There were no messages this week. Perhaps, like the Archers (now also in lock-down) we were on a cliff-hanger, waiting for Margaret's return home. Perhaps it simply echoes the decline in Covid-19 infections. Let's hope that the picking up of messages in week 13 does not reflect the arrival of a second wave. Work hard on keeping your reproduction rate down, everyone!
Week
13 8-14 June
Jane
8 June 2020
Greetings to all from St Andrews and especially to Margaret - I hope you get home safely today and all
goes well.
I am not sure when I last
reported in but all continues here much as before with increasing boredom and fury
added. The two students who returned to the cottage nextdoor finally departed a
week ago presumably when their tenancy came to an end. Having said they had
come to 'clear the cottage' one of the girls did that in the last two days, and
the previous 14 were spent entertaining their friends in the garden. One had
come from London - but If DC could go to Durham , presumably coming to Scotland
I was looking forward to
having friends round for coffee in the garden once O. N. allowed it - then the
weather broke. But blackbirds have visited instead. One chick must have decided
to explore and hopped down the 4 steps into the back yard but could not get
back up. I persuaded him into a bucket and put him back into the shrubbery
where mother appeared immediately with a mouthful of snacks. Now she appears
every time I go into the garden and waits for porridge to be thrown on the
grass. Then a male appears for some - but they fly off with beakfuls to
different gardens. And yesterday two other males appeared but were chased off.
So I am not at all sure of their nesting arrangements!
We also have a grey
squirrel who visits occasionally, steals all the bird food, and intimidates all
but the wood pigeons who in turn try to sneak up behind the blackbirds to steal
their porridge. From all these nature notes you may have gathered that we spend
some time in the garden and are grateful for it - pre-lunch sherry, afternoon
cup of tea, and once last week the pre-dinner drink but it started to
rain immediately we settled down so we retired to our 'garden room' and
still the blackbirds expected to be fed. I turned my back to get the porridge
one afternoon and the male bird was up on the table eyeing my piece of fruit
cake. I have reported the squirrel sighting online to some organisation which
seemed interested in having records but I suspect that they are interested only
in sightings of reds, of which there is said to be one on the other side of St Andrews . Occasionally I do some gardening too.
Last week I bought a
jigsaw from the Postscript catalogue which has provided a different activity.
But as I have found 14 duplicate bits so far, I wonder if the picture will
ever be complete. The books they sell don't usually lack pages so one would
hope it would be the same for jigsaws. We shall see - in about a week's time as
it is a 1,000 piece and David does no 'do' jigsaws.
But it's back to
rum-running research now. I have also found proof of grandfather's
shipping agency going bust 6 months before he turned up in St Pierre and Miquelon so there is another gap to fill.
Love to all, Jane
Anne 9 June 2020
Thanks, Jane, for your news especially
the nature notes. I have also been watching the birds in my garden and can
report that I have several happy families: blackbirds, great tits, sparrows,
all with plump. greedy babies, also greenfinches visiting regularly, and, to my
delight, a bird I had never seen before and had to look it up in my bird book,
a hawfinch. Also, a few weeks ago when the road was quieter than it is now, I
happened to look out of the kitchen window at 8.30 am and saw a deer calmly
trotting down the road! Only 1 car on the road and that was driving very slowly
behind the animal.
And now a quote for Jane. I
was just now browsing the BBC homepage and came across an item about P.G.
Wodehouse and how his books are fun and cheerful. This is one of several quotes
from P.G.W.
It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman (read Scotswoman!) with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.
Thought for the day!
Take care, and Margaret, hope
you are now enjoying being back at home after such a long absence.
Anne
Lesley, 10 June 2020
Hello everyone,
Not much to report from this dead-end glen so just sharing two video links:-
While we're on the subject of birds, my sister sent me this link, which may take you away from the current cacophony of political voices!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXD4h5w8D8&feature=youtu.be
On YouTube ShakeUp Music recomposed the Magic Flute "Papageno/Papagena" Duet into a colorful Mozart bird aria - an audiovisual Twitterstorm performed by our feathered friends.
Made us smile, so hope it does you too. And, its compiled in Germany, Anne...take a well deserved bow.
