdie, two Ewes!
(I thought the version about Squashed Tomatoes and Stew might be inappropriate...).
🎵 🎶 🎵 🎶
I've spent the morning filling in a very frustratingly-formatted application form for what I think might be my dream job - timetabling admin and music assistant at St. Mary's Music School. I'll be very surprised if I get anywhere with it; it's probably literally as well as figuratively above my pay-grade, but I couldn't not go for it, IYSWIM. I even got a bit emotional writing the "blurb" bit where you tell them why you want the job, writing about singing in cathedral choirs ...
If D's thinking of looking out for me from above, now would be a good time!
The weather seems a bit of a mixed bag here today: it was tipping it down earlier on, but might be amble-friendly now.
What's this "summer" of which people speak?
I had a busy afternoon mowing our lawns. No one told me about "No Mow May" until after I had done a drastic cut at the end of that month, which was then followed by some very hot dry weather, reducing said lawns pretty much to brown dust. Fortunately we have visitations from lawn professionals several times a year so after the treatment in June ("I'm going to increase the dose of feed for this one" said the nice young man, managing to keep the look of horror off his face) and the following of instructions ("Don't mow it again") with much watering and some helpful rain we have lush green meadows which were quite hard work to cut but rewarding to look at. I needed a nice cup of tea and a long sit down with my book after that. Rain has obligingly also arrived.
@piglet - good luck with the application.
Husband was away for the weekend so we celebrated his return with a good long walk and a bottle of wine. We've just spent the last our looking out of our spare room window at the parakeets. There are an awful lot of them in South West London.
We are off to foie gras land the day after tomorrow for five weeks, which I'm looking forward to immensely. Between the strikes and the lockdown, we haven't been out of Paris for almost a year. I've spent the evening setting up an automatic watering system on my balcony. It's going to be plugged into the kitchen tap, which means leaving the window open a crack, but I rather think anyone who manages to climb up to the 25th floor deserves to burgle me
Supper this evening was salmon, as it was getting near its sell-by date (in a vacuum-seal pack, so OK), and S. decreed that she'd like it "with sauce". She also pointed out that we had a shed-load of herbs, some of which needed using, so I made a sauce with crème fraîche, cucumber, fennel, dill, mint, basil, coriander and spring onion, and it was really rather nice.
I don't know if I'll be able to replicate it, as it was rather "what was there", but I think I'd do something similar again.
The weekly shop always felt like something of an ordeal and even more so nowadays. Such a good feeling when it's done!
Another day of training after my morning walk.
Tuesdays are a sociable days for me, lunch with friends and then coffee and prayer with other friends in the afternoon. We've been meeting in each other's gardens when we can, which was cold and windy last week and looks as though it might be showery today. (Good for the gardens, it's good for the gardens...)
We’ll continue - it’s good and fresh. It means supermarket trips are much shorter.
Today we have booked seats outside at the local restaurant to celebrate our birthdays. There will be twelve of us. No forecast of rain and 25° here in Heidelberg.
That does sound lovely and I admit to being a bit envious! Hope all the Birthday Boogs (and everyone else) enjoy the day. We expect full reports later on to cheer those of us who are meeting in small groups in the English Summer Dampness.
I very much recommend this city for a holiday. Lovely walks, proper summer weather and zero Covid!
I have, however, dared to rebook for autumn and extend the short break in Jersey we should have taken in April.
We have various deliveries set up, but our neighbour pops over to Aldi every Tuesday for a top up shop. We are trying to decide whether to make this the last one. Yesterday I did an experimental visit to Aldi and I felt safe enough. I have a hair appointment later this week and car MOT, So I am starting to get out and about.
But the risks are still there and it is so hard to know whether these plans are risking bringing the virus home.
Due to sell-by date issues (there were other things that Needed To Be Used First), the chicken cacciatore was postponed, so I'm going to have a crack at it today. It should be easy enough: casseroles are what I'm best at, as they don't involve the exact timing demanded by steaks, which seem to go straight from "a good vet could bring it back to life" to "shoe leather" without stopping at "medium-rare" on the way ...
However, first - lunch (or is it breakfast?)
Yet.
I m not on an official shielding list but after chats with the clinical team made the decision to act as if I Were.
Starting to slowly go out and about a bit more now but I am finding myself alarmed by other people’s unthinking reactions. Last week someone grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. I froze.
Yet the week before lockdown I was fine with just stepping back and very publicly declining to shake hands with our visiting minister.
What has changed in me?
Rodents appear to be snacking on my courgettes 😠
It's not just you, all of us have been taught to fear other people and to see them as a threat. They might just be the carrier who infects you. As we do with any fear you have to decide what you can tolerate. Nearly always that will depend on circumstance. With coming out from shielding you will be registering just being around other people as threatening anyway. If an individual then starts to actually break the rules however mildly the already present fear will intensify your reaction.
This is obviously some sort of Sinister Code Message.
I think we should be told...
ION, not a bad day here. Early rain has freshened up my little plant trough (the Basil and the Parsley are looking well). Pilates session wasn't too gruelling (we're back in a RL studio in a couple of weeks!), my optometrist appointment tomorrow is all booked, and taxi ordered.
Yesterday, I received a sombre reminder from DVLA that my provisional driving licence, renewed in 2017 after I'd been free from seizures for over a year, expires at the end of September! A massive 14-page questionnaire has been filled in, and sent back - alas, it couldn't be done online for various reasons known only to TPTB.
Hoisin Duck, with cucumber, spinach, spring onion, and plum sauce, in a tortilla wrap, for lunch! Should it be accompanied by BEER, or by WINE?
Me too - that's tantamount to assault, however kindly meant!
My grandmother used to say that July was always a disappointment. I try to remember that when it clouds over.
June just rains, and never stops - thirty days, and spoils the crops!
In July the sun is hot - is it shining? No, it's not!
(With due acknowledgement, as before, to Michael Flanders and Donald Swann)
Pretty quiet day for us - went out to buy a couple of bits before leaving tomorrow, and then to the playground, which was curtailed when it started to rain.
I'm not sure if there's many fireworks displays happening this year. If there are any, we should be able to spot them from the 25th floor balcony.