A Busy Weekend

Although it was only two days ago Friday has already receded into the mists of time and I can't remember much about it, except that we ordered fish and chips for dinner. In times of lockdown even small things like a takeaway provide some excitement in a day. Ah, yes ... M also took TG in to school for her pre-return Covid test. He had emailed in a copy of the consent form, and gave her the hard copy to take in just in case. The email had gone astray and TG forgot the form, so she had to come back out to the car and get him to fill in another one. Shades of past frustrations when we have sent various daughters to school with forms, letters and so on which they have then failed to hand in. Something about school bags apparently causes them to grab pieces of paper and refuse to release them - I used to periodically ransack their bags for "forgotten" letters home, fortunately now I can usually just check the school website! 

Yesterday we went for our longest walk in months, coming in at over 5 miles according to my watch, with a long stretch along the canal. The new lock gates are now in and working. There was a boat going through as we passed. There hawthorn bush we saw beginning to bloom last week had more flowers, and I noticed a few others flowering. After the canal we walked round the lake, which looked beautifully blue in the sun. On the way back home we ran into someone we know but hadn't seen for a long time, so stopped for a (socially distanced) chat. 

Our holiday plans have evolved some more, and we decided to add in a trip to Greece at the beginning of August. Greece is supposedly planning to accept British tourists from May onwards if they have either been fully vaccinated (M and I) or have a negative Covid test (TG, we hope!). Their record on Covid has been pretty good, and we think it is likely that if the British government allows us to go abroad Greece is one of the most likely countries for a travel corridor. We are usually independent travellers, but this time we booked through a large travel company as it has good policies in place for refunds and alterations if necessary and we wanted that security. Whether it will happen or not, I don't know, but now we have been vaccinated, we are comfortable with the idea of flying again. TG says she misses airports! If it happens, it will be our first holiday on the Greek mainland rather than an island - we have booked to go to Parga, on the western coast opposite the Ionian islands. 

Yesterday was a big day for H and her BF as they were able to go inside of their house for the first time so they could take some measurements. It is now all done except for flooring and turf in the garden. Apparently the NHBC inspection needs to be done before they put the flooring in. That should take place at the beginning of next week and everything should be finished soon after. Then it just needs the final paperwork doing and the money transferring, and the house will be theirs. Very exciting for them! 

M went over to Milton Keynes bright and early this morning for his second vaccine dose, so he is now officially "done". He had the Pfizer vaccine, which has again left him with a very sore arm. No other side effects so far, though he was warned the second dose is often worse than the first. While he was out I did a yoga class - or, rather, attempted a yoga class. I haven't slept well for much of this week, though last night was much better, and that combined with yesterday's long walk had left me overtired and wobbly. My balance is poor at the best of times; today it was atrocious. I stuck it out to the end, though I had to take lots of rests. We went out for a walk again this afternoon, but only a short one. I cooked our Sunday roast today instead of H. She usually likes to do it but had quite a lot she needed to catch up on this weekend and so was short of time. I'm hoping for another good night's sleep before my working "week" starts tomorrow (not sure I can really count two days as a working week!). As I write this our neighbourhood owl is being very noisy - lots of hooting. Do owls get louder in the spring like other birds, I wonder?