And finally, if you've still a stomach for wild life, the link below is a compilation of photos taken by our neighbour living a mile up the glen, of 'our glen', Strathconon. It's about 6 minutes long and 'our patch' is the 'middle part' of the glen, (Milton or Mill town), where most of us live, appears in his compilation between 4.26minutes to 5.73 minutes in the 6 minute total. All the animals and birds, included at various points, are part of our daily walks and lives.
https://www.facebook.com/681000982046872/posts/1620706294742998/
We expect to have another 12-24 months in this rental home before sorting out where we'll finally 'rest our heads'!
Warm wishes to everyone, Lesley
Ian 10 June 2020
Hello Everyone
I've been following the emails over the past weeks with a mixture of interest and amusement, on tenterhooks as to when Margaret will finally get back home, full of admiration at everyone's activities and achievements during lock-down and starting to see light of some sort at the end of the tunnel, even if that tunnel is 12,000 miles long and ends in New Zealand. Anyway, I have pulled the threads together once again with blogs for weeks ten, eleven, and twelve and thirteen combined as for the first time there were no blogs over a week during 1-7 June. Week 13 is of course work in progress and will be updated.
Well, life is starting to return to the "new normal" in a ramshackle, disjointed, confusing, ill-considered sort of way. With garden waste piling up and the tips re-opening, we ventured a trip in Modestine last week, loading her up with ten sacks, only to arrive as they announced that it was about to close for half an hour - could we come back later, please, as queuing on the streets was not allowed. We twiddled our thumbs in a quiet corner of the trading estate where the tip was located and returned, delighted to be almost at the head of the queue. This delight soon evaporated when the man on duty pointed to a notice. "Line 4!" he barked. Line four said that vans were not allowed. Unmoved when we said that Modestine was our only vehicle and was registered as a car, he forced us to do a three-point turn - with DC fresh in our minds we did not want to argue over possible infringements of the spirit of lock-down. That however did not prevent us from recalling that there was another tip on the other side of town so we drove post-haste across the city centre, hoping to arrive before word got out that there was a potential fly-tipper on the loose. We arrived in time and there was no objection to us unloading our accumulated verdure into their skips. However, the incident prompted us to register with the council for garden waste collection. It proved that there was a waiting list for brown bins but yesterday a council van, disarmingly labelled "Denis the Dustcart" drew up outside with ten disposable sacks, so over the coming weeks we will gradually be filling them until our bin finally arrives.
And there will certainly be lots to dispose of. Clearing out the garage Jill discovered a large can of brewer's wort. It must be twenty years or more since we last made home brews, so we were reluctant to do so now, but we opened it cautiously. How to dispose of a glutinous mass of molasses which was starting to ferment? I decided as an experiment to dilute it in the rainwater butt and feed it gradually to our vegetables. They love it - admittedly the runner beans are confused over which way to wind round the poles, but our fifty butternut squash plants are finally starting to grow. If it is successful, we will be writing it up for Gardener's World.
Kate's two have started back at pre-school and school but only two days a week. Neil's two will not start until September. Both families work from home and are home-schooling, so parents have their hands full. When not in the garden I work on my various bibliographical projects. I even unearthed a manuscript on the Aztec codices I compiled in secret when my parents thought I was revising for A-levels almost sixty years ago. Jill looks through our travel blogs of the past 15 years, suggesting some that might help people travel vicariously. Some of you are separately circulated with these messages but a blog from Budapest she sent out today following the toppling of the statue of James Colston in Bristol may be of wider interest - her suggestion that there should be a sculpture park to house these monuments to the nation's shame has aroused much thought-provoking feedback.
The ripples of protest have even lapped up the Exe Estuary. I have become involved in the movement to rename Blackboy Road in Exeter, looking through early maps to see when the name is first recorded and what it was called earlier. On a selfish note, we hope that these quite understandable mass protests do not cause a second wave of Covid-19 - that could cause a back-lash that could make matters even worse. In the end, ALL lives matter. [Since writing this I was gutted to find this slogan being used by the Trump-supporting right in the USA - paerhaps it should be rephrased: Every life matters]
This all seems to have got rather heavy, so I will close wishing you all well.
Stay safe, everyone, Ian
Margaret, 10 June 2020
Hello from Rowland Close - yes, I am home again after 4 months as a patient in St Lukes.
