The Lock-Down Diaries Day 8

Today I walked the dog...and didn't achieve much else, if I'm honest

I started the day late with a scratchy throat, headache and achey limbs. 

'Here we go then,' was my thought as Kitty and I walked, and I decided discretion was the better part of of valour as far as the trip to town I had planned, for essential supplies..

So Alistair went instead...and he has been busy coming and going and doing things all day, and is now out being a Samaritan - one of the few remaining activities allowed us...!)

I do feel better this evening though, so hopefully it was just a passing thing. I've chatted (on Skype, how 21c am I !) to my mate and finished making a few things, but all in a blah sort of way tbh

Here they are anyway...

See you tomorrow..I'll try to get out the right side of the bed !

The Lock-Down Diaries Day 7

Today I walked the dog...

...and wondered why I was humming:

"I'll never fall in love again..."

I get these random earworms and sometimes it takes some time to work out why.

So up the road we went and right round Kitty's Field, meeting a couple walking to Clarach and a vaguely familiar man with a lovely half-grown scrunchy white dog called Jaspar. On around and over the top of the golf-course...noticing as I go how dry it is getting up there, for the first time in months. 

I'm hobbling a bit...this isn't going to be a minor health-moan, I promise (I'm only too thankful for my generally robust good health)...

Bear with... for the last four or five days I have had a stiff neck, first on the left side, the moving slowly to the right, before dissipating. 

Yesterday and today I have had pain in my right hip, right in the ball and socket joint, and all this reminds me of a post viral thingy I had about twenty years ago...stress-related (and there was a considerable amount of that at the time) the pain would quite suddenly and viciously attack my right shoulder, or my left wrist, or one toe. And then move, overnight, to a different part of my body, or disappear completely, only to re-appear days later. It disappeared eventually, and didn't recur, even in the most stressful times, ten or even seven years ago.

For a long while un-named, these strange symptoms became almost a joke and we used to liken them, wryly, to the words of a favourite song of the time:

'I'm a celebrity with depression, anorexia -  and a mystery illness to make me even sexier'

Priceless rhyming, which probably wins the prize...the longtime contender had been the song from the sixties:

'What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia - after you do he'll never phone 'ya...I'll never fall in love again...'

Let that be a lesson to you...

Ho hum...random thoughts - I'll save the strange dreams about Samaritans and telephone-phobia for tomorrow then.

The Lock-Down Diaries Day 6

Today I walked the dog!

Hello, is anybody there?! How are you all surviving these strangest of all times?

I am reliably informed it is a Sunday, so Kitty and I took our headphones with us as usual, to catch up with The Archers Omnibus while walking. In the world that is Ambridge, life continues as normal - well, what passes for 'normal'...

(*spoiler alert* - wicked gang-master posing as suitable prospective husband for poor Kirsty!)

We know full well that the Archers catches up with world events a day or two late usually - but seriously? Down The Bull? Clubbing with your sibs? Visiting someone in hospital?

Not a sign of the virus ANYWHERE!

Colder and sunny this morning, and up we went to the deserted golf-course, to enjoy the air and the view...surely among the best in the world. I can see why people take up golf...no, actually I can't, but no matter.

Kitty wanted to go into the wood - she had heard rumours of badgers - so we did a huge circuit and returned along the Promontory Walk...

Last night I did a kiln-firing, which is still cooling, so tomorrow I shall have fun with ink and wax. Pics to follow...

Today I scraped down some dishes I made yesterday...

And prepared my CV for my application to join the cast of The Archers...not as Kirsty though

The Lock-Down Diaries Day 5

Today I walked the dog...

I believe it's Saturday...but like no other warm spring Saturday I have ever seen, so Kitty and I shrugged into coat and shoes and set off this morning for our stroll.

H. was on her balcony, looking as delicious as only the young can in their pjs - 'un-tucking', as she said, her seedlings from their warm blankets. It had been a chilly night.

