Day One Hundred and Thirty-five

Feest Isolation Days – 27 July

The rain set in on Saturday and we busily set about doing…not a lot!  A rainy day is a great time to sort out the things that you never get round to or to just think about and continue to ignore them.

Did I tell you that the lovely woman who does our cleaning has returned?  I’m certain I must have mentioned it!  It’s such a wonderful step towards our normal.  I also had a phone call over the weekend from our amazing Claire who has been doing our ironing for nearly thirty years. Because she’s immuno-suppressed, she has been shielding since isolation begin.  Making tentative steps for us might be difficult, but she is really finding it tricky to get back to any kind of normal. I am delighted that she is going to make a start and do the ironing again.  She’ll collect it and take it home and then when she returns it, if she feels up to it, and confident enough we might have a socially distanced cuppa in the garden.  Coronavirus is not easy for anyone.

Swimming still seems off the agenda for now. I spoke to my club and asked what they had put into practice for the new opening of the pool.  Not a lot it would seem!  There is no booking system, the changing rooms are open and every other locker is in use.  That doesn’t seem enough to me. I was told that they were limiting the capacity and social distancing in the club.  That’s about it!  I might have to find another club. Then I remembered that I actually cancelled my membership in March.  I do miss my swimming, but I want to be safe. It should be one of the safest of sports if managed properly.

Meantime, one of the stories I wrote while we were in New Zealand last year, has been aired on the BBC!  I was well chuffed. You may have read it as it appeared in one of my musings.  After attending an online workshop where I was taught how to do these things, I uploaded my work to BBC Upload.  The BBC share these pieces with regional stations across the country.  Nice!  If you fancy a listen, here tis.  They did a nice job with the sound I thought. I recorded this sitting in a bedroom at the top of the house. 

People who travelled to Spain on Saturday were told they now have to quarantine for fourteen days when they return.  Shame that the Transport Minister, Grant Shapps didn’t know about this.  He left the country on Friday. And it was his department that made this new rule.  Spain has 900 new cases, so it seems a reasonable thing to have done, but how could the Minister not know?  Who made the decision?  Cummings?  As a labour MP said, you really can’t make it up!

Even bigger news, we have had our first dinner guests in the house since March! Our friends have been as scrupulous about Covid as we have and we have a big dining room table.  Plenty of space to spread out and the window can be opened to keep the air circulating.  Our normal is changing a little bit.  The dinner was great.  We chatted away from further away than we normally would and socially distanced with no hugs and close contact.  The food was excellent and the experience was almost normal.  Love it! 

For clarity… this is in Number Ten….NOT Chez Feest!

With love

Kathy x