Feest Isolation Days –19 June
Ever since the last watering connection was set up in the garden it hasn’t stopped raining. In true English summer style, the rain has set in along with a darkness and both yesterday and today we’ve had lightning and thunder as well.
Living with coronavirus is easier when you can get into the garden and into the outside world. There are no visitors in our garden sharing cups of tea. There are no walks and outside biking and fishing is curtailed. There is no escape to the continent for some fine weather. We are in lockdown again!
Small pleasures will have to be found indoors. This is England. Maybe the afternoon will be less dark and rainy? We shall see! In the meantime, the exercise bike beckons and the blue exercise mat with all the accoutrements required for a work out wait patiently. Today they will all see active duty.
Paediatricians are calling on the government to make a clear plan to get all kids back to school. Over sixteen hundred doctors signed a petition asking the government to set out how students will all be able to return to the classroom. They acknowledge that many teachers have been doing a great job, but all children need school in order to thrive. Some parents of those student years who have returned seem to think schools are unsafe. Primark shopping is okay but school classrooms are not? I’m not quite sure what the logic is here. I’m sure Boris will sort it out! His decision making skills are once again in the news. While he was contemplating not feeding poor kids over the summer with the food voucher scheme, he was making plans to spend a million of tax payers money on paint. The plane used to ferry him around is to have a Union Jack emblazoned on it. Where do these brain-storms come from? Little travel is permitted by the foreign office. How does spending money the country doesn’t have on a plane that shouldn’t be going anywhere make any kind of sense? Perhaps the Ministry of U turns will sort it out! (See yesterday’s cartoon)
Thinking about kids reminds me of a lovely conversation we had with my young American nephew when he visited a few years back. He was about six or seven at the time. We were out in the garden with his lovely parents and brother on a glorious English summer day (we do have them!) and he was having a conversation with Terry about his job. “So Uncle Terry, you used to be a doctor but now you’re a gardener?” As Terry had been fiddling in the garden his question was well observed. Terry said yes that was one of the “jobs” he now had. The little boy asked what kind of doctor he had been. Terry explained he had been a kidney doctor and after a long silence the thoughtful response was, “Uncle Terry, why did you only treat kids’ knees?” Uncle Terry wished he hadn’t yet retired as he certainly would have told that story more than once at conferences over the years!
No kids’ knees being treated today or any other day by Uncle Terry, but let’s hope kids get back to school sooner rather than later. This is a global problem, and kids in all countries need to get back to their schools. The paediatricians are right. Perhaps the Manchester Footballer who got their food back might spread the word, Boris is busy organising paint for his big boy airplane.
And thanks to Vera Lynn for her amazing ability to keep us going over the years. She was 103 when she died yesterday. Rest in Peace and Song Vera!
We’ll meet again…the anthem she made popular that we all still need!
With love
Kathy x