Vaccine Time!

This week seems to have flown by! Two pieces of good news to report since I last wrote - my back is feeling very much better and, best of all, I have my first Covid vaccination booked for next Monday afternoon. A friend of M's told him on Wednesday that the NHS online booking site had opened up slots for over 60s, so I checked it out and was able to get a quick, local appointment. I was also able to book my  second jab for May at the same time. The timing couldn't be better, as M will be going back to work on Tuesday and TG will be going back to school on Friday 12th. She has to go in on Friday 5th for a Covid test, then the school are staggering returns over the following week, with her year group going in last. Getting my vaccine just as two family members start going out and mixing with other people is perfect timing. 

With my back feeling better we have been able to get out and do slightly longer walks again. Our wellies arrived so we tested them out on Tuesday. I rather stupidly decided we would brave the woods, and even with wellies it was a slippery, gloopy, unpleasant experience. There isn't any rain forecast over the next couple of weeks, so perhaps it will start to dry out. On Wednesday we walked into town as I needed to pick up a chocolate Easter egg I had ordered for H using a "click and collect" service. I have learned the hard way that dairy free eggs can be hard to find if not bought well in advance, and she had spotted this particular one (salted caramel, "milk" chocolate) online and dropped a large hint, so I decided to be efficient and buy it early. After a walk round town and collecting the egg, we went into a coffee shop and picked up sweet treats to bring home for all four of us, and a coffee for me to drink on the way home. 

As we walked back we spotted this narrow boat carrying cargo - apparently it delivers fuel for people living on houseboats. Yesterday we met friends for a walk round the woods and country park. We walked in two separate pairs to keep to the exercise rules, but stopped at a cafe which was doing takeaway food and bought sandwiches and coffee for lunch. All the picnic tables were taped off to stop people sitting down and eating, so we perched on a little wooden wall to eat and drink before walking back again. Since we walked the same route with them back in January a lot of trees had been cut down to open up the area and try to reestablish the native heathland. It will be interesting to see how it develops over the next few months. 

The weather has been so much better this week, bright and sometimes almost warm. I have been able to wear a lighter jacket rather than my winter coat. It is also really noticeable how much noisier the birds are now that spring is round the corner. Today's walk was along the canal. This route passes a lock which is having its gates replaced. The new gates have been lifted into the drained lock, and are waiting to be put into position. These things are huge - I would guess about 12 feet tall - and extremely heavy, so replacing them is no easy job. 

Talking of tall, I measured TG today. She has grown again and is now 5 feet 5 inches tall. After spending years desperate to grow - she has always been very petite - she has decided she would like to stop now, thank you. Apparently average was all that she required, and she doesn't want to get any taller. I am slightly annoyed as I was convinced I was going to have one daughter shorter than I am - nope! Apart from going out for walks, things have been very much the normal lockdown routine of puttering about at home. I am getting some time in on research and writing, nearly through reading Jan Morris's first book on the British Empire (an excellent read, but not a quick one), and am now on the second sleeve of the jumper I am knitting for myself. 

And Yet More Mud!

We did a lot of walking over the weekend - I am determined to keep moving, despite the grumbling back. On Saturday we pushed the envelope a bit and met up with R (plus dog) for a walk at Woburn. We ended up doing a 5 mile circuit around Woburn Park and the small village of Eversholt. It was a lovely springlike morning. And yes, there was much mud! I tried in the New Year to buy wellies, but the only pairs I could find online were ridiculously expensive. However R had managed to find some recently through an online sports retailer, so after just barely making it through some very dicy sections without disaster I came home and ordered a pair each for myself and M.  

I spotted this postbox in Eversholt and assumed that the GR meant King George VI. When I looked it up, I discovered it is actually George V, so a genuinely antique letter box, still in use. George VI's monogram has a little 'VI' in it and a more ornate crown. 

Some of the mud. The picture really doesn't show the full extent of the gloopy, slippy, nastiness. Rather nicer was spotting some of the deer, including some in woodland who were so well camouflaged they were only easy to see when they were moving. By the time we got home from our walk H had gone out to walk with her BF. She had tried to persuade him to walk a marathon but failed and they compromised on a half marathon. The managed the full 13 miles, which was impressive not just for the distance but because they didn't encounter any major muddy stretches! 

