Diary > Monday 7th June

[Roobarb]

In times gone by today would have been rather uneventful but currently it was quite eventful for me.
A quite cloudy day but warm, went for usual morning walk. After lunch I cut the front lawn and did quite a lot of gardening at the back. The weeds are sprouting as well as the plants.

I'd decided to go to Wilkinson's in the town but would wait till late afternoon when I might be able to get parked nearby and the shop would hopefully be quiet. I went down about 4pm, a little apprehensive as it was the first time I've been in the High Street since early 2020. I got parked not far away, the shop was quiet and I got nearly everything on my list.

On my way home I called to see if my friend was in, the one who invited me to the pub on Saturday. She was in, she had to go out not much later but we had a chat, she completely understood my anxiety about going to the pub on a Saturday evening. She said it was pretty busy so I think I did the right thing in missing it.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my friend L for lunch at my local pub, a quieter sort of place and particularly so I would think on a midweek lunchtime. A good place to start.

[Viktoria]

Had a good day in the garden,all tidy .
Daughter phoned this evening as usual ,long chat.
New mattress coming Weds, they don’t take the old one away so I will have to ask a local Rubbish remover to do it.
Cheaper than the council!
No wonder there is fly tipping, the council are very dear.

Violets popping up all over the place and the wild flowers in the lane are lovely .
Such birdsong in the tall Ash tree.
Neighbour git me a nice willow trellis from Akdi ,for the perennial sweet pea.
There was a bush in the school grounds where she was a pupil and I had her class fir a long time when the usual teacher had multiple fractures on her ankle and not fully over a hysterectomy !
We both remembered the bush well.
The garden bench and table need a couple if coats of Silkens, the extremely hot sun has caused the varnish to split in places.The wood may have been a bit damp then the hot sun !
Sickens allows wood to breathe ( well one of its products does) so perhaps some moisture in the wood because despite being in a cover for winter - since uncovering it , it rained for a couple of weeks non stop .

Attacked greenfly today!
One rose bush covered,a white ,the yellow not so bad and the red Sir Tom
none as yet.
History Magazine delivered today so something to interest me if I can’t sleep.
A fiendish crossword !

Son feeling much better after a doubling up of medication.
Two ECGs and four hourly blood tests showed not a heart attack.

Well it is late, and so off to bed .
Hope all who are worried or troubled get some sleep and those not well soon feel better.
Thinking of Louisa Maude with family illness that is very worrying.
Goodnight.Viktoria.

[Ruskie]

Roobarb, I think your plan to begin resuming normal activities gradually is definitely the most sensible thing to do. I’m sure you will find smaller /less crowded venues less stressful. We’ve had virtually no covid cases or lockdowns here and I wouldn’t feel comfortable going to the pub on a Friday night, especially as a first outing.

Glad your son passed all his hospital tests Viktoria. 

Nothing of interest happened on my Monday.

[sparrett]

Hi All
Yes, as Ruskie says virtually no cases, but just the very few that have appeared have been sufficient to send Victoria where I am into partial lockdown.  It's confined to the capital city, Melbourne with home learning for most students and the usual retail, commercial businesses closed.

Many feel it is an over-reaction, but till now we have had no Delta and it is the occurrence of a few cases (about 9 ) plus a few of the earlier  strains that has triggered the state government decision.

Hoping that we will open up again in the next day or two making it a two week lockdown time.

I do miss the coffee date with friends and will be in a big hurry to get to a cafe as soon as we are allowed

[Ruskie]

Apologies sparret, I should have clarified …… when I said “virtually no cases” I was referring to Qld. I know the situation is different in Victoria.

The word is that Victoria will reopen as planned but I imagine there will be still be restrictions in place.

Hopefully you will be back to your coffee dates soon. 

[sparrett]

The testing has been huge over the last days and today only 2 cases recorded.

On the whole, Victorians are fairly compliant with the restrictions and requirements though there is a lot of very loud grizzling while they comply

So it is hopefully being effective at this stage. 
Sue

[Mowsehowse]

The Uk Government recorded 5,683 cases on Monday!!
Good plan to consider socialising options really carefully Roobarb.

