Strange TImes

Seggimore Beck

Today it was announced that our village hall would be closing until further notice.  No more coffee mornings, dance sessions or bowls.   A small price to pay for staying safe.

Paul has been suffering from a nasty head cold so we have already been self isolating for a week.  Staying at home is not really a problem for us because our lifestyle, since we retired, has always centred around our garden and home.  And we have each other.  For some people the prospect of being confined at home, perhaps alone, must be very difficult indeed.

Youngest daughter, Kat, flew to Sydney just over a week ago to spend some time with her sister, Sarah.  She escaped the mandatory two weeks quarantine for new arrivals in Australia by the skin of her teeth.  Whether she will be able to get a flight home to the UK at the end of the month remains to be seen.  In the meantime the two sisters are escaping the crowds and the big city and heading south along the coast for a camping trip. 

This afternoon I took Rick out for his regular walk.  The village was very quiet.  The cherry blossom is out now and hundreds of daffodils were nodding their heads in the sunshine.  I saw a grey squirrel bounding along the lane and then we startled two hen pheasants that flew off making that distinct squawking and rattling noise.  Everything in the spring countryside seems as it should be.