We did another four mile walk yesterday, mud free this time, down through the town to the canal, along the tow path and back up via the only dry path up past the woods. We narrowly missed some excitement on the way. I discovered later from a local social media group that within half an hour or so of us walking along a particular road, one of the residents was digging in his garden and unearthed a WW2 bomb. The area was closed off, a few people were evacuated and the bomb squad dealt with what turned out to be a mortar they described as "not viable". Even nearly 80 years after the war it is not that unusual for bits of unexploded ordinance to turn up, though fortunately it is extremely rare for any to explode. Several years ago my brother had a job cutting turf in a field near a former WW2 airfield and uncovered a bomb which had to be defused. I was amused that the resident interviewed by the local press about yesterday's incident took the view that at least it had made the day interesting and different from all the other identical lockdown days!  

This afternoon the government announced its plans for lifting lockdown in stages over the next four months. As predicted schools will be reopening in two weeks time, then at the end of March people will be allowed to socialise outside in groups of six. If the vaccine rollout continues to go to plan and nothing adverse gets in the way non-essential shops, gyms, hairdressers and so on will open on April 12th, along with outside areas of pubs and restaurants. Inside socialising and full opening of pubs and restaurants is expected in May, and if all continues to go well, then all restrictions and social distancing will be lifted before the end of June. On the one hand, several more weeks with not much changing (apart from schools) seems a long time; on the other, pretty much back to normal by the summer seems too good to be true. Self-catering holiday accommodation can reopen on 12th April, which means that the trip to Cornwall we were meant to take last Easter can't happen this Easter either (no great surprise!), so we will probably end up going in April 2022.  

Mud, Glorious Mud

I felt up to a longer walk today and wanted countryside instead of pavements, so we did one of our usual three mile routes from last year, hoping it would not be too muddy. We were wrong. It wasn't glorious mud either; it was nasty, gloopy mud with puddles. These were our boots after we slithered down the last of the awful bit, through a gate and onto only slightly squelchy grass. Ugh. 

Despite the mud there were more signs of spring, and it was lovely and bright. Despite a slightly crisp wind I was able to wear just a fleece as a top layer, rather than a thick coat. It is really noticeable now that it is staying light much later in the afternoon, not getting dark until between 5.30 and 6. The effort of balancing and keeping upright during the slippy bits of the walk and having to zig-zag around the worst of the puddles didn't agree with my back, and I have been stiff and achy for the rest of the day. I have managed the day without any painkillers though, so that is progress. 

I spent a chunk of the morning going through newspaper reports about lawsuits one of the women I am researching brought in 1907 against a former friend - they had shared a house until the friend fell in love with and married the landlady's son, after which things turned nasty. They sent in the bailiff to claim unpaid rent - my lady paid up but then sued both the landlady and the bailiff for damages, and brought a slander case against her ex-friend, which she won. However, when she took goods from the friend and her husband to cover unpaid damages, the landlady managed to prove they all belonged to her and they had to be given back again. It was all an extraordinary mess! This afternoon I watched the first Harry Potter movie with TG at her request, with a break in the middle for our walk. I cooked butter chicken curry for dinner - M fended for himself as he doesn't like curry, whereas the rest of us love it. We discovered a small family company that sells curry sauces at the BBC Good Food Show a couple of years ago, and have been ordering them online ever since. They are *so* good! 

 

Pancake Day

The weather forecast was right and it is now very much warmer. Today I even went out for a walk with a jacket rather than a winter coat. There are noticeable signs of spring now, and the birds are definitely getting noisier. My back is still being a pain (literally!) although it is definitely feeling better than it did. Yesterday and today I managed slightly longer walks. Yesterday I grumbled a lot as walking hurt, but today it was easier. I am trying to be patient and to make sure that my back is well supported when I sit. Another improvement was that last night it was easier to find a comfortable position lying down, so I sleep much better than I had the previous couple of nights. 

