Today England brought in the compulsory wearing of face-coverings in shops, cafes and other places I am not quite aware of. Scotland brought this in on 10th July (Day 109) and I am still adjusting to wearing one. I must admit, it is now becoming more familiar to wearing a face-covering in shops – in fact it feels comfortable doing so. The biggest problem I have is remembering to take it with me.
You can no longer, go out for a walk without the intention of going to a shop and then passing one, think “Oh and I need to get….” and pop in. You need to take it wherever you go. Something I haven’t adjusted to yet and also not really wanting to have something else to carry around with me everywhere I go!
Today I haven’t done much, I have been catching up on much needed rest and doing bits and bobs.
Tomorrow, Honey and I are heading on a trip to Monimail, which is a small hamlet, surrounded my farmland near Cupar, which is in Fife, not that far from Dundee! I think I am correct in saying that in Scotland, we don’t have counties, instead we have regions. Fife is a region.
This is going to be a big trip, travelling on a train! I haven’t been on a train since 14th March, which was my final magic gig, a baby shower, in the southside of Glasgow!
In fact, I haven’t set foot in the city centre of Edinburgh since then either. I have travelled through the city centre a couple of times on the bus, but not actually set foot in the city centre. Will also be really interesting to see how social distancing, etc…will be in the train station and travelling on a train.
Tune in for tomorrow’s blog to read all about it!
It was good to see lots of people in Montgomery Street Park this evening, being a Friday night. I thought that maybe, no one will be in the park anymore, now that pubs, restaurants, etc…have opened up. There was even a Bar-BQ !
I then watched Tom Brace’s Big Fat Isolation Quiz, which is usually on Facebook Live, but after a few minutes of starting there was a big whirling sound in the background – like a big fan was on. Tom couldn’t work out the problem, so it swapped to Zoom. Although, the quiz finished forever a few weeks ago (Day 102) Tom brought it back for one more week as it’s his Birthday! I don’t think it worked so well on Zoom. Hopefully he will have one more next Friday on Facebook!
Poetry / Art Corner
Here is the eighth in the series of drawings I did many years ago at my first and only Life Drawing Class. The first drawing is on Day 115, the second drawing is on Day 116, the third on Day 117, the fourth Day 118, the firth on Day 119 the sixth on Day 120, the seventh on Day 121, and the eighth today on Day 123.
Readers Corner
More banter from Matt in Readers Corner!
Matt
Matt commented on Facebook in yesterday’s blog saying:
“I’m not going to say “It Made Me Smile” has delighted me: the outrage I felt at its potential demise is dissipating! Well done, Helen, on making Jim smile! I cannot remember when I was last featured in there (I am usually the last in Readers Corner (a bit like the last football game on Match of the Day!) Do we need a new section, “He made me scowl”?!”.
Thanks for that Matt. I few things that need to be cleared up:
(1) For fairness ‘he ‘Readers Corner’ submissions appear in alphabetical order. On the rare occasion, I change this around (like today!). This was set and mentioned in the start of ‘Readers Corner’ on Day 50. Unfortunately, ‘M’ for Matt is lower down the alphabet to B’ for Brian, ‘F’ for Fi and ‘H’ for Helen. But Pat goes below you!
(2) ‘It Made Me Smile’ is not exclusively to what makes me smile! It’s inclusive to all blog readers. It’s hope to the whole ‘blog community’ (Brayshaw, MJ, 2020). However, you need to indicate if it is for ‘It Made Me Smile’ section, otherwise it will probably go in ‘Readers Corner’.
(3) The blog’s focus and ethos is to bring a lightness to people’s lives – away from the doom and gloom of Covid-19 and lock-down. We can get this in newspapers, the news, etc…So I try to avoid as much as possible including death rates, case rates, etc….I have on occasion ventured into news items…for example Dominic Cummings saga, but still I kept that light. The blog turned a little political follow Day 48 blog, which made me feel uncomfortable, so I now try and keep out of politics. So your suggestion of ‘It Made Me Scowl’ section would not fit into the ethos of the blog. Sorry – but thanks for the suggestion 😉
Helen
Helen replied to Matt’s comment on Facebook by saying:
“You’re welcome!”.
It Made Me Smile
As England follows Scotland today, with making it compulsory to wear face-coverings in shops, I saw this and it made me smile!
Day 12 of the Post-25 Day Push-Up Challenge
Phone fell off the log!
Do you think I am getting better or faster at these push-ups?
As I come to the end of today’s blog, it is a short one!
The weather has been, I’m not quite sure? I think its been cloudy most of the day. Don’t know whether it rained at all. It has been quite warm, which I guess is why lots of people were in the park this evening.
I must admit I am quite anxious about travelling tomorrow. I will be leaving my ‘geographical bubble’, but will be great to get out of the city! I am trying not to think about it!
It’s not so much an anxiety around the virus, but more about the unfamiliarity of it all. I have been feeling unwell all afternoon and evening and I just realised that it is anxiety!
I wonder, whether people who use their car feel less anxious leaving the ‘geographical bubble’ as the car is a kind of bubble in itself? Driving in a car, which you know and own, is familiar and so potentially less anxious provoking?
I am certainly looking forward to sharing my journey with you all in tomorrow’s blog.
Perhaps I will make a few videos of our journey, for you to watch. Will give me less writing to do tomorrow evening!
Hope you’ve had a Fun Friday!
Jim xx