Monday 2nd November Day 223
I’ll start off with Saturday at:
10.30 Apart from a quick trip downstairs at eight o clock for a cup of tea, I have only just emerged, washed and dressed after a long soak in the bath. Just about had enough of this weather, more wind, more rain so I tucked myself up with the tea and carried on catching up on ‘the Harlots’ on iplayer. I am still on series one and hooked, as I was told I would be, even though I would never have chosen to watch it. The acting in my opinion is phenomenal and it is now almost impossible to think of Lesley Manville in the tv series Mum, she is, again in my opinion, one of those rare actors like Johnny Depp who completely metamorphosises into the character they are playing.
11.00 I can’t look Audrey in the face because I think it likely we are not going out today and I am back to my old stance, staring out of the window at the unceasing rain. What to do? I think I will give in to the day, light a fire and try not to let it get me down. And then I have a sudden idea out of the blue and download the original music from the Sound of Music. It is one of my mad moments, up goes the volume, I know practically every word by heart, of course, after it has appeared on tv every Christmas since the world began and I skip about doing my chores and setting the fire, singing at the top of my voice (I will apologise to the neighbours later). I can honestly say it is the most therapeutic thing I have done since lockdown in March, my own ‘Singalong a Sound of Music’ at home, highly recommended to anyone as bonkers as me!
15.30 The sun has come out so we can go for a walk after all, there is a dramatic amount of water in the woods. I can’t resist pulling some of the debris from one of the streams and am rewarded by a torrent of water rushing through which also takes the ball Audrey has dropped in it but she manages to retrieve it from further downstream.
18.30 Boris Johnson finally talks to the Nation, we have been waiting since five, which is when he was scheduled to speak. We already knew what was coming, we are back in lockdown for a month, hardly a surprise; what will be a surprise is if they stick to the one month especially as schools and universities are to stay open.
Monday
5.30 The wind must have been reaching gale force in the night, it was so loud and at one point yesterday evening, I had lit a fire and the wind blew smoke back down the chimney and out into the room.
8.50 It is still gusting outside and raining too when my groceries arrive. Today the delivery man is sporting a large black mask with several round ventilation attachments, he looks a bit like a Darth Vader and he has cleverly propped his glasses over the top.
9.40 Sarah Janet and I decide to brave a walk up in the fields and in fact the rain has stopped and it is very mild. We skirt around the fact that none of us have stuck to our diet this last weekend, not very surprising given the news and the weather. There is a large herd of deer down by the wood who disperse silently as we approach. Audrey shows little interest in them these days. This will be our last weekly walk together for the next month as it seems that only two will be company and three, a crowd when out walking.