Feest Isolation Days – 13 January 2021
The temperature has finally reached double digits! It makes such a difference. We are expecting three days of this weather and then the cold blasts will return. The garden is all tucked up and yet there is still something that blooms and reminds us that not everything is asleep. The hellebores are lovely! They are also known as the Christmas rose and bloom at this wintry time of the year. We don’t see the splendour of their flowers normally because we are usually in New Zealand when they are flowering.
Hellebores might seem like they might make some good nosh for animals in the winter as they are attractive, but fortunately, they are inedible! All parts of the plants produce a toxic alkaloid so are not munched.
The pussy willows are also beginning to shoot on the willow in the front garden. They are soft and delicate and sweet.
The birds didn’t seem to like the cold freezing weather anymore than we did. This morning they are chirping away as though they belonged to a choir. It really is a very different sound than we’ve heard for ages. They better not be complacent though as winter isn’t over yet. The days are beginning to get a tiny bit longer. It gets dark at 4:30ish instead of by 4:00. Before we know it we will have light until five in the evening!
We are all spending much more time on our screens and devices and have been warned by the ophthalmologists that we are doing our eyes no favours. Apparently we all need to follow the 20-20-20 rule. The ophthalmologists say so! No, I never heard of it before either! They suggest that for every 20 minutes you stare at a screen, you should look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. I’m not sure I do that every twenty minutes, but I do look out over the garden often when I’m at my desk. For now I can stare at the hellebores. How about you? What can you stare at? Perhaps we had all better do this. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s usage on my iPad is up. I get an update ever Sunday to tell me how much screen time I’ve done on it in the past seven days. Last week was 45 percent up on the previous week! I was scouring the net looking for Trump information and watching a great deal more than I usually do. I also played more words with friends games. That doesn’t even take into account all the time on my phone or main computer! Good to know that 20-20-20 will help my eye stop twitching! Now that I have got through the shock of the goings on in America, I can tell already my screen time and my pulse rate is back to where it should be. Good to identify what it is that causes us to go into overdrive.
Here in the UK we are thrilled with the government roll out of the vaccine. It would appear that they have got it sorted. Boris was in Bristol yesterday at one of the seven new mega centres that have been set up around the country to vaccinate. There are already people moaning and complaining about aspects of the campaign but in my book they have a lot to be congratulated for. The UK has vaccinated more people so far than most of the rest of Europe combined. In France only 38% of the population intend to take up the vaccine! They have much work to do in convincing people that science is the answer. We won’t be stepping into France any time soon. When did science become so distrusted? Jenner would be turning in his grave.
Some of the population may be relying too heavily on the roll out of the vaccine as people continue to flout the rules. It isn’t time to let up! The hospitals are swamped with patients and the new variant is rampant. There are no ITU beds East of Bristol. It’s the time to stay firm and follow the rules. If they aren’t followed they will be tightened and the enforcement is about to become much more pronounced. People continue to be much more cavalier than they ought to be. Hang on! Not long now. Spring is coming, the vaccines are being rolled out and we will get there. But we aren’t there yet.
Stay safe. Keep up the good work and look away from your screens a bit more! Get in those gardens while the “warm” weather is with us!
With love,
Kathy x