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Published: January 28th 2022
Learn something new. I guess that Covid has made most of think that we should make the most of things and above all learn something new . We are more aware of our mental health and wellbeing since lockdown . The need to smile in the face of adversity. To realise the these months of lockdown have taken their toll on everyone in one way or another. It has been hard to remain positive every day . Difficult to remain positive when we hear stories of Partygate . The events going on in Number 10 since Christmas have been hidden away until now . We hear all the time about another party, a birthday cake , celebrations in the garden , bring your own bottle to the events . I wondered what work would think if I took a bottle in to drink with colleagues . Civil servants are banned from drinking in the office so why was partygate allowed ? A different rule for the Prime Ministers office to the rest of us . Learn something new . Russia is sending troops to the border of Ukraine - another new development that echoes what I remember of the late 1960's
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We are told to get moving and get physical . Yet gyms and swimming pools were closed for months during lockdowns. It is harder to get physical in the winter months . Too dark to get out walking in the early morning or evening. Too cold . Too wet . Too frosty , Too many floods and too much snow . All stop you getting out and getting that daily walk in. Connect with someone we are told . We do that sometimes . A quick chat , a cheery hello as we pass a neighbour our walking their dog , An occasional chat over the fence with a neighbour . Catching up on gossip and comparing notes on Covid . The conversations always return to Covid and lack of holidays . A quick chat whilst swimming . Football and how that is going. Are we finally getting out of this league? What about our American owners Christmas message and Rob McElleny trying to sing Hello Mr Urdd in Welsh .
The postman goes by. Sometimes he walks up the drive to push the post through the letterbox waving at me through the window . Most times
there is no post so he walks by.
My walks have become monotonous over the last few months . There is little to see at this time of the year . The snowdrops are poking through . The first flower of Spring to do so. The fields are damp but the overnight frost makes the grass easier to walk over . The river is low . No pinging of the phone in the night reminding us we have a flood alert, a flood warning or imminent danger of being washed away. I heard voices from the river. Two men in two canoes chatting to each other . They never saw me on the bank above . This time last year they would have been white water rafting down the Dee rather than sedately paddling along . The kingfishers may be back but I saw no sign of them . I wish them a better season than last year when the holes in the bank they used for nesting was washed away in the floods .
The horses stopped to look at me before continuing eating the hay left for them . I thought of holidays as I walked . We need a break and it looked as if it might be coming . The numbers of Covid cases are remaining fairly constant with no new spikes or new variants . The hospital admissions too are staying the fairly low . Perhaps we are over the worse . Boris has opened England up . All workers must return to the workplace . Masks can be ditched . Wales and Scotland are more cautious . The PCR tests needed before we leave our shores are no longer required and the costs if needed have gone down . It seems the PCR test is not needed for return and we probably wont need to isolate or take more tests upon arriving home . France though are asking for the last vaccination to be less than 180 days ago . That too might change shortly . It has too because for us our booster was in October . Unless we have another in the next two months we will be considered unvaccinated . The law has to change on that one. It is all good news though and we may get that holiday yet .
A quick check of the passports when I get home . They are less than 10 years old and have more than 6 months left on them . A new rule we have to follow in our post Brexit world . Now we can start to plan .
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
"We can art to plan"
Hooray!