Another week has slid by . Another deadline passed . The exchange on the house did not happen . The completion won't either . We are still in lockdown. A dim and dismal place to be . The weather has turned cold . A chill air greets me on my morning walk . The sun is not making any appearance and the grass is covered with a silver covering. It was the first frost last night of the Autumn . What would I prefer ? I asked myself this question as I set out on my walk . Cold with a hint of frost , frozen grass or rain . Endless rain and mist . I opted for the first choice . Frost anytime . Would frost kill Coronavirus ? I suppose at the back of ... read more

"Act without expectation " That is what Lao Tzu said to me this morning . Expect nothing on your walk . Just go for the walk . If it rains it rains. If you get wet you get wet . Don't expect to look out the window and see the sun shining . It is November so what do you expect ? Don't expect to see colour in a garden . Just accept what colour you see. Perhaps hopes that we exchange on our home this week . Only a few days and we will know. We can then expect to move out . We have been there before so perhaps I should be cautious and expect nothing . As I walked under the trees a van came past . Quite slowly. His roof caught the ... read more

Covid has given us a whole range of new words. Furlough - that has been brought into usage again and entered our language . Firebreaks - Wales has gone into one for the next two weeks . As I set off on my morning work I contemplate on what the week will bring . With each step I try to kick the leaves that fall on the ground . All wet and soggy . The air feels thick with dew and mist . It is not raining but it feels wet . Dank . I came across that word when I was about 11 years old. It was Christmas and I had received an Enid Blyton book. The Island of Adventure - the first of many that I would read. I received one every Christmas and ... read more

100 not out . A century in cricket . The batsman counting up to 100 hoping he will survive the bowling and reach a ton. The bowler hoping to bowl the batsman out before he reaches that milestone . For some wierd reason my brain had calculated that we had reached 100 days since Boris locked down . As I walked this morning I thought about that 100 and it seemed wrong but I was not sure why. I thought cricket . I thought about all those reaching 100 recieving a telegram from the Queen . Does she still use telegrams ? No probably a card handwritten . Happy 100th from Madge . Her hand aching from signing all those cards . Madge as Dame Edna Everidge called her would be sending a lot of cards ... read more

Week 40 of the year . It hardly seems like five minutes since week 1 - January . Cold miserable days . We had just returned from a fantastic Christmas in Normandy . We had plans . Lots of them . They did not include lockdowns, shops rationing food, face masks and everything that Covid chucked at us . All we thought was it was 2020 and we had the whole year ahead of us before Brexit . A year on free travel . And what goes and happens ? . Covid . February - a quick trip up North which did not go altogether as planned . March - who would have expected it or saw it coming ? Not me . I had my heads firmly in the travelling clouds . No-one , nothing ... read more