It is TG's half term week, and usually we would go on at least one trip out somewhere. Mid-lockdown that is not an option, so today we used Uber Eats to order lunch from Subway - a favourite of hers - as a half-term treat. Last time we ordered through Uber Eats the delivery driver came by motorbike, today it was a large taxi van - slightly over the top for four sandwiches! Taxis must be struggling for custom with all the Covid restrictions, so I suppose delivering at least gives them some business. 

We have always given the girls small rewards when they have good school reports (usually either £5 or their choice of edible treats), but this time TG's report was so exceptionally good we decided it would be good to let her choose something a bit bigger. We were thinking clothes, but she had just done some online clothes shopping and said she would really like a galaxy light for her room. We ordered one for her which arrived this afternoon and she is thrilled with it. She has been doing quite a bit of primping of her room lately at her own expense but a light would have been beyond her limited budget.  

Today is Shrove Tuesday which is better known as Pancake Day in the UK, so dinner was pancakes (crepes) with various combinations of strawberries, chocolate hazelnut spread, Biscoff, golden syrup, ice cream, sugar and lemon, according to taste. The girls have a Biscoff obsession, I went for strawberries and chocolate spread, and M only ever has sugar and lemon with pancakes. The origin of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday is supposed to be it allowed people to use up eggs and milk before Lent, but it is a tradition which has stuck. 

Getting Warmer

Thankfully the boiler was fixed on Friday, after what the engineer described as "open heart surgery". We felt for him, working in a freezing cold garage on a day when the temperature didn't reach zero. We are still properly appreciating the joy of having heating and hot water. Hot baths! Hot showers! Bliss! A claim for a refund for the cost has gone in to British Gas, so we are hoping that goes through smoothly. 

It was still bitterly cold yesterday, and we went for a three mile walk around the canal/woods circle. Large icicles had formed round the edges of the flowing water where the weir drains overflow from the canal. I took a photo and used the live loop effect to turn it into a mini video of running water, but can't work out how to post that here. In the photo below you can see the ducks standing on ice near the boats. 

The paths through the woods which have been impassably muddy were thoroughly frozen, so we were able to crunch our way back home through the wintry looking trees. The white on the ground is ice rather than snow. Today has been a little warmer, then tomorrow the temperature is forecast to rise dramatically and it looks as though next week may even start to feel like spring. 

I'm feeling slightly annoyed with myself as last week, instead of sitting on a proper chair at a desk, I spent long hours working sitting on the bed huddled under blankets. I could feel my back starting to ache, but ignored it - as a result I now have what I think is mild sciatica (tender, aching hip and leg), and after doing a yoga class this morning, a very sore lower back. I am fortunate in that my back is pretty robust and it is rare for me to have any back pain, which is why I didn't bother to move when it first started to twinge. Lesson learned. It is feeling a bit easier this evening, and I'm reasonably confident that if I treat it gently for the next few days it will clear, but there was a lot of creaking and groaning earlier on today! 

Everyone over 70 or who is extremely clinically vulnerable has now been offered vaccines and they are moving on to over 65s and people with other less severe health conditions. Asthmatics are only being prioritised if their asthma is severe or poorly controlled so I will have to wait until they get to the over 60s, but I am hoping that will be by early March. M should also get his second dose around that time. Between vaccine progress and warmer weather things are definitely looking up! 

Elements, Empire and Excellence

It is still bitterly cold - down to minus 6º C last night - but we are hanging in there with the heaters. I did skip Zoom band last night because the thought of trying to warm up our freezing cold dining room (the only suitable place to play) was just too much! We have also managed to hang in with our daily walks, well wrapped up against the elements. Today felt particularly cold, but it was bright and there was a gorgeous sky. I am also beginning to spot a few snowdrops and crocuses flowering, as a sign that spring really is just around the corner even if it doesn't feel that way during this cold spell.