I came here in a wheelchair taxi to find Jo, my neighbour, with 2 other women by my front door ready to welcome me - nice! That was Monday afternoon so I am still adjusting to being back in my own home but it does feel good.
My mobility is very limited so I have a live- in carer. She is called Juliana and hails from Cameroon. I think I have got a good one as she combines efficiency with compassion and is a super cook. As I cant cope with stairs I am living on the ground floor in the garden room with access to essential facilities. I considered having a stair lift and may have to get one but we will see how things work out.
I hear Juliana coming down the stairs so will sign off but I wanted you to know my big news.
Love from Margaret
Janet 10 June 2020
Dear Margaret
That is wonderful news. How relieved you must feel. I am so happy for you.
Love, Janet.
Lesley 10 June 2020
Margaret, wonderful to hear this good start. Keep being kind to yourself and gradually you’ll love being back home.
Lesley
Sylvia 10 June 2020
I was "Zooming" with my choir when your email arrived, Margaret and I haven't yet had time to read anyone else's email, but I just wanted to say how thrilled I am that you're home, albeit a week later than originally planned! I will get in touch properly soon, but now have to zoom off to talk to my daughter. It's all go, folks!
Love to all, Sylvia
Pat, 10 June 2020
Very good to hear that you are home Margaret, and that you have a carer that you get on with. Long may she stay with you.
Yes, Ian, Bristol hit the national news this week with the bringing down of the Edward Colston statue and the dumping of it in the docks. Apparently the council are going to fish it out and display it in its damaged state in a city museum. A group of historians are going to discuss on the council’s behalf what should happen to the remaining plinth, not to mention the question of whether the Colston Hall, Colston School and Colston Street should be renamed. Then you think of other monuments in other cities and towns commemorating our colonial history and it opens up a veritable can of worms. I was glad Edward Colston came down but the possible wider implications could be challenging.
I haven’t looked at recent-submitted videos yet, but just to add to the birdy theme I love watching the activity on feeders from my bedroom window every morning and I also often find myself spying on my son throwing handfuls of seed from his seat in the greenhouse. He has two pigeon friends which he has named Rosie and Jim, and then there’s Cyril the squirrel who comes running along the fence to get his share. I have squirrel-proof feeders but not a squirrel-averse son.🐿
I’m soft with him as he’s been in South Australia for more than a decade and maybe seeing squirrels in one’s garden is a bit of a novelty to him.
Whilst my garden is looking relatively well-worked due to the 12 week slog and counting, the house has been turned upside down. That same son has been given time off work to “shield” me and has been using the time to enlarge a bedroom by taking out the old airing cupboard that jutted into it. Not to mention a wardrobe, book shelves and furniture, now occupying other rooms. No replacement homes yet found for the books or the clothes and completion is now on hold as there is a national shortage of plasterboard and plaster. Old alarm system ripped out and new system promised for Friday, to include CCTV cameras. Now there’s the exciting bit. Maybe I’ll capture a badger in its tracks before I write again or catch the sods who uprooted the violas and pansies that were growing in pots outside the front of my house.
Much love and good wishes to all, Pat
Sylvia, 11 June 2020
It sounds as though most of us are coping with lockdown in fairly similar ways - keeping up with garden and household chores, as well as catching up with long-overdue tasks. When lockdown started and our local tip closed, I ordered, and got, a brown bin quite quickly. They collect the garden rubbish fortnightly and I've always managed to fill it, which, as those of you who know my very small garden will realise, is because I'm hacking back many of my shrubs and small trees, while at the same time avoiding those where birds nest. There's still a long way to go, as I will start on the rest once nesting is over. At the moment, I can't use the awning which shades my patio, as sparrows are nesting immediately above it. Our current weather makes that less of an issue. Although, depending on which weather website I look at, rain is forecast at some point over the next few days, we haven't seen any of it yet, and Hereford being in the lee of the Black Mountains, it often misses us altogether. When I checked this morning, 2 radar pictures on 2 different websites showed the rain come from 2 opposing directions and it could still miss us!! Everything is very parched and the February floods are distant memories.
