Month: July 2020

Feest Isolation Days – 6 July

The 4^th of July dawned grey and dreary.  It was the first day of easing lockdown and we decided to go out for brunch.  We went to a new place for us.  Under the magnificent beech tree at the bottom of the garden!  Just as we began to eat, the rain arrived.  Terry got out our old patio umbrella which has broken, and placed it in a vice so it could stand tall above us and keep off the light misty shower.  It worked!  The umbrella kept us dry and we enjoyed a new spot for brunch.  It wasn’t “out” out, but it was different and they say a change is as good as a rest! We were pleased we spent our first day of easing time “out” under the tree in the gentle rain, because from about noon the heavens opened and didn’t stop for the rest of the day.  Soggy Britain! 

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Unlocking has its benefits but there are still some areas of the economy that cannot unlock.  I ran into a neighbour today who has a great idea for a concert in an empty club with tickets sold on something like Zoom. She’s been told it goes against the rules!  Argggg! Performers need some unlocking support. Performers and the arts are in total disarray and there seems to be little understanding or help for them from any quarter.  We need our cultural events and performances. How will this happen?

This virus seems to be economically dreadful for the young, and physically dreadful for the old.  We oldies have the better deal I think.  Our younger friends and families are still struggling with so much. There remain millions of people who can’t work anymore no matter what profession they are in.  Law courts are nearly silent with huge backlogs, the hospitality industry is making redundancies daily, the aerospace industry is cutting jobs; no sector seems to be safe.  Except perhaps for key workers in caring professions or delivery people.

Today we had a socially distanced tea and cake time with daughter Naomi and family. Wonderful to see them all.   This seemed easier than the first time we did it with the other kids because we knew what we were in for.  We nearly froze as we sat huddled under sweaters, coats and blankets in the wind at the bottom of the garden.  But hey!  We saw each other and chatted and all agreed this pandemic isn’t anywhere near over yet.  We still maintain more than the rules, as all of the members of our family are.  No restaurants, no pub visits, no holidays or hotel nights away yet for the Feest clan.  We will all watch and wait a bit and see what happens. 

Our next door neighbours have a new puppy which is very sweet and I can watch it frolic in their garden from my study window. Adorable. For some reason it reminded me of Pavlov’s Dog…and Eddie Izzard and Pavlov’s Cat.  Enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Stop Press

I wrote my blog before I went to bed last night and this morning woke to amazing news!  

The government has provided 1.57 BILLION dollars for Arts and Culture.  Oliver Dowden the Culture Minister says the package is all “new money” which intends to support  “crown jewel” venues like the Royal Albert Hall and the National Galleries but also will help local groups  across the UK.  The scheme includes grants and loans and those bodies applying will have to provide evidence as to how they will contribute to wider economic growth

This can only be good news for the beleaguered arts and cultural institutions large and small in this country. Mr. Dowden has done an excellent job that sees funding set at the higher end than was expected by some working in our arts institutions.

It wasn’t a dream!  The Arts have finally been included in recovery plans.  Hurrah!    Well done minister.  

Feest Isolation Days –3 July

After my walk in the woods earlier in the week, I  keep thinking about how much better I feel after being among the tall and luscious trees. New Zealand kauri trees have always brought a very special mood to the forests. I can feel a kauri tree before I see it.  The quiet ancient presence is pervasive.  The British trees exert a wonderful feeling too, but like different genres of music, some is excellent cool jazz and other trees are more like wonderful violin concertos.  But all trees seem to have a voice. According to the ecologist Suzanne Simard, not only do trees speak but they do so over long distances. Her work of over thirty years is like a song itself.  An uplifting few moments to be found on her much viewed Ted talk.

Sometimes people talk too much and say stupid things.  You wish you could just silence them.  One of those people who says stupid things most of the time is the current President. After weeks of saying wearing facemasks during the pandemic wasn’t something he endorsed, he finally did a big U turn.  Now he says, face masks are okay. But he reiterated that he did not think making face-coverings mandatory across the US was needed, because there are “many places in the country where people stay very long distance If people feel good about it they should do it.”

He says when he wears a mask it makes him look like the Lone Ranger.  He didn’t seem to notice that the Lone Ranger didn’t cover his mouth and nose but his eyes.  You can just see Trump’s followers wearing black eye patches instead of the appropriate gear, if they bother at all.

The virus, if it could speak just cheered! Not so the 50,000 plus people in the States who were tested positive with the disease yesterday.

