Feest Isolation Days – 3 September
The drive beyond Llanthony to reach Hay Bluff remains one of the most wonderful in the country. We stopped at Llanthony priory on our journey last week and I was disappointed that the Splendid St. David’s church was shut. Covid closed it. It’s been standing since the 12th century. It got me thinking. How many pandemics have there been since then?
1350 – Black Death or bubonic plague arrived which decimated one third of the world’s population. It was caused by a bacterium.
1665 – Bubonic plague returns to kill 20% of Londoners. (Just as it was ending in 1666 the great fire of London began)
1817 – The first major cholera epidemic began caused by a bacterium and millions died in Russia and India and then throughout the world
1855 – Bubonic plague returns to China and India and 15 million die
1918 – The Spanish flu kills 50 million people – a virus
1957 – Asian flu kills 14,000 people – a virus
1981 – HIV – Aids 35 million people die – a virus
2003 – Sars 774 people die – a virus
20019 -Covid19 – 861,251 have died world wide – to date – from this virus
These all seem good reasons to visit peaceful and serene places. Over the years we’ve been to Llanthony many times. We have never seen so many cars and people there before! People parked everywhere all along the roadside as well as on the grass, presumably eager to take advantage of the great walking nearby. Like us, they were having a staycation I suspect. The little road over Hay Bluff was filled with cyclists. Many of them looked like they hadn’t been riding that long. Maybe, like me, they got a new bike during lockdown. They weren’t wearing much lycra, but then like us they were mostly not young either.
When we got into Hay, we found a place outside for a cuppa, and also managed to shop in two of the more than twenty book shops in the town. Sanitizer stations greeted us at the front door and masks were worn by everyone. If customers didn’t arrive with a mask on, they were politely handed a mask before they went any further. Routes were taped out and entrances and exits were one way only. Both shops felt very safe. They both had squeaky wooden floors so you could hear someone coming your way from more than an aisle away. It didn’t take long to get lost in books! I only found one book on my first trawl. It didn’t seem enough.
After a comfortable night we headed out into the book world of Hay again the next morning. We sat outside in the rain huddling under an umbrella drinking our tea and coffee and watching the world go by. We laughed a lot. What else does one do when the rain is dripping and the tables are running with water? Why would the café only put up one umbrella when it placed six tables outside? Is it a Welsh thing?
The town was packed. Lots of families with kids were braving the rain and wandering around the town. An all-day rain had set in. Another visit to the large bookshops again and we were set up for the afternoon. It stopped raining about five o’clock and we booted up and headed up and up on to Hay bluff – no not virtually! After a few miles of walking, the cobwebs were well and truly gone. Dinner and a cosy evening were well earned.
The rain the next day was intermittent again. Homeward meant driving through more rain but we did manage to have a picnic! We stopped at one of the many Welsh woodland places just as the rain stopped. Terry produced a huge plastic sheet from the car and we draped it over the sodden picnic table and scoffed our sandwiches. We managed a few miles through the woods before the skies opened up again.
Going away is important. It makes you aware how good home is! Despite the intermittent rain, and not being able to eat in a restaurant, we had a good break. Life on holiday is not the same as it once was. All the missing ingredients mean it is easier to tuck back into life at home once more.
Placing our pandemic in a list with so many that have occurred previously is somehow oddly reassuring. I do miss those closed churches. They too help put things in context. Good to know that even though they are closed for now, they are still standing. So are we. Make the most of it!
With love
Kathy x