Helen, my daughter, and I had a long chat last night about the changes in the rules for single people. Visiting Chris, my son, in Hertfordshire is out of the question because of the distance and them having a houseful anyway, but visiting Helen in Church Stretton, and/or them coming to me, is a definite possibility. However, we've agreed that we won't rush into things. Covid cases are still rising here with the rate of increase higher than in the rest of the country, and Shropshire is much the same. We've always said our sleep old county is behind on everything and Covid is no different, so we'll play a waiting game.
Ian, I must tell my son-in-law about the brewer's wort. He used to make homebrew and being the hoarder that he is, he could well have a can somewhere. Love the thought of the runner beans getting confused. Do you think they'll have a faint flavour of beer? It reminds me of the Flanders and Swann song about the honeysuckle and the bindweed. Hope they don't "grow straight up and fall flat on their face"!
I, too have been watching the fledglings in my garden. The young blackbirds have been driven off now, but I think the parents are building a new nest. I have very mixed feelings about the pile of feathers I found on the lawn yesterday. I didn't see it, but it would almost certainly have been a sparrowhawk which I have seen in the past and although it was upsetting to watch, they are magnificent in their defiance in that they won't be deterred from their feast.
Oh well, I'd better go and prepare for a new day, but before I go, is anyone else getting an aborted message for Tony Hall? It tells me my message has been rejected "due to poor sender reputation"!! As I'm the poor sender, I'm taking it personally! Rather than using the "Reply All" button, I'm going to put in my own group email addresses this time to see if that works better.
Love to all, Sylvia
Angela 11 June 2020
Hello Margaret and welcome home! It's great news that you finally made it home! As we said when we spoke last week, it will feel very strange for a while but very good news that you have a good carer and seeing your neighbour's and friends will be such a treat. Also being able to do what you want when you want! Take it easy and enjoy the garden.
Love, Ange
Sylvia, 11 June 2020
P.S. Margaret, as agreed last week when we spoke, I'll await a call from you when you feel you're more settled into your new way of life. I'm so pleased that you feel that Juliana has been the right choice for you. Just sorry that the weather has changed just when you must have been looking forward to sitting in your own garden.
Love, Sylvia
Sue, 13 June 2020
Hi All
Very many thanks for all the messages - glad to hear that you are all coping so well as things loosen up ever so slightly. But I can sympathise with your reluctance to stray too far, Sylvia.
Lovely trip to Scotland via that facebook link, Lesley; it will be some time before we can be anything but virtual tourists, so it was a real treat. Neil especially enjoyed it as it reminded him of the scenery around the Kindrogan Field Centre visited with some sixth formers way back in the mid-1960s. Best wishes with the house-hunting, Lesley.
Yes, I share your concerns, Ian, about the infection consequences of the protest marches, it would be especially sad if the subsequent spikes hit hardest amongst the black community. Here in NZ there is a parallel look at the statues and place names from the colonial era. I would have to say that visiting the Waikato, probably 30 years ago, I was taken aback by the monuments listing the "gallant dead" of the colonial militia on Land War memorials with no balancing reference to the Maori dead. Some of our place names do commemorate some quite unpleasant characters, though often their worst crimes were committed elsewhere and in later life. I recall being embarrassed by our first address over here "Whitemans Valley Road" until I was told that there was an early settler with the unfortunate name of Charlie Whiteman. All of these
references to slave trading and oppression makes your family history of rum-running seem positively benign, Jane.
Love the quote, Anne!
Having allowed in some film makers, NZ has now allowed in some America's Cup yachties and their families; supposedly this will generate cash as the boats get developed and perhaps built here; I hope they all respect the quarantining rules ...
I'd better add some nature notes. Getting some sharp frosts followed by fine days, but mid-winter is nearly here. Still far to much to be done in the garden. But our fantails enjoy flitting around us, and acrobatically catching insects we disturb with our pruning etc, chattering away as they do so. And I've just optimistically set the possum trap, which will horrify your son, Pat, but as far as NZ is concerned, the only good possum is either dead or in Australia.
Great to hear that you are safely home, Margaret; what a great welcome!
Take care, all of you - Love, Sue
Hello everyone,
Not much to report from this dead-end glen so just sharing two video links:-
While we're on the subject of birds, my sister sent me this link, which may take you away from the current cacophony of political voices!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMXD4h5w8D8&feature=youtu.be
On YouTube ShakeUp Music recomposed the Magic Flute "Papageno/Papagena" Duet into a colorful Mozart bird aria - an audiovisual Twitterstorm performed by our feathered friends.