Then there is true leadership.  Governor Cuomo of New York, noticing that too many people were not wearing their face coverings properly showed people how it’s done. “Don’t wear a chin guard wear a face mask,” He says. It’s the law.  He demonstrates the proper use of a facemask including making a self deprecating remark about his own nose and it sure made me smile.  What a guy!

 You are all very special.  Look after yourself!

With love,

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days – 2 July

It’s the small steps that you take that get you back into the world. Some days there are breakthroughs. Without especially planning it but letting it flow, I went for a walk and for the first time in over three months, I went into a shop.  I always said the first thing I would buy was going to be flowers.  And there they were. The Better Foods health food shop on Whiteladies Road, not far from our house keep flowers on the sidewalk.  Or pavement. Sometimes I can’t remember – American or British which is it sidewalk or pavement?  There were gorgeous, glorious lilies outside the door of the shop and I couldn’t resist.  They were forty per cent off the original price and I took the plunge. I picked up the lilies and went into the shop to pay for them. There were arrows on the floor telling me which direction I should walk and there was no one else in the shop.  The Perspex between the man at the till and me was comprehensive.  I hadn’t paid for anything out in the world for such a long time I had to stop and think how contactless payments worked.  Did I need my PIN number?  Oh dear what’s my PIN number?  No I didn’t need it. Contactless. The clue is in the word. You don’t have to touch the machine with your card to pay.  The lilies were only ten pounds. I told the nice young man behind the counter that it was the first shop I’d been in since March and he said he was delighted that I found such pretty flowers. He told me they looked like they were cut especially for me.  It was a strange and wonderful experience. Tiny steps. 

The rate of infection in Bristol is so minimal we must begin to ease our lockdown.  There have only been10 cases in the past week.  These tiny steps are continuing. We are going to have dinner with friends in their house in the next few weeks. Like us, they have been scrupulous.  We will socially distance and be cautious. But we will soon be together. In a home. With great friends.

After a socially distanced walk with a friend in Ashton Court, a lovely wooded area of Bristol, we went to the outside café which was serving drinks and small items of wrapped food. I bought a cup of tea.  There were marks on the ground telling customers where we should stand, hand sanitizer before we went to the window to order and collect, and a large Perspex window between the woman who made my tea and me.  Again, contactless payment meant we never touched.  Drinking the tea sitting on the grass as my friend and I chatted away felt so utterly and completely normal.  A woman  passed us by with a much older woman and the younger woman called out “Mother! Avoid these people, go further away.”  Her mother hadn’t got the idea of socially distancing, but she was in good hands. Her daughter sorted her out. 

These easing moments are all so special. They make it seem as though  life is slowly beginning to return to something we recognise and remember. Let’s hope there are many more moments like this.  We aren’t there yet, but we are getting somewhere. 

Things will open up – but until then… Be safe, socially distance, wash your hands, and enjoy!

With love

Kathy x

Feest Isolation Days –1 July

Pointless. That’s the game show on the BBC at the time we used to watch the Downing Street press briefings. Now why does that make me snicker?

Leicester is being locked down again. Shops that were intending to open on Saturday will remain closed. A hairdressers with five weeks of bookings will have to stay shut.  The city is responsible for ten per cent of the current cases in England.  The virus spike there is apparently being carried by children as well as adults so the schools are closed to all but key workers. 

Once more there are suggestions from some quarters that the government took too long to respond.  Boris and his boys must have been polishing up their Whack a Mole hammers.  When Boris told us he was easing lockdown he said we were moving into whack a mole…hit the virus wherever it appeared.  In the commons, the Shadow Health Secretary said “those areas that do see flare-ups will need greater speed in the response, otherwise we risk no moles getting whacked.”  Doesn’t that analogy fill you with confidence?

The weather continues to pretend it’s winter outside and we pull on sweaters and turn the heat back on as the wind blows and the rain lashes down intermittently. The dark skies are not fun.  I can’t imagine how we are going to manage living with this virus in the winter. Will we not have anyone in the house for months to come?  It’s hard to imagine so we won’t do any worrying about that now. The sun will come out again and we have a good chance of a lot more summer to come before we have to think about that.

Terry is meant to be fishing but the weather doesn’t seem to be obliging so it looks like we will have to make do with the fish cakes that are in the freezer which are the leftovers from last week’s catch.

I need something witty and timely today to help me make fun of the craziness in the world…Step up step up Randy Rainbow!  Enjoy….

🎶Don't spread droplets all over the place, just cover your freakin' face🎶 #CoverYourFreakinFace #WearAMask 😷🙄 pic.twitter.com/KsdLbrkRkj

— Randy Rainbow (@RandyRainbow) June 29, 2020

With love,

Kathy x