I meant to take Friday as my day off this week, but the weather forecast was nasty so on impulse I took Wednesday off instead so that we could go for a walk up on Dunstable Downs. There is a good 4 mile circuit along the top of the Downs, down a steep, stepped slope, back along the bottom past the gliding club, and up to the top again past the Iron Age burial site of Five Knolls. Part of the walk is along the ancient Icknield Way (so ancient it has a realistic claim to be the oldest road in Britain), and there is something extraordinary about walking along a path that was old before the Romans came. The photo below is a view from the Icknield Way, across to Ivinghoe Beacon in the distance.
We got home at lunchtime just as it started to rain, and it feels as though it has barely let up since. We are now apparently in the middle of Storm Alex. We have managed to sneak in a couple of mostly-dry short walks, but not enough to feel I am getting a reasonably amount of exercise. Over the last couple of weeks my home exercise routine has also gone to pot, and I need to get back into doing my Fiit classes again. I haven't done any weights classes since the end of August, and even the yoga has slipped. Note to self: get moving!
The sharp rise in Covid cases here seems to be slackening off, possibly because tighter restrictions were introduced, or maybe because the rising figures have made people more careful again. Whether it is possible to turn the tide and get case numbers to shrink again I don't know, but at least there is some progress in the right direction. There is an increasingly big divide now between north and south, with many northern cities under stricter regulations to try to get the virus back under control. Cases locally have risen, but from a very low level so it is not yet too much of a worry here. We can only hope it stays that way.
I ordered myself a better desk chair, which arrived on Thursday. After six months using a pink plastic IKEA chair it will be nice to have something a bit more supportive while I am working. I haven't tested it out for a whole day yet, but it feels comfortable. Fortunately I don't have any back problems, but I think I have been pushing my luck a bit using the pink chair for so long - with judicious use of a cushion it isn't too bad, but it isn't really the right thing for longer term home working. H also has a new desk chair on order. She is working and studying long hours, and the chair she got when she bought her desk looks pretty but was leaving her with back ache. Until hers arrives, she is borrowing my new one as her need is greater!
TG's school have not yet had any Covid cases among pupils and staff, and are gradually tweaking things so that the school day runs more smoothly. One change is that they are now able to use more "practical" rooms outside their year group's area - they have zoned the school so that each year can be kept in a separate bubble. Until now the only classes she has had out of the Year 10 zone have been photography, but this week she was able to have catering lessons in the kitchen classrooms and do some actual cooking - ratatouille and stuffed peppers, which she brought home for us to eat (as she doesn't like either). I think she will also get some science lessons in the labs next week.
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