Made us smile, so hope it does you too. And, its compiled in Germany, Anne...take a well deserved bow.
And finally, if you've still a stomach for wild life, the link below is a compilation of photos taken by our neighbour living a mile up the glen, of 'our glen', Strathconon. It's about 6 minutes long and 'our patch' is the 'middle part' of the glen, (Milton or Mill town), where most of us live, appears in his compilation between 4.26minutes to 5.73 minutes in the 6 minute total. All the animals and birds, included at various points, are part of our daily walks and lives.
https://www.facebook.com/681000982046872/posts/1620706294742998/
We expect to have another 12-24 months in this rental home before sorting out where we'll finally 'rest our heads'!
Warm wishes to everyone, Lesley
Ian 10 June 2020
Hello Everyone
I've been following the emails over the past weeks with a mixture of interest and amusement, on tenterhooks as to when Margaret will finally get back home, full of admiration at everyone's activities and achievements during lock-down and starting to see light of some sort at the end of the tunnel, even if that tunnel is 12,000 miles long and ends in New Zealand. Anyway, I have pulled the threads together once again with blogs for weeks ten, eleven, and twelve and thirteen combined as for the first time there were no blogs over a week during 1-7 June. Week 13 is of course work in progress and will be updated.
Well, life is starting to return to the "new normal" in a ramshackle, disjointed, confusing, ill-considered sort of way. With garden waste piling up and the tips re-opening, we ventured a trip in Modestine last week, loading her up with ten sacks, only to arrive as they announced that it was about to close for half an hour - could we come back later, please, as queuing on the streets was not allowed. We twiddled our thumbs in a quiet corner of the trading estate where the tip was located and returned, delighted to be almost at the head of the queue. This delight soon evaporated when the man on duty pointed to a notice. "Line 4!" he barked. Line four said that vans were not allowed. Unmoved when we said that Modestine was our only vehicle and was registered as a car, he forced us to do a three-point turn - with DC fresh in our minds we did not want to argue over possible infringements of the spirit of lock-down. That however did not prevent us from recalling that there was another tip on the other side of town so we drove post-haste across the city centre, hoping to arrive before word got out that there was a potential fly-tipper on the loose. We arrived in time and there was no objection to us unloading our accumulated verdure into their skips. However, the incident prompted us to register with the council for garden waste collection. It proved that there was a waiting list for brown bins but yesterday a council van, disarmingly labelled "Denis the Dustcart" drew up outside with ten disposable sacks, so over the coming weeks we will gradually be filling them until our bin finally arrives.
And there will certainly be lots to dispose of. Clearing out the garage Jill discovered a large can of brewer's wort. It must be twenty years or more since we last made home brews, so we were reluctant to do so now, but we opened it cautiously. How to dispose of a glutinous mass of molasses which was starting to ferment? I decided as an experiment to dilute it in the rainwater butt and feed it gradually to our vegetables. They love it - admittedly the runner beans are confused over which way to wind round the poles, but our fifty butternut squash plants are finally starting to grow. If it is successful, we will be writing it up for Gardener's World.
Kate's two have started back at pre-school and school but only two days a week. Neil's two will not start until September. Both families work from home and are home-schooling, so parents have their hands full. When not in the garden I work on my various bibliographical projects. I even unearthed a manuscript on the Aztec codices I compiled in secret when my parents thought I was revising for A-levels almost sixty years ago. Jill looks through our travel blogs of the past 15 years, suggesting some that might help people travel vicariously. Some of you are separately circulated with these messages but a blog from Budapest she sent out today following the toppling of the statue of James Colston in Bristol may be of wider interest - her suggestion that there should be a sculpture park to house these monuments to the nation's shame has aroused much thought-provoking feedback.
The ripples of protest have even lapped up the Exe Estuary. I have become involved in the movement to rename Blackboy Road in Exeter, looking through early maps to see when the name is first recorded and what it was called earlier. On a selfish note, we hope that these quite understandable mass protests do not cause a second wave of Covid-19 - that could cause a back-lash that could make matters even worse. In the end, ALL lives matter. [Since writing this I was gutted to find this slogan being used by the Trump-supporting right in the USA - paerhaps it should be rephrased: Every life matters]
This all seems to have got rather heavy, so I will close wishing you all well.
