November and a New Lockdown

After insisting that another lockdown was not on the cards, and being highly critical of the Leader of the Opposition for insisting over the last few weeks a short, circuit breaker lockdown was needed, this weekend the government announced that England would indeed be entering another national lockdown of sorts. This time it will be less intense than it was in the spring, with people who cannot work at home still allowed to go to work, and with schools and universities staying open (I suspect this is a mistake, at least for older kids). Non-essential shops, restaurants, pubs, gyms, museums and so on are to close, and everyone is being told to stay home as much as possible (fortunately outdoor walks are still allowed). The lockdown is to start on Thursday and last until December 2nd - whether that will be long enough for it to be effective in the worse affected areas remains to be seen. 

The weather is as glum as the news. We went out for a short walk this morning, and as you can see it was very grey, although it mostly stayed dry while we were out. This afternoon and evening have been pretty windy. Not a very cheerful way to start November. 

We didn't do anything for Halloween this year. Usually we carve pumpkins, but I didn't think to buy any and nobody mentioned it. I did notice a few pumpkins and other Halloween decorations while we were out walking. 

I am in a bit of a knitting frenzy, whizzing through things at speed. I finished the scarf for my brother and this pair of socks for myself. I have almost finished a hat for myself too. I bought some Shetland wool yarn intending it for a scarf, but when it arrived realised that I had forgotten to check the size of the balls and only had half the quantity I needed, so decided on a beanie-style hat. Not elegant, but practical. With tightly knitted 100% wool, I think it will keep out not only the cold, but probably also light rain. I would have finished, but half way through the first attempt I decided it was coming out too small, so I pulled it out and started again with a larger size. It should be done tomorrow. Then I plan to start on a cardigan for myself, though I am still dithering over what pattern to use. I also want to go into the yarn shop in town tomorrow to get some more sock yarn. I have ideas for Christmas gifts, and could use another pair of socks myself. I have had a couple of pairs wear out. 

I have done a bit of reading and quite a lot of TV binging over the weekend while knitting. I am currently in a history reading moody and have just started A History of Ancient Britain by Neil Oliver. M and I are working our way through Michael Palin's various travel series. We have watched Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole and Full Circle (around the rim of the Pacific) and are now into his journey around the Sahara. We ended out taking out a Britbox subscription so we could stream them all, although oddly it doesn't have Sahara. The first two episodes are available on BBC iPlayer, but not the 3rd and 4th. Annoying! 

This afternoon I went with the girls to Wagamamas for a meal. We had planned to go anyway, but we particularly appreciated it knowing that eating out won't be possible again for a while. We started with bao buns, TG had ramen, H had duck donburi, and I had a vegan kokoro bowl with bbq glazed seitan, brown rice, various veggies amai sauce and an "egg" made with coconut and sriracha sauce. Although I am not vegan, I love plant based food and Wagamamas have a great vegan menu. We went to the branch at Milton Keynes shopping centre rather than a slightly closer one as H needed to look in Primark for something and I wanted to get some bar shampoo from Lush and soap from the Body Shop (trying to stick to toiletries without plastic packaging where I can). We got there just before the shops closed, so it was quiet enough, but apparently it had been crazily busy earlier in the day, presumably because lots of people wanted to go before the lockdown starts. We are fortunate in that our area has relatively low rates of Covid (about half the national average) so going out still feels reasonably safe. Rates have been going up quite fast though, so even here a spell of tight restrictions seems sensible. Hopefully it will put us in a much better position by December.