Staying Home: Day 73

I decided that I would sit outside and work in the fresh air this morning, but at 9.00 the air was a bit too fresh and after ten minutes I gave up and came indoors. I am still working on researching new pages for our website. I have other things to do but I am on a roll so sticking with that for the time being. I am fortunate in that I can plan my own time, and apart from a few "matters arising" and a monthly writing deadline I can choose what order I want to tackle things in. It was another beautiful day so I took my lunch out into the garden and stayed there sewing and listening to an audio book for a couple of hours, until I got too hot.

At 4pm I attended a Zoom webinar presented by a historical cartographer who had worked on mapping medieval and Tudor London for the Layers of London project. I found it really interesting, and although it is significantly more complicated than anything I would be likely to tackle it is definitely helpful to understand a bit more about how these maps are put together.

After the webinar M and I went for a two mile walk round the woods and discussed Covid contact tracing (supposedly starting in England today), historical cartography and webinars in general. I really like the availability of a webinar, and found the format of listening live to a speaker followed by an opportunity for questions worked just as well online as in person. The downside is the lack of opportunity to chat with other attendees and to go for a coffee or to the pub afterwards to continue the conversation. Realistically, though, paying for train fares or driving any distance to attend a seminar or workshop means I would only ever go if the topic is something I am extremely interested in, and even then in practice rarely make the effort. Being able to attend at the click of a button is a huge advantage. I wonder if the new normal after all this is over will be much more of a mix of real life and virtual events, so that people can benefit from both ease of access and the opportunity for face-to-face discussion.

Tonight was take-away night, so H and TG went down to the fish-and-chip shop which reopened last week. H said it was busy, but only allowing one person in at a time so there were quite a few people waiting outside. As the pavement is narrow social distancing was a bit tricky. We thought maybe the parking space outside the front of the shop should be blocked off to make more waiting space. The fish and chips were good though!

It definitely feels as though restrictions are easing all round. It seems a number of things are reopening with booked time slots to ensure numbers are kept in check. Tonight M booked a slot to take some rubbish we have accumulated during lockdown to the council tip next week - partly stuff we have cleared out (H blitzed her room earlier in the week), partly packaging from online deliveries, and a broken ironing board we replaced. Some National Trust gardens are reopening next week, with slots going online tomorrow. I am hoping to book a visit to Stowe Gardens, which has always been one of our favourite places for a walk, though we will miss not being able to have lunch or cake in the cafe which is still closed. The government announced tonight that from Monday people will be allowed to meet outdoors in public places or private gardens in groups of six, so long as they socially distance from anyone not in their own household. That means we will be able to visit R and vice versa.

I have almost finished my oversized William Morris bookmark. All the cross stitch is done, and I am now working on the backstitch detail. You may just about be able to see some on the blue wing of the left hand bird. I'm hoping it will be done this weekend.