Enjoying the Sun

After a rather lazy day yesterday, I had two things on the calendar for today - very much of a novelty after three months of lockdown. Early in the afternoon I went to my first live band practice this year. When I say band, that is a slight overstatement - the current regulations allow for six people to play together outdoors, so there were three short sessions with 5 or 6 people in each. We are able to use a grass area behind the village hall where the band used to rehearse (after over 80 years in the same place we recently moved to a local school, where there is more space). 

When we finished I drove home to pick up TG, then we went to Milton Keynes to meet up with H for a walk. Poor M couldn't come with us as he was working today. We parked at the northern, quieter end of a lake which is a very popular place for locals, especially on a warm spring day. We walked past the Peace Pagoda, which when it was built was the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. It is next to a Buddhist monastery, which we discovered had a small but rather lovely Japanese style garden. 

It was a beautiful afternoon and there were a lot of people out and about, with groups enjoying picnics and BBQs. Some of these were definitely larger than they were supposed to be (socialising outdoors is currently supposed to be limited to 6 people or two households). There were also lots of people out on the lake, which has a water sports area and pedalos. The UK does not require masks outdoors (the risk of outdoor transmission of Covid is considered to be very low) and very few people wear them, so it felt very much like a normal (and busy!) warm spring or summer day. MK has joined the electric scooter boom, with scooters that can be picked up anywhere they happen to be and left anywhere, with rental paid through an app. There were quite a number of people using them and when we saw some waiting for riders we were tempted to have a go, but decided we would be better off testing them when there were less people around - we didn't want to put pedestrians at risk through our incompetence. 

After our walk we stopped off at a drive through Tim Hortons to pick up iced coffees and took them back to H's house. Their new sofa arrived yesterday and they are delighted with it - comfy and big enough to sprawl out on. It is supposed to seat four, but would probably take five or six at a squish. They also got some garden furniture, so we were able to sit outdoors in the sun to drink our coffees. With the big patio doors open, their house is beautifully light and airy. They still have a couple of minor wrinkles to iron out, but are pretty much there now with getting everything organised and how they want it. 

TG and I have been watching Wandavision on Disney Plus, me for the second time and her for the first, and we got through three or four episodes over the weekend. I have been reading a book about prehistoric Britain and have made a good start on knitting a jumper. It is a warm, woolly one, so probably not the best thing to knit as we are coming up to summer, but the wool was waiting to be used. I am trying to knit up yarn I already have rather then buy more. All in all, it has been a good weekend with a nice mix of relaxation and getting out and about and enjoying the new normal.