Stay safe, everyone, Ian
Margaret, 10 June 2020
Hello from Rowland Close - yes, I am home again after 4 months as a patient in St Lukes.
I came here in a wheelchair taxi to find Jo, my neighbour, with 2 other women by my front door ready to welcome me - nice! That was Monday afternoon so I am still adjusting to being back in my own home but it does feel good.
My mobility is very limited so I have a live- in carer. She is called Juliana and hails from Cameroon. I think I have got a good one as she combines efficiency with compassion and is a super cook. As I cant cope with stairs I am living on the ground floor in the garden room with access to essential facilities. I considered having a stair lift and may have to get one but we will see how things work out.
I hear Juliana coming down the stairs so will sign off but I wanted you to know my big news.
Love from Margaret
Janet 10 June 2020
Dear Margaret
That is wonderful news. How relieved you must feel. I am so happy for you.
Love, Janet.
Lesley 10 June 2020
Margaret, wonderful to hear this good start. Keep being kind to yourself and gradually you’ll love being back home.
Lesley
Sylvia 10 June 2020
I was "Zooming" with my choir when your email arrived, Margaret and I haven't yet had time to read anyone else's email, but I just wanted to say how thrilled I am that you're home, albeit a week later than originally planned! I will get in touch properly soon, but now have to zoom off to talk to my daughter. It's all go, folks!
Love to all, Sylvia
Pat, 10 June 2020
Very good to hear that you are home Margaret, and that you have a carer that you get on with. Long may she stay with you.
Yes, Ian, Bristol hit the national news this week with the bringing down of the Edward Colston statue and the dumping of it in the docks. Apparently the council are going to fish it out and display it in its damaged state in a city museum. A group of historians are going to discuss on the council’s behalf what should happen to the remaining plinth, not to mention the question of whether the Colston Hall, Colston School and Colston Street should be renamed. Then you think of other monuments in other cities and towns commemorating our colonial history and it opens up a veritable can of worms. I was glad Edward Colston came down but the possible wider implications could be challenging.
I haven’t looked at recent-submitted videos yet, but just to add to the birdy theme I love watching the activity on feeders from my bedroom window every morning and I also often find myself spying on my son throwing handfuls of seed from his seat in the greenhouse. He has two pigeon friends which he has named Rosie and Jim, and then there’s Cyril the squirrel who comes running along the fence to get his share. I have squirrel-proof feeders but not a squirrel-averse son.🐿
I’m soft with him as he’s been in South Australia for more than a decade and maybe seeing squirrels in one’s garden is a bit of a novelty to him.
Whilst my garden is looking relatively well-worked due to the 12 week slog and counting, the house has been turned upside down. That same son has been given time off work to “shield” me and has been using the time to enlarge a bedroom by taking out the old airing cupboard that jutted into it. Not to mention a wardrobe, book shelves and furniture, now occupying other rooms. No replacement homes yet found for the books or the clothes and completion is now on hold as there is a national shortage of plasterboard and plaster. Old alarm system ripped out and new system promised for Friday, to include CCTV cameras. Now there’s the exciting bit. Maybe I’ll capture a badger in its tracks before I write again or catch the sods who uprooted the violas and pansies that were growing in pots outside the front of my house.
Much love and good wishes to all, Pat
Sylvia, 11 June 2020
It sounds as though most of us are coping with lockdown in fairly similar ways - keeping up with garden and household chores, as well as catching up with long-overdue tasks. When lockdown started and our local tip closed, I ordered, and got, a brown bin quite quickly. They collect the garden rubbish fortnightly and I've always managed to fill it, which, as those of you who know my very small garden will realise, is because I'm hacking back many of my shrubs and small trees, while at the same time avoiding those where birds nest. There's still a long way to go, as I will start on the rest once nesting is over. At the moment, I can't use the awning which shades my patio, as sparrows are nesting immediately above it. Our current weather makes that less of an issue. Although, depending on which weather website I look at, rain is forecast at some point over the next few days, we haven't seen any of it yet, and Hereford being in the lee of the Black Mountains, it often misses us altogether. When I checked this morning, 2 radar pictures on 2 different websites showed the rain come from 2 opposing directions and it could still miss us!! Everything is very parched and the February floods are distant memories.