Greens, spinach and so on, and flowers, from seeds collected last autumn. Clever girl...I tell her about my tiny oak tree and we smile, all this at a safe distance.

The same family were at the top of Consti exercising this morning and Kitty rushed up to say hello. Fortunately they were fine with dogs - the little ones didn't scream and shout and wave their arms in the air, so Kitty didn't either... We chatted  about possible walks in the area, and then continued across Kitty's Field and down into the woods. Passing the cottages we chatted briefly to the elderly woman there about 'this virus'. She was ok, a friend was bringing her some stuff. I thought at least she could kill and eat her scrawny chickens. Maybe that nasty dog too, who was shouting from safely inside!

On and on we walked, gathering more wild garlic, meeting a jogger twice, and then acquaintances, with their dog as we turned homeward -and more dogs, out alone in the field next to their house tore up and down the fence, shouting their little heads off.

Definitely a doggie morning...

This afternoon I have been playing with clay and thinking about comfort zones. And wondering...

Are times of adversity, such as these, opportunities to grow in our areas of weakness, or in our areas of strength?

Alistair, predictably, says 'Yes'

Your answers please...

Oh, and my new shoes, bought for prom-strolling of a summer evening, arrived.

The Lock-Down Diaries Day Four

Today I walked the dog!

Yeah, I know, but Kitty really needs a good long walk every day, or else she would be crashing about muttering "Round and round the garden, like a teddy-bear..."

So we set off up the back path on the cliff towards Kitty's Field. At the top, outside the deserted Consti Cafe, a young family were taking their daily exercise together...the young couple were kick-boxing noisily, while their two children were happily climbing the upturned picnic table. She, with better long sight than I would claim,  recognised me...we had danced together at one of E-M's wonderful evenings, in those far off halcyon days when we could dance and hug and touch strangers...

Today we are musing on connections.

Off we strolled, Kitty and I, to her field, and took a detour when we caught sight of two shiny-haired women sitting close, with the beautiful world spread out in front of them, as far as the eye could see. Were they mother and daughter, I mused? Sisters? Flat-mates? Lovers? 

We carry on with our walk, in the glorious sunshine and, reaching the top of the golf-club, strike out across the deserted course. We haven't walked up here, on the greens, even in the evening, for four years or so, since Notices went up...Kitty couldn't read them, but, sadly I could.

Close enough to call greetings, we connect with another young mother and her little boy, out enjoying their exercise. Lovely memories that evokes for me...slooow strolls with toddler Ben, looking at everything with his new eyes...

Later today was a milestone connection with my study- buddies. On Skype. Yeah, me... talky-talky into my headphone microphone, while sitting alone in the attic, slurping tea and watching the unchanging sea from the best window in the world.

Connections, connections...I have a WhatsApp conversation with Ben, closeted in his flat in London, about the books we are sharing.

Meanwhile, my brother,  almost the longest connection in my life, in his adopted homeland of Northern Italy, is 62 today. I think of him, wryly singing Happy Birthday to Me in his bathroom mirror. 

Twice...

The Lock-Down Diaries Day 3

Today I walked the dog!

Our morning meanderings are getting longer as my body realises I have no reason to hurry...

Today is all about growth and it is that time of year...trees and hedges which seemed salt-blasted and dead only a week ago are bursting with green, and I do believe that my feet are becoming part of the earth and air and water and rock...

Here are some of the fresh things we saw this morning:

Celandines...the banks are full of them, quite suddenly

The blackthorn is particularly lovely in the sunshine this spring...

And then there are these little white flowers on the banks...posing as wood anemones, they are too small -and I suspect they are feral cerastium, escaping randomly, or maybe by design, from someone's misguided rockery...

Ah, and the first bluebell of the year - you're welcome...

Two more things are growing, and here is one of them...

This is an oak-tree...or will be, one fine day, when I am long-gone. I picked up a few acorns last October at Taraloka, followed the googled instructions to 'stratify' them, and planted them in faith and hope the morning after the General Election in December.

