2021 February – LOCKDOWN 3
On 22 February 2021, our Prime Minister published his roadmap for the country to get out of lockdown and other Covid restrictions. For us, the key date to look forward to is 29 March when we can start to meet family and friends outside according to the rule of six or two households. At the same time, we will be permitted to travel “beyond local” that together with the prospect of being able to stay in self catering accommodation from 12 April means a great deal.
Since our last Blog entry, telling of our trip to Looe in October, life has been very quiet and predictable! We have walked every day (mostly in the mornings) at least 3.5 and often nearly 6 miles. Even the snow and some flooding didn’t deter us although we couldn’t always walk where we wished. On the first morning of real snow, it was just wonderful to hear the unfettered laughter of children playing snowballs and making snowmen.
It seemed some of the dads rather than the children were out to build really large snowmen. The sights and sounds as we walked through Fairford that morning really did lift our spirits. The snowman shown here was built by our grandson Archie (and his mum and dad) at their home in Cheshire.
In the afternoons, we have worked our way through many 1000 piece jigsaws. We really enjoyed doing the jigsaws despite having one where two pieces were missing and another with one piece missing and one piece duplicated!
Our evenings have been spent listening to music and reading, doing Sudoku, knitting or crocheting…(guess who does what)
Before Lockdown 2 and then between Lockdowns 2 and 3, we managed to see some of the grandchildren. It was nice to see them even if Covid rules limited what we could do. Amazingly, we were able to spend Christmas Day with James, Hannah, Rosie and Ptolemy – we had a delicious lunch and an enjoyable walk that made the day extra special given that we could not meet up with any other of the family over the Christmas period.
In early February we had the call and attended for our first of two vaccinations against Covid. It was quite an experience and the process a tribute to our NHS and the volunteers running the vaccination centre.
We have tried to make every day special indeed we celebrated Valentine’s Day with a special meal and a bottle of Fizz. We even got dressed up.
Yesterday, as we walked, it was as though Spring was trying to emerge – the snowdrops have now been joined by crocuses and the first daffodils. The birds were singing and starting to make nests and the sun shone (for part of our walk)!
Today was even better. A field we walk by every day had four sheep in it yesterday and today there was also a very small black lamb.
We really are looking forward to Spring, meeting friends and visiting our favourite parts of the UK but most importantly seeing our family again.
