Nettles!

Pic of the week 26/4/20

One of the (few) bonuses of lock down has been Boris walks – we are permited to exercise daily – may be a run, a cycle of a walk – and I have begun to join Becky and Sam on their evening perambulations (Sophie rarely leaves the house).

We’ve become more adventurous, ranging further and further from the house and yesterday evening we broke new ground.  We headed down to Pomparles bridge, but crossed the road and followed the Brue to the north.  We’d not been going long before we realised the error of our ways – the path was flanked – swamped – by nettles and I was wearing shorts and, although Becky had leggings on, they didn’t cover her ankles.

We were getting stung. Mercilessly.

Fortunately Sam had had the sense to wear long trousers and so we commanded him to take the lead, and like a land based ice breaker, stomp down all the nettles in our path, to cut a narrow furrow for us to pass through.

We still got stung lots, but we made it through. It turned out to be a beautiful walk, we saw swans and herons and, as we headed home, the sun was setting, a most magnificent ball of red in the sky.  A view worth the pain of a few nettle stings.

During the day on Saturday and Sunday, I spent much time in the garden, swapping the spring bulbs for summer bedding. Much earlier than I normally would – a combination of beautiful weather and a lock-down regime of no Saturday school, and no distractions from beyond our for walls.

The garden is looking much neater, and ready for its summer show. The only downside is that, in lock down, our “green” is not being collected and the tip is shut, so I have an ever increasing pile of clippings and weeds mounting in a corner by the shed.

And two running milestones were met today:

  1. A passed 300 Km for the year
  2. My first sun 48 min 10K – didn’t just creep under, but smashed it. Missed out 47 mins altogether and posted a time of 46 min 48 secs.

End of the hols …?

Pic of the week 19/4/20

Rog posted the above pic on Facebook today – he was given the photo on the left today, he already had the faded copy on the right.

The two photos are different – although I had forgotten all about this pic, as soon as I saw it I remembered it, but like Rog, I didn’t know two versions existed.  We think it (they) were taken in Farnsfield in the early ’70’s. I’ve always loved this photo, I was a cheeky, smiley, happy little chappy then, and like to think I still am.

In other news, today marks the end of the Easter holidays, but I’m not going back into school tomorrow as we remain under “lock down” so I will start the term teaching remotely. There is now some discussion as to when schools will go back – I can see after half term being a possibility, but I can’t see it being practical. Will be interesting to see how the next few weeks pan out – if I’m honest, it doesn’t seem like the end of the holidays, more that I’ll have a few things I have to do in my week. I think I need to embrace the structure of the working day, even if its a shortened working day, and make sure I have several productive hours each day.

We continue to live in strange times.

 

Promotion!

Pic of the week 12/4/20

This week it was official – I’ve been promoted by Somerset FA, to a level 6 referee. Due to weather, and then lockdown, I never received my third observation, but given that my first two were above standard expected, and that I’d met all the other criteria – including doing well in excess of my 20 qualifying games – I never really doubted the outcome, but I was pleased to get the letter nonetheless – an achievement!  I know need to decide whether to push on to become a level 5; I must admit at the moment I’m tempted, but not sure when football will start again, so will have to put that decision on hold for a while.

In other news, the weather has been glorious for the last few days and I’ve really enjoyed our family meals – lunch and tea – outside. Lockdown ain’t so bad – we live in a big enough house, have a lovely garden and all (ie the children) are old enough to do their own thing and everyone respects each other’s personal space, but we come together at mealtimes for some lovely family time – its possible that lockdown my be our last pro-longed family time. Perhaps in the years to come we’ll look back, through rose tinted specs, at the “happy times of lockdown”!  The wonderful weather has helped, and Becky having the last three days off has also been a big part in making this a wonderful Easter weekend to remember.

Lock-down haircut

Pic of the week 5/4/20

Since Christmas, I’ve been experimenting with growing my hair. I was beginning to arrive at the conclusion that long(er) hair was not for me and I was looking forward to the arrival of Di for our monthly haircuts.

But then lock-down came, and she didn’t. My already long(ish) hair was getting longer. I knew I couldn’t cope with an ever more shaggy mane for weeks to come, so a quick “trip” to Amazon, and we had a family set of clippers.

This week, Becky set to work on my locks. Pretty much a buzz-cut, except for a little fringe at the front.

I love it.

Sam had an all over buzz-cut. Perhaps a little less successful, but at least he’s got some time for it to grow back.

Other than hair, I have settled in to holiday lock-down routine. Each morning I’ve been for a run – either 9K or 10K, although I’ve decided that tomorrow I will have a rest day.  The weather has now picked up and promises to get even better this week. I’ve been (slowly) working my way through my list of outside jobs. Each evening, at circa 5 pm, we tune in to the latest government pronouncements on the radio, and then enjoy our family meal together.

Its all a little weird, but weird is quickly becoming normal.