I am enjoying having a relatively free week - no work yesterday or today, though a small job came in which I may work on tomorrow, or could leave until next week. I have been getting stuck in to some research and writing, though it has involved some digging around on Ancestry which has left me with a number of unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, questions. I am reading Heaven's Command by Jan Morris, the first of her trilogy about the British Empire. I was a little doubtful about it before I started reading, as views of Britain's imperial past have (rightly) changed a great deal in the 50 years or so since it was written. I needn't have worried. She is quite explicit that she writes from the perspective of a subject (and former soldier) of the last days of Empire, looking back over a vanished past, and it is easy enough to take the book on its own terms, knowing that it is just one side of the story. As ever, she is a master storyteller, and a quarter of the way through the book I have already learned just how much I didn't know - the attempts by the Royal Navy to stamp out the slave trade, the Great Trek of the Afrikaners in South Africa, the Thugs in India, the Canadian frontier, the doomed retreat from Kabul in 1842. I am knitting while I read, and have almost finished the back of a cotton cricket/tennis style jumper which I am hoping to knit quickly enough to be able to wear it in the spring.  

TG's mid-year school report arrived yesterday and, bless her, was literally perfect. They assess attitude to learning, behaviour, and effort/homework for each subject, and she was graded excellent for all three across the board. Her projected GCSE grades were all as good as or higher than her last report, and all 8s apart from a couple of 7s (all A / A* under the old grading system). She has never had a poor report, but this is the first time nothing has fallen below excellent. Given the difficulties this year and the fact she has been having to learn remotely, we are extremely proud of her for working so hard, particularly as she gets herself organised for school and does everything independently without having to be chivvied into getting up or getting work done. The school is organising virtual parents evenings by video link later this month - somehow I don't think any of her teachers are going to have any issues! I do recognise that her temperament makes school easy for her and it isn't a reflection of parenting skill on our part. She is by nature a pragmatic rule keeper so just gets on with things, and is bright enough that she rarely has to struggle to understand anything. I only wish I had been such a hard worker when I was at school!   

The Pros and Cons of Cold Showers

I have been researching the benefits of cold showers. Supposedly they boost the immune system (good in times of Covid!), improve sleep, increase endorphins, boost the metabolism and can even help with weight loss. On the other hand, they are ... nasty! Particularly when the water temperature is barely above freezing. I am managing to grit my teeth and put up with them, while reminding myself that they are good for me and that cleanliness is next to Godliness!

The predicted snow arrived, but although it snowed quite steadily only about an inch settled. M and I wrapped up warm and went out for a walk while the snow was still falling at lunchtime. We have been managing to keep reasonably warm indoors with the various electric heaters. Winner of the most effective heater prize has been the smallest and cheapest - H's £10 fan heater which she brought home from uni. We also won't have to suffer the heater-juggling and cold showers for much longer. After going through all the paperwork carefully we are confident that the heating insurance policy covers the repair and as we have an email from British Gas telling us to get an independent heating engineer in to fix it and that they will refund the cost, we now have the repair booked for this Friday. 

TG's school have a system where they send out complimentary postcards to acknowledge particularly good work or effort, and she received a French postcard today, recognising her efforts in attending all her early morning classes (on Google Classroom, not in person!) and saying that her work has been excellent. It amuses me that our family splits very clearly in two when it comes to languages. M and R don't click with learning languages at all and are complete monoglots; on the other hand H has a languages degree, I pick up languages fairly easily, and TG definitely has an aptitude for French.

More Domestic Disaster

The domestic disasters have continued. Yesterday the boiler went out and refused to relight. We have heating insurance with British Gas so called them - the first date they can send someone out is February 23rd. However, they authorised us to find a local heating engineer and said they would reimburse the cost. Following recommendations on a community website we phoned an engineer who came round later in the afternoon to take a look. Initially he thought it just needed something cleaning out, but when he got the boiler restarted he realised the fan was faulty. It also has a corroded heat exchanger and the total to repair both would be over £1000. He felt it was unlikely that British Gas would authorise that level of expenditure without looking at the boiler themselves, so we now have to sit it out and wait. We are half expecting them to say that the boiler is not worth repairing and needs replacing (which would have been the engineer's recommendation if it wasn't for the insurance cover), but while there is a chance we can get it fixed it is worth being patient and hoping that they are prepared to sign off on repair (covered) rather than replacement (not covered). 