This, the first one to sprout and be potted-on, is destined to return to Taraloka one day. It is my Taraloaka, I guess, my hope for the future...

The other thing that is growing? Alistair's 'rack' for the gym bench I rescued from the prom and the weights that will arrive by van sometime soon-ish. So we can set up our garden gym and emerge fit and healthy when this is over...

But, as yet, it is still growing in his fertile mind...see you tomorrow!

The Lock-Down Diaries Day 2

Today I walked the dog!

Another bright morning, so blue and beautiful it makes the heart ache. Kitty and I took a different, less defined path today, wandering at will the deserted woodland and cliff paths.

At the top of the golf-course, the gates all being open and sheep conspicuous by their absence, we took a detour up to the 'trig-point', to look inland to the valley, which was hazy...

The trig-point itself was interesting...I had expected the top to bear a compass, but was pleased that there was a three-pointed metal shape. This, in line with my musings of the last few days on mandalas and random drawings on metal, slate and wood, gave me much food for thought as we completed the (triangular!) detour and returned to our wanderings...

Triangulation points, trig-points, trigonometry...

Why threes and sevens are more pleasing to the eye than fours and eights...

The post came to the gate later, while we were enjoying lunch in the garden...several books I had ordered from the highly-recommended World of Books, including this, which may help answer some of my questions. Or may not...

The Lock-Down Diaries Day 1

Today I walked the dog!

Kitty and I set off at 9.30 for the woods to see how the bluebells are coming on. The road was deserted and the sun was shining, so we turned up through the golf-course instead...

There were sheep and lambs in the field near the Penglais Farm junction, so it was on with the lead for a bit. 

Heading over the top we walked through a field of sheep and lambkins, with just one little oomph from Kitty (well she IS a dog!). This was the field where Evie and I, with great excitement, had watched a lamb being born...can it be six years ago?!

Coming down into Coed Y Cwm, I was pleased to find the ramsons all fresh and green and luscious, so we picked a bagful for the soup. There were wood anemones too, and dandelions for the bees.

Passing the cottages, and looking down on the deserted caravan-site, we trekked to the top of the hill again and Kitty's Field. She was overjoyed and had a good rampage and roll in the grass, while I sat for a few minutes, revelling in the warmth and the view in every direction...north towards Ynys Enlli, west to Ireland, south down the coast and east heading inland with the blue hills and the valley. Truly we live in paradise!

Heading down towards home we met an abundance of peacock butterflies, enjoying the warmth and the early nectar. And one person.

My Day by the Seaside

The morning was beautiful, bright blue and sparkling, as we walked Kitty early in this changed and uncertain world.

Our minds, as so often, were running on different tracks - 

Alistair was pondering 'ways to keep fit'. We have spent the last year building up not inconsiderable muscles at the local gym. Which is now closed, as is so much, for the foreseeable...

Yesterday he ordered online possibly the last set of weights available in the known universe, and is planning a 'rack' made from repurposed bits of metal and wood.

"Wot we need is a gym bench..."

I was musing on stones, shells, metal and mandalas. As you do.

Kitty and I were not finished when we descended the hill so we went down to the beach to collect rubbish and treasure. Kitty is now an only dog and has morphed, almost overnight, into the perfectly-behaved dog I always knew she was. Accordingly she returned to me every time I called her, and sat down beside me when I decided to rest for a few minutes in the sunshine before dragging the bags of rubbish and driftwood up to the prom and home.

As I stood up, in front of me on the shingle was the perfect piece of metal I had 'been looking for' to paint with a plain gold Celtic mandala. And a few feet away was probably the most beautiful coloured stone I have ever found.

This afternoon I drained 2.45kg of perfect recycled clay from the HeathRobinson contraption it had been hanging from, and did a bit of gardening. Alistair cut the grass and started cleaning up and re-covering the gym bench

Yes, I found one on the prom. As you do.