The UK has gone a bit crazy this week since non-essential shops, and pubs/restaurants etc. were allowed to re-open this past Monday. Lots of news stories about enormous queues of people waiting to get into Primark (a budget fast fashion store), people hitting the pubs at 8am to breakfast on alcohol and so forth. Even in our small town it is noticeably more bustling in the shopping area and there were queues both within and without several barber shops I passed on Monday (which annoyed my hairdresser when I told her, as they are only meant to be taking people by appointment to minimise risk). Yes, I finally got my hair cut and coloured this week, I feel years younger when I look in the mirror and definitely a lot tidier. My hairdresser is being quite responsible and only letting limited numbers in the salon at a time, spacing us well apart, everyone has to wear masks etc. Yes it is a risk, but I've had my first jab and I don't plan to go again for some time.
I guess it's all about personal priorities. The senior leader of my office announced in our office newsletter how pleased she was to go out to dinner at a pub the first night of opening, so here is a senior manager who obviously thinks it is worth the risk to her to go and eat (probably indifferent) pub food in a public restaurant. I think that is pretty non-essential and risky, yet I was willing to go to the opening of a new fabric shop in Thrapston today to see what they had, which she would probably find ridiculous. But I was in control of my movements, could stay away from other customers (apart from one persistently stupid woman who kept coming too close to me until I finally told her she was making me really uncomfortable and she was all surprised), didn't touch very much, and paid from behind a plexiglass shield. And the shop was pretty big and airy. It was fun to be back in a fabric shop and having a look, but they didn't have much I wanted. I picked up a new thimble and new seam ripper as I've managed to puncture one and break the other, a cute pack of fat quarters, some sale floral fabric, and several packs of elastic in various sizes.
It's been lovely weather lately, brilliant sunshine to the point where I've had to water the garden because everything was getting so dry. We went out for a walk this morning by a river in a nearby village, and we spotted this nesting swan on a little island.
Our own nesting blackbird has hatched at least two babies that we can see. I took advantage of the mother being off the nest having a snack, to sneak a picture on my phone of the quite hideous youngsters having a nap. We sometimes see their heads and beaks protruding up over the nest as they beg for food.
Crafting this week was mostly working on the gifts that I wanted to send my pregnant Japanese teacher, so I finished up the rabbit (from a pattern by Little Cotton Rabbits) and play quilt and sent them off along with the hat and booties. I've knit the rabbit before, it's a great pattern but there are a lot of pieces and it takes a fair bit of time. It came out pretty well, the head was perhaps a bit disproportionately large, but hopefully she will think it's cute.
Bit of family drama this week when our cat once again didn't come for four nights. She has a genius for getting herself shut into places so we thought that was probably what had happened. We put up posters again, I phoned the local vets, we walked around looking for bodies and calling for her in case we could hear her etc. She suddenly showed up while I was in the middle of a particularly boring online work meeting, so I was able to ditch that and rush downstairs to meet her along with DS. She was hungry, thirsty and absolutely filthy to the point where I had to give her an actual bath a few hours later but otherwise seems to be fine. We've kept her in since then but she seems back to normal now. Of course, she managed to get herself shut into the downstairs cupboard the next day. I think in her tiny brain there is no risk to getting into enclosed spaces because of course someone will come and let her out once she decides she's ready, or so she thinks - and she is an absolute ninja at sneaking in when you aren't looking, even though I am always looking because I know she will try.
The cherry tree that we planted after our second trip to Japan, is just coming into full blossom and looking really pretty. It's still a young tree but it's got more branches now so is looking fuller. Hopefully it will continue to put on more and more branches and become a a real umbrella of blossom. I wonder when we will be able to go Japan again?
I hope you've been able to enjoy some of the lovely weather this week.
1 comment:
She needs a GPS collar! What a silly kitty!
Glad you were able to get out. People here think getting the vaccine means they have freedom to move about with complete safety. No one seems to listen. I’m still holding out on getting the jab.
Have a good week.
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