Hope all the testing shows up some cause for your son Viktoria.... difficult to treat an unknown problem.

Thought I might share that on Sunday we visited a special 30 acre garden on the edge of Dartmoor, where it is colder than here at the coast, so massive drifts of bluebells were still in bloom, the collection of Rhododendrons was magnificent in full flower and in the lanes as we were getting closer there were banks of lemon yellow poppies.  I am used to scarlet poppies but I hadn't realised we had a native yellow variety.  With continual bird song and some cuckoos calling it was a very beautiful and restful visit.

[Viktoria]

Now, yellow poppies!
Often known as Welsh Poppies,i
Unless those you saw were of some bigger variety,I like the huge Oriental poppies ,those that look like crushed red silk.
People often don’t like the Welsh poppies, pretty well grow anywhere but I do like them and have put seed heads along the lane ,for bees and butterflies.
It is quite a little nature reserve along the edges.

Son said upto yesterday evening,not phoned yet today ,thst the doubling up of one tablet has given him great relief ,so that will help with a diagnosis
perhaps.
Thankyou for you kind thoughts.
Early morning watering of tubs and containers,mine and ‘ er next door’s ——-
that is what we laughingly call each other.
Glorious sun ,but moving stuff around for new mattress ,can’t find the zip on covers I had for deep mattresses.
Well hope you all have as good a day as possible ,those especially who are worried and anxious , we do worry but it does not really help those you are anxious about not yourself ,but  we feel guilty if we don’t worry.
Viktoria.

[Caw1]

I seem to always be playing catch up! So many posts to read and how to answer/ comment on all would take too long!
Roobarb - Just to say I empathise with being cautious going out and about amongst crowds and wise to do it slowly.....

Wonderful descriptions of flowers... poppies are a favourite of mine when we moved here 34 years ago there were some of those large headed pale salmon pink ones in the garden... they’re still there and are a wonderful show every year...

Good to see you bust as always Viktoria and hope you’re recovering well from your eye op... sorry to hear your son is going through the wringer and hope they’re able to establish what his problems are.... trying times indeed.

Despite your low numbers down there in Oz you all seem to be going through these snap lockdowns... but they seem to work and you’re lucky most people are compliant with them.... it’s good to hear vaccines are being administered... my (45) yr old son and wife had their Pfizer ones last week ( live in Brisbane).... hope you’re all able to get back to some normality soon in Victoria...

My Monday...

Hairdresser came to give me a cut and colour... so nice to see the pale grey disappear....
Still trying to catch up with all bedding/towel washing after my daughter and the boys stay last week.... so lovely to have had them here...trip to Shuttleworth was a wonderful day out made even better when the boys were asked if they’d like to help push the Spitfire out of the hanger..... highlight of their day! Not many people there so we all felt comfortable lots to see...
Friday saw us at the Raptor Foundation.... wet, miserable weather...the birds were all amazing and so well looked after... the highlight of the day was the air show when sadly it chose to rain at its heaviest and we all got pretty soaked despite the use of umbrellas!
I digress..... back to Monday!
After lunch went into the garden to plant out the sweet peas... three of mine and the four OH had grown.. decided we’d put them in a pot... decided where we’d put it but needed to move a very large pot that has a stunning grass in it..... we’d not realised this big pot had a crack all the way round and when we started to move it lots fell off 😢😢 oh no! Now what to do with the grass..... well you know what it’s like when you start one job that then turns into six more 😩😩... we’ve got a walnut tree grown from a squirrel planted nut in a big pot but it’s been infested with ants and doesn’t look brilliant... ok so take it to the top of the garden tip it out and spread all the ants over top end of the garden, wash out pot ....split the large grass and put half back into that pot.... still not planted sweet peas! Decided the original pot for them was too small so ended up planting them against the new fence with canes for them to grow up 🤞..they should look pretty there and the scent will be wonderful when sitting on the bench in front of them. Walnut flushed out with water and put in another pot... half the grass binned as full of some climbing something and we’ve got lots.... still left with original pot that sweet peas were going in now empty... by this time we’d had enough and OH went off to the tip with the broken pot and other rubbish...
Quiche and salad for dinner and a relax and early night!

Caroline