Helen, my daughter, and I had a long chat last night about the changes in the rules for single people. Visiting Chris, my son, in Hertfordshire is out of the question because of the distance and them having a houseful anyway, but visiting Helen in Church Stretton, and/or them coming to me, is a definite possibility. However, we've agreed that we won't rush into things. Covid cases are still rising here with the rate of increase higher than in the rest of the country, and Shropshire is much the same. We've always said our sleep old county is behind on everything and Covid is no different, so we'll play a waiting game.
Ian, I must tell my son-in-law about the brewer's wort. He used to make homebrew and being the hoarder that he is, he could well have a can somewhere. Love the thought of the runner beans getting confused. Do you think they'll have a faint flavour of beer? It reminds me of the Flanders and Swann song about the honeysuckle and the bindweed. Hope they don't "grow straight up and fall flat on their face"!
I, too have been watching the fledglings in my garden. The young blackbirds have been driven off now, but I think the parents are building a new nest. I have very mixed feelings about the pile of feathers I found on the lawn yesterday. I didn't see it, but it would almost certainly have been a sparrowhawk which I have seen in the past and although it was upsetting to watch, they are magnificent in their defiance in that they won't be deterred from their feast.
Oh well, I'd better go and prepare for a new day, but before I go, is anyone else getting an aborted message for Tony Hall? It tells me my message has been rejected "due to poor sender reputation"!! As I'm the poor sender, I'm taking it personally! Rather than using the "Reply All" button, I'm going to put in my own group email addresses this time to see if that works better.
Love to all, Sylvia
Angela 11 June 2020
Hello Margaret and welcome home! It's great news that you finally made it home! As we said when we spoke last week, it will feel very strange for a while but very good news that you have a good carer and seeing your neighbour's and friends will be such a treat. Also being able to do what you want when you want! Take it easy and enjoy the garden.
Love, Ange
Sylvia, 11 June 2020
P.S. Margaret, as agreed last week when we spoke, I'll await a call from you when you feel you're more settled into your new way of life. I'm so pleased that you feel that Juliana has been the right choice for you. Just sorry that the weather has changed just when you must have been looking forward to sitting in your own garden.
Love, Sylvia
Sue, 13 June 2020
Hi All
Very many thanks for all the messages - glad to hear that you are all coping so well as things loosen up ever so slightly. But I can sympathise with your reluctance to stray too far, Sylvia.
Lovely trip to Scotland via that facebook link, Lesley; it will be some time before we can be anything but virtual tourists, so it was a real treat. Neil especially enjoyed it as it reminded him of the scenery around the Kindrogan Field Centre visited with some sixth formers way back in the mid-1960s. Best wishes with the house-hunting, Lesley.
Yes, I share your concerns, Ian, about the infection consequences of the protest marches, it would be especially sad if the subsequent spikes hit hardest amongst the black community. Here in NZ there is a parallel look at the statues and place names from the colonial era. I would have to say that visiting the Waikato, probably 30 years ago, I was taken aback by the monuments listing the "gallant dead" of the colonial militia on Land War memorials with no balancing reference to the Maori dead. Some of our place names do commemorate some quite unpleasant characters, though often their worst crimes were committed elsewhere and in later life. I recall being embarrassed by our first address over here "Whitemans Valley Road" until I was told that there was an early settler with the unfortunate name of Charlie Whiteman. All of these
references to slave trading and oppression makes your family history of rum-running seem positively benign, Jane.
Love the quote, Anne!
Having allowed in some film makers, NZ has now allowed in some America's Cup yachties and their families; supposedly this will generate cash as the boats get developed and perhaps built here; I hope they all respect the quarantining rules ...
I'd better add some nature notes. Getting some sharp frosts followed by fine days, but mid-winter is nearly here. Still far to much to be done in the garden. But our fantails enjoy flitting around us, and acrobatically catching insects we disturb with our pruning etc, chattering away as they do so. And I've just optimistically set the possum trap, which will horrify your son, Pat, but as far as NZ is concerned, the only good possum is either dead or in Australia.
Great to hear that you are safely home, Margaret; what a great welcome!
Take care, all of you - Love, Sue
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