Wrexham County Borough 39, masks , robbers and the Lone Ranger / Now Germany want to cut number for events in our small isle

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Week 26 - that is halfway through 2021. Day 482. In 26 weeks time we have been through Christmas and will be in the bit between Christmas and New Year . Not a thought I relish . Odd how the year is just drifting away and we are not even noticing . It us an awful thought that we are ticking the months away . Two Springs under Covid restrictions , Two Easters, Two Summers . We are heading for two Autumns but wait I hear you say - perhaps we will be lucky . Our Health Minister was sacked eventually last week and replaced by a more liberal/progressive one who wanted England open for busines. To mask or not to mask that is the corny question ? The choice will be ours . If I want to ditch the mask when I shop I can . If I go into a restaurant after the middle of July I probably can. I won't need to leave my details nor leave any trace behind . The numbers of cases are growing however the link between the virus and hospitalisations appears to be breaking . Less cases in hospital and very few deaths. But what of Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales? As I walked this morning I thought about the disparity that would occur between the four nations if England break free of restrictions . It has been a funny old week .

The roadside verges are getting overgrown . The brambles are growing and creeping into the road. I see no-one on my walk . I plan a diversion . I don't fancy the main road . Too much traffic. I spend more of my time avoiding the oncoming vehicles to enjoy the walk . I have a plan . A bridlepath that runs from the Whitchurch Road up the side of the farm and joins up with the old council houses on the Worthenbury Road . Should make a change and being a bridle path for horses it will be clear and straightforward ,, Yes you know what is coming don't you?

I struggled with the first gate . Eventually it did swing open and I was confronted with a field . Just like any field with hedgerows full of rambling wild roses . Why cannot the council /the departments that look after public footpaths make gates easier to open . A finger post or a signpost would be useful showing me where to go. I made the decision to head in the direction I knew would bring me out at the Worthenbury Road . The birds were busy calling to each other. I heard a peewit and a dog barking loudly in the farm yard . So far , So good . The gate was only a minor distraction and there was a reasonably short grass to walk through . When the path is easy I find my mind wanders . Yellow St Johns Wort lines the perimeter of the path . A plant that the medieval passer by would think useful. The signs of Autumn were there too. Big buds of the Knapweed .

I reached the corner . Always an odd place to be . A place of choices . I have to open the gate first . The farmer had let the hedge overgrown which stopped the gate opening . Just as I contemplated climbing it I was in luck and it opened after a massive shove . I added it to my list of complaints about public paths that I intended sending to the local MP/Assembly member/Council or whoever else might take action . Right or left . Left seemed to go the opposite way . Away from where I was heading . I chose right . The field opened up. The crops were high and very wet after the overnight rain . By the time I got to the middle my feet were wet . My attention on my soaking feet disappeared as I found myself standing by a pond . Yellow Flag Iris caught my attention . A flash of colour in an otherwise green landscape . Tall fronds that would eventually hold Bullrushes . I was not getting anywhere fast . I could continue along the edge of the field . Return to where I started and turn left . coMaggie Thatchers words "The lady is not for turning " came to mind as I made the decision to go straight across the farmers field . Just though his crop. I had stopped thinking about Covid the last few minutes but to take my mind off my soggy shoes , socks and feet I found myself thinking about Germany. Dictating to us about how many people could attend the football matches . How dare they - I was incensed as I walked . Wales having to travel to Baku and then Rome with no spectators to follow them as the world seems to think we are the Covid capital of the world . By the time I reached the gate at the other end of the field I had to stop and lean on the gate . I took my shoes off . I poured the water out of them . I wrung my socks out and put them back on and realised I was the wrong side of the fence . I climbed my final fence mumbling about Covid , lack of travelling and masks .

Who would have thought that we would begin to wear masks to go into shops, to eat out, to mix and mingle ? We never saw it coming . We never do it for the common cold nor for flu but here we are all these months later wearing masks . The only people I could think of who usually wore masks were thieves and robbers and the Lone Ranger . What strange thoughts I have . Just me and a lot of them going round my head . That travel itch is having a funny effect on me . I cannot scratch it so my mind has to focus on something . What is your mask like ? I have like many bought different sorts . Paper ones - make my nose itch and I sneeze . As I walked the last bit of my travels out this morning I kept thinking about different designs . Some folks wear the industrial types where speaking is impossible unless you want to sound like Darth Vadar. Thin blue and white medical one discarded at the side of the road . Reusable , washable ones , single colours from black to khaki to bright colours . Paisley designs , flowers small and large . I reached home - time for coffee . What' s your mask of choice ?

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Comments

[Home and Away]

My mask of choice is cloth...
less itchy nose. But I prefer none. We have reached that point in the US where hardly anyone wears a mask...probably only those who refuse the vaccination or those who are "virtue signalling." This last year has introduced so many vile words to our vocabulary. I like how Singapore is treating Covid...just like any other virus.

[JenGog]

masks
I must have a collection of them - black ones, green ones Khaki , flowered ones . And I never remember to take them out with me. I think its the same here Bob. I prefer none but wear one out of curtesy to others even though I hate them. We are still all wearing them but once Boris opens up everything and we return to normal I guess it will a choice and most people wont bother with them. School bubbles are being scrapped from July 19th and social distancing scrapped . My feeling is get on with it . I have lost nearly 18 months of life and I whatever Covid holds I need to get on with it . My manager at work lost his father to Covid earlier this year . He was only 55 . My manager used the words "Life will never be the same " . We just have to change with it .