Day Eight-Four - Cream Teas and Renewed Acquaintances

 Flashy red sports car stops outside. Figure gets out carrying a bag. Ring at the doorbell. And there blasting from the past one of my friend's exes. Father of her children.  When I worked in the civil service one of my colleagues was this young girl in her early 20s who was seated at the desk next to me. Even though I am older than her mum we somehow hit it off as friends. And it always made us laugh that we were good friends and yet I was old enough to be her mum.  We were generally very silly together and would quote great swathes of Monty Python at each other. She got together with this guy who also worked in the civil service and they stayed together long enough to have a couple of children. They relocated to Devon. I don't get to see her very often but we've continued to stay in regular contact. If the boys come to stay with their dad and she comes up too then she comes to see me. We've adopted the routine over the years at birthdays and Christmas of asking each other which books we'd like and sending them to each other via Amazon. This year she sent me Hilary Mantel's the Mirror and the Light. Very excited to read that. But she came up with the idea of getting Craig, her ex, to drop round all the components for a Cornish clotted cream tea! She lives in Devon and I think they have cream teas there too.  Such a lovely surprise. And I chatted with Craig for a good while because I haven't seen him since their youngest son, Zak who must be about 12 or 13 now, was a baby.

 I was pleased to see that since yesterday morning the COVID-19 snake has grown by about 20 or 30 more stones. So my silly glitter green thing doesn't stand out quite so obviously.  I didn't take a photo today. I'll let it get a bit longer before I take any more.

 My friend's daughter who lives in Portugal wants to come over to be with her mum during this incredibly difficult time. But I'm very worried. The journey she'll have to make involves a train and a plane and whilst I don't doubt her own ability to sanitise efficiently I don't trust other people. And then when she gets here I don't know which airport she'll arrive at and whether she will have to self isolate for 14 days. I don't know how she's going to do that. I'll have to think about this and see if we can't come  up with a logistically sound plan that keeps everybody safe. I have no doubt that emotionally and mentally it will do my friend the world of good to have her daughter nearby. But it does pose a hell of a risk. Physically.

The weather has taken a downturn. I know we need the rain. We really do but the contrast is unnerving. I'm going to admit this and I'm not proud, let me tell you. But last night I put the heating on for an hour. I know, I know. It's June how could I?  But I was cold and it was my birthday so think of it as a little treat. There was a brief spell today when the sun was out and it felt warm again. But I've actually got a jumper on right now over my tee. However I did get the bedding dry on the line outside.

The anti racism riots and protests seem to have overtaken coronavirus as being the main thrust in the news. That's kind of interesting to see how people's focus has shifted. And with it of course the motivation to follow the lockdown protocols have gone. Apparently people are wearing face masks but not social distancing. Well I guess we just sit tight and wait and see what happens to the figures. There are still concerns because the R number is going up in certain regions. If people from those regions travel to other regions the virus gets spread blah blah blah. We're not out of this yet by a long chalk.