Wow! What a beautiful blue sky it was this morning !!!
It looked stunning on the canal with all the lovely reflections.
Last night, I had a great night’s sleep, going to bed before 11pm.
I woke up before the alarm about 7am and have had so much more energy and positivity than I have for a while!
Hoping to keep this same pattern all week, life is just so much easier when I’ve had a good night’s sleep.
I feel so much more present and appreciative of the world.
Happy to be alive on this gorgeous planet 🙂
On our afternoon walk, well actually about 5pm, we headed round Bruntsfield Links and The Meadows. The place was super busy with loads of students – playing sports, having picnics, drinking, etc… It wasn’t super hot, just sunshine!
There was one police van slowly driving along the footpaths, every so often stopping, with two police officers getting out, then returning to drive some more. I wondered what they were doing, but after watching for a while, I realised they were slowly breaking up the large picnics that were taking place. People sitting in large groups on the grass, drinking and eating snacks. I guess, people playing sports in large groups are more spaced apart.
These guys were practicing circus skills –
This group of students were in awe of Honey the Dog, so posed for a photo for her Instagram Story – http://instagram.com/honeythedog_lab
As we headed back towards the canal, the sun was starting to set, with some stunning views!!
Then back at Discovery, Fiona, came out for a chat and gave me a wee lesson about canal language.
- The ‘towpath’ is the opposite side to where our boats are. This is where the horses pulled “towed” the boats all the way along the Union Canal.
- Our side is called the ‘off path’ (I think) – actually can’t remember – will need to ask her again.
- But where our boats are have come to be known as the ‘Quayside’.
Then we spotted a lovely sunset 🙂
Lockdown Restrictions Corner
Do you remember back when lockdown restrictions first came into place in the ‘first lockdown’, we were all focusing on how we were going to learn from our lives coming to an abrupt stop and change the world to make it a better place?
As Chris Evans said on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show back in March (Day 4) “I don’t want the world to return to how it used to be. The world was broken. There’s been a pause. There needs to be change…”
There was even that amazing poem by Tomfoolery, called ‘The Great Realisation’ (Day 40) suggesting that 2020 would be the year when everything changed.
So now in 2021 and a whole year of lockdown restrictions, are we going to change the world or are we all going to return to how it’s always been. Are you longing to return back to ‘normal’ or evolve?
Today in The Guardian, there was an article entitled – What can we take with us from lockdown to make life better than before?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/01/covid-life-flexible-working-lockdown
With the successful vaccine rolling out it seems that we are all starting to think about the future, rather than waiting and waiting for restrictions to ease. The article talks about how travel agents are reporting a rush in over optimistic bookings, parents are hunting down PE kits ahead of next weeks return to school and soon ‘we’ maybe all returning to the office!
The chancellor is banking on “a roaring 20’s-style recovery, fuelled by giddy rush of desire to shop and travel and stay out all night”.
So once all this has past, will we just return to life as if was last March 2020, as if we’ve just had a year or so pause?
Or perhaps after returning to having choices and freedom once again, people will start to miss the ‘lockdown days’ and return to somewhere in the middle?
A hybrid way of working – 3 days at home, 2 days in the office?
Hybrid Meetings – part on Zoom for those who live further away and part In Real Life?
Will be suddenly realise that we have a lot less time in our days, because we have to factor in travelling to places?
What do you think? Are you looking forward to returning to your ‘previous life’ or wanting to make some changes? What changes will you make?
Things We No Longer Use / Do
So far we have covered – Kilts (Day 300), Irons (Day 301), Suit and Tie (Day 302), Passports (Day 303), Massive Travel Delays (Day 304), Clothes (Day 305) High Heels (Day 311), Taxis (Day 312), A Random Snog in a Nightclub (Day 313), Karaoke Clubs (Day 314), Cash (Day 315), Handshake (Day 316), Head Lice (nit comb and medicated shampoo) (Day 317), Pinworm Infections (Day 318), Offering to take someone’s photo (Day 319) and Overnight Suitcase (Day 342).
Today as suggested by Gez yesterday (Day 342) we are looking at Perfume.
Doing a quick internet search in 2020 there was a 17% decline of fragrance sales, with the biggest decline of 50% between April and June 2020.
When doing a search for men’s after shave, what comes up is the massive decline in shaving equipment, as men turn to ‘lockdown beards’!!
Nostalgia Corner
Whilst writing ‘Lockdown Restrictions Corner’ I remembered Tomfoolery‘s poem ‘The Great Realisation’, which appeared on Day 40.
Check it out again, I’ve shared it below!
As I come to the end of this blog, I reflecte on what I have just written today. The tone, definitely seems to focus on what has been and looking towards to the future, with hope and optimism that lockdown restrictions will be gone forever! This is what Westminster government is pushing for and making us believe, but the ‘talk on the town’ is that we are likely to experience some restrictions towards the end of the year!
I guess, the theme of the blog, is partly focused on what are we going to learn from all this. Are we going to return to how life was or are we going to evolve ourselves, our world, our consciousness so that we can move the world and our lives into a better place.
I harped on a lot in the early days of the blog, that we can take this amazing opportunity as once in a lifetime to make big changes. So I encourage you, and myself, to start thinking about if and how you will change life from this experience?!
Although a glorious day, once the sun went down, the temperature dropped. When I went out a couple of hours ago, there was loads of fog and it was a lot colder. In fact over the next few days the temperature is set to drop once again. By Friday it is forecast to be down to -1 degrees through the night, with a high temperature of +4 in the day. It seems, as thought, we haven’t quite yet got over all the cold weather just yet!!
Wishing you only the best on this Magical Monday 🙂
Jim x
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