Hi there
It has been a while since my last blog. I hope you are all keeping well. I don’t know about you but Lockdown No 2 has certainly been testing my fortitude and mental resilience. With the nights drawing in and the weather decidedly wintery and wet it certainly takes much more effort to get out and be physically active.
A few weeks ago now we took a trip to Batsford Arboretum so I have peppered this blog with photos from the day. It was a lovely place to visit, with a garden centre naturally, cafes, picnic spots and a lovely church to look around. We can recommend it if you are visiting the North Cotswolds.
So what have we been getting up to during this latest lockdown? We have persisted with our daily walks and enjoyed the changing of the season and the beautiful mists rising from the river. Yesterday we were amazed to find two lady swimmers in the River. Yes in the River!! We could just about make them out through the fog their bright pink buoys the first hint there was someone in the water. There were also a couple of keen canoeists preparing to launch. We were suitably impressed by them all as we shivered our way along the path, with runny noses and very cold fingers and ears for all our extra layers and winter coats.
We have recently discovered a great Youtube channel called Vox Tox with Sandi Toksvig. Set in her bookroom as she calls it, she talks for a few minutes on specific women and their roles throughout history and the sad but true fact that they have been successfully airbrushed out for most of it. Although there is much fact based information in her vlogs she sprinkles her content with humour and delivers it in a really captivating way. We have spent many a half hour laughing at these and I would recommend it, if you want to enjoy a moment on the lighter side of life.
All this spare time at home has given me chance to look through the somewhat bewildering array of podcasts on offer to the unwary listener. Friends and family have been recommending many covering all sorts of topics. I have particularly been interested in finding something to improve my relaxation techniques. I currently enjoy morning stretching exercises but when my anxiety is running high I really do need something else. What works for one person quite often doesn’t work for someone else but after a patient trawl through the offerings I have at last found a very simple body relaxation podcast. I do manage to wake myself up snoring half way through it ! Not sure if that is a good thing but my blood pressure is certainly lower after - because I checked.
I am busy writing a Christmas Tale for those of you who have read my earlier stories it is based on the people of the imaginary village of More Twitchen in Shropshire. I hold my hands up and admit to a rather large dose of sentimentality but I think we all deserve to look through those rose-tinted glasses sometimes. I will hopefully complete it soon and post in time for Christmas.
Yes Christmas. That time of year when raised expectations hit an all time high. The big question this year is, “How far will our conscience allow us to go?” Well I am not here to make a judgement on that question but this year is certainly going to be different. It is a time for family and children especially and we will certainly be hoping to see our grandson, even if it is just over FaceTime.
Talking of FaceTime his happy little face appeared on our screen last night. He is currently isolating at home after a positive case of Covid was found in his bubble at school. And the worst thing is, he explains sounding rather exasperated, he cannot see his friends or play football, but Grandad, yesterday I did manage to travel to South America because I wanted to see some flamingos I had read about in Mum’s bird book. According to his Mum this involved putting on his football shorts and top, packing a bag and venturing out into the foggy garden in search of the offending pink creatures. Why are they pink Nanny? Because they eat Prawns of course!! The rest of our FaceTime chat was equally surreal. Oh to be 7 years old again.
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The one hobby I do save up for the winter time is my family history research. I am discovering Garry’s family tree is turning out to be far more interesting than my own. As more and more information becomes available on line, I am really discovering the characters behind the names in my research. Sometimes sad, sometimes happy events are discovered and for someone like myself who has always been fascinated by social history, they are providing a real glimpse into my ancestors lives. The most poignant of my discoveries so far was a letter from a Mother during WW1 who lost her son in the trenches and was desperate to know where his belongings were and wished for nothing more than their safe return home. And no less poignant the list of belongings returned to another Mother, from her son who also died in France. Even now 100 years later, my heart goes out to these women.
There have been some interesting descriptions of the menfolk, found amongst their military papers, which has included descriptions of various tattoos, eye and hair colour, height and chest expansion sizes! The army discharged one of my Gt Gt Uncles because and I quote:-
“ Rejected by Company Officer as unlikely to become efficient. He does not know his right hand from his left. He cannot remember his number and he has extremely bad teeth. He is quite useless.”
I can only think my Gt Gt Aunt found something appealing about him!
Well I had better stop now because I could go on and bore you all to tears with more family history. Like the weird and wonderful occupations to be found amongst my ancestors. The articles I have found about them in the newspapers and all the history that was being made immediately around them. Including the great discovery that one of my 3rd cousins lived a couple of houses away from the famous northern artist L S Lowry! Just think they probably played together.
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. Now where did I put my swimsuit?
Bye for now
Another interesting blog. Looking forward to your short story. Am going to have a look at visiting the arboretum when we can travel again. Have a good Christmas.