So, we are now expecting to spend most of February without central heating or hot water. Lovely friends and neighbours have lent us heaters, H has a fan heater she had at uni, and we bought another one this morning. We have managed to keep the house quite warm today, although there was a hiccup this morning when running too many heaters plus the tumble dryer tripped a fuse on the main socket circuit. Water is a whole different matter! Cold showers in winter are definitely bracing. At least I have now replaced the shower head so it is a cold shower rather than hosing down with cold water! M and I can handle living with cold showers. TG is also very stoically managing, even coping with washing her long hair in cold water. H was determined she would manage a hot, or at least warm, bath. It took her 15 kettles of boiling water. Of course, as we have no heating, the temperatures outside a plunging and we are in for a week where it isn't forecast to get much above freezing at any point. When I last looked out of the window it was hovering between rain and snow, and it is expected to turn to snow overnight. 

We have mostly been sticking to local pavement walks of a couple of miles to avoid the mud, though we did go to the country park yesterday. As we walked back up the path towards the car we passed an elderly couple who were putting out nuts for the birds and squirrels and I was able to get close enough to this robin to get a decent photo with my phone - it can't handle taking pictures of small birds at any sort of distance. After we got back from the walk I spent the afternoon swapping between boiler issues and cooking as we had invited a couple of friends to a virtual dinner party - we dropped of their meal and then ate "together" on Zoom. By the time we had done what we could about the boiler and resigned ourselves to a chilly month we were very ready for a social distraction and a bottle of wine! 

I have been busy this week knitting hats. I fell in love with a pattern that looks like winter fir trees and knitted it for myself. I cannibalised an old hat that I never wear (it was an emergency buy in Primark for £2 before going ice skating on a cold day a few years ago) for the furry pom-pom on the top. Then M's hat developed a hole so I knit him a quick replacement using some leftover chunky yarn I found. I can see from my Ravelry projects that the last hat lasted him ten years, so I can hardly begrudge him a new one! Now the hats are done I have started on a soft cotton jumper for spring/summer. I spent quite a bit of today reading and have finished The Secret Chapter, the sixth book in the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. These are light, fun fantasy and I have enjoyed all of them. Somehow I missed this one, which was published in 2019, so I still have the most recent book in the series left to read. 

Minor Domestic Disasters

Today has been much warmer - 12 degrees (centigrade) when we went out for a walk after lunch - but as I write this I am listening to the rain coming down outside. The forecast is for it to get much colder again by the weekend, with a few days cold enough that we may get some more snow. On Sunday night H and G shuffled furniture around in her room to make space for a second desk (they borrowed TG's dressing table, which is multi-purpose and works as a small desk). During an abortive attempt to move her wardrobe, they uncovered a patch of damp and mould at the top of the wall behind it, which I suspect is due to the guttering needing either cleaning out or replacing. Something is clearly not coping with all the rain as it should! We meant to have a good look at the outside when we went for our walk today but forgot - must remember to check tomorrow, so that we can call someone to fix it. 

Everything seems to be falling-apart at the moment - the shower hose sprung a leak, the doorbell stopped working and couldn't be revived by a new battery, and then yesterday one of the kitchen cupboard doors fell off its hinges again. I managed to fix it last year by gluing toothpicks into the hole so that the screws could find some grip; hopefully I can manage it again. We have pretty much decided to replace the kitchen units this year, so I just need to patch it up well enough to last a few months. 

I bought a bunch of daffodils in bud last week and they are now brightening up the corner of the sitting room. This is the smaller of the two vases I bought recently - they are the same shape, just different sizes. I love how simple they are, and they display the flowers so much better than the old vases I have been using for years. 

My archives working week is done and I will finish our current freelance job tomorrow, which means four clear days to look forward to. Time to read, write, research and craft, I hope. I am knitting myself a hat which is colour work and needs much more concentration than most things I make. It is a long time since I did anything like this, so I am enjoying the challenge. I am hoping to get it done this week, as even with the extra effort of juggling two balls of yarn simultaneously, it doesn't take long to knit a hat.