Diary - Wednesday 2nd December

[Caw1]

Looks like everyone was too tired to start yesterday’s diary! So here goes....

Another dull grey day.... it was soon brightened up with the good news that the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine has got its approval and they will be starting next week to roll it out.... certainly a moment to cheer about... watched the briefing with the Regulator and other scientists..... felt quite uplifted by the news although in reality it’s still going to be some months before it filters down to us...
We now had a dilemma... our friends up the lane have a bonfire and fireworks do every year had to postpone it because of lockdown have invited us up on Saturday... along with other friends.... the bonfire is in the field behind their garden....they’ve also invited four members of their family... along with us other friends in total it makes 12! Six in the garden and six in the field... not comfortable with that although we’d all be separate..... spoke to other friends and they’re not to keen either but thought they wouldn’t be able to go anyway... so difficult... don’t want to offend, they’re very good friends but.... in the  end we both decided to say we were sorry but couldn’t feel happy about it so this year we’d say no and look forward to next year... we had already arranged a zoom get together with other friends that night .... hate being put in awkward positions like that... they’re such generous people and lend a helping hand whenever it’s needed...
decided to clean the upstairs of the house to keep busy take my mind off it....
After lunch our window cleaner arrived... rather him than me as it was extremely cold outside ..... last time we’ll see him before Christmas so gave him some extra money and a nice bottle of wine...
Thought I’d carry on with card making.... blow me down the next time I looked out if the window it was raining.... it would be really nice to have at least one day after the windows have been done for it to be dry!..
Dinner was turkey bake.... with green vegs... nice one pot dish... turkey with mushrooms, spring onions, garlic, pine nuts, apricots chopped up shredded basil leaves... then a cheese sauce ... I use creme fraiche and little milk poured over then breadcrumbs... home made ones from end of bread... mixed with parsley sprinkled over meat mixture and baked in the oven till slightly crispy top...
Finally got to phone friend re fireworks to explain... she was fine with it... but left me feeling awful... still do...
Watched tv...
After a euphoric start to the day went to bed feeling dejected and hoping we’d not offended our friends....

Hope others had a better one!
Caroline

[Mowsehowse]

Re the bonfire Caroline, while I agree we should not break or bend the rules, and I admire your very straight attitude to the restrictions, in reality a field and a garden couldn't be much safer, surely?  I'm sure your friends won't be offended.
Shall you be posting all those handmade Christmas cards, or does everyone in the village get one hand delivered?
The news about the vaccine being approved only in the UK had my pessimistic instincts a little worried, I have to say, and today, on Twitter it appears that Matt Hancock, (orchestrated by DC who is still working with Johnson, but from home,) has given Pfizer indemnity against any problems which might arise from the vaccine.
Only time will show if this is truth or lies, but it throws a BIG question mark over the rapture of yesterday's news.
I joined a group of 5 others for a Morris practise in someone's garden. We brought it forward a day to avoid the forecasted rain, and although it was a coat, hat and gloves day, it was nice to meet up for a short while.

[Roobarb]

Caroline,  try not too feel too badly about the bonfire, you have to do whatever you feel comfortable with and although your friends will be disappointed it sounds like they understand your reluctance. They'll have their family there so it will be an enjoyable time for them.

MH, lovely for you to be able to practice with the other dancers.

My day:

A day of petty frustrations. As soon as I got up I realised I needed to put the bin out so I did that before making a cup of tea. It wasn't too long before I realised they'd already been to empty the bins, what a clot I felt going out to retrieve it again. I'd assumed that as they've been coming late for ages that it would continue, I'm just thankful that it's winter and the contents are unlikely to start to smell.

Had a reply from my art teacher about my latest alterations to my painting, I thought it was finished but she suggested a minor addition that meant moving lots of things out of the cupboard to get at the appropriate paints to paint a very small area. After lunch I rearranged the contents of the dishwasher as I couldn't fit everything in, then went out for a walk. Realised later that I hadn't actually turned the dishwasher on. Tried to fit some things in the freezer, there wasn't room so ended up rearranging that too. Phoned my friend L to discuss what the art teacher had advised.

Later on my friend A phoned, we were talking about the great news that the vaccine will start to be given from next week. Getting life back to normal is going to seem strange, I have thought a lot about which aspects I'll want to resume and others that I might change. I'm definite on one thing - I'll continue to get my groceries delivered, although I'll make the odd foray to M&S Food for some of their delights! And I'll really look forward to attending the art class in person.

Didn't get round to watching Portrait Artist.

[Mowsehowse]

Oh Roobarb, just one small thing after another.
Hopefully today will be better.
I agree that many of us will be re-evaluating, and when life gets back to the new normal, there may be some changes on the old styles for most of us.

[Gillg]

A dull cold day with the odd shower.  The engineer finally turned up to fix my stove, so now I can get cracking with my mince pies.  I make them for all the family, so it's a mammoth task.  Apparently it was something really simple, but we had already paid upfront with the agency which organises visiting domestic engineers, so he gave the stove a good check out. 

A quick salad lunch, then we set off for the nearest town to buy Christmas stocking fillers for the grandchildren.  It had to be The Range, the only place round here to buy inexpensive things, though I'm sure nearly everything there comes from China and/or is made of plastic. 

Great news about the vaccine, though I hate the boasting from the government about being the first country to approve it.  Who cares?  What is more important is that every country, whether rich or poor, gets to vaccinate its population quickly.  It's the only way to deal with Covid.

A Zoom meeting about singing carols led to an interesting discussion.  Mention was made of Doorstep Carols https://www.doorstepcarols.co.uk/ but homes are rather too spread out in the village for this to work properly, so I think we are going for socially distanced singers on the village green. 

Supper was a chicken hotpot, designed to beat the cold - fried chicken and onions with lots of garden veg.  It hit the spot and we shuffled off to bed after a spot of TV. 

[Roobarb]

Good news that you're all set to make the mince pies Gillg, the thought is making my mouth water. I love mince pies, I think I'll have eaten my body weight in them by Christmas! Bought ones I'm afraid, I'm sure your home baked ones will be much nicer.
Hope your plans for the carol singing go well.

Re concerns about the fast rollout of the vaccine, I don't want to hijack the diary thread so have posted about it on Trystan's Great Day  in History thread. Hopefully the details will provide some reassurance.