A Global Pandemic, Social Distancing and spending more time with nature

I have not been blogging recently - partly, of course, because my usual subject matter of theatre trips and exhibitions hasn't been available, (although there are a couple of shows I saw just before all this started, which I had not got around to blogging about), partly because I haven't had the mental energy;   and partly as I have been working from home and spending 7 hours a day staring at a laptop screen, so doing more of it for leisure hasn't really appealed. 

 It's a very strange time to be living through. I am angry and ashamed at how poorly our government has dealt with the pandemic, the failures in providing adequate PPE, the lack of testing and tracing, and so much more, and,in common, I suspect with most people, I am worried for y family and friends. (My close family are all currently well,mercifully, but knowing how many work in front line medical roles, or have pre-exisiting conditions or vulnerabilities is  a source of constant, underlying anxiety. And sadly, I have friends who have not been so fortunate.)

And of course, it's a situation which adds all sorts of new stresses and problems to being a business owner - I admit to having felt a certain amount of envy of those who are furloughed and have a steady income, at least for the present!

I am primarily working from home - we have furloughed some of our staff, and those of us who are working are, where possible, working from home, while means that when it isn't possible, the office is empty enough that it's possible to maintain appropriate distancing. When I have needed to go in, I've mostly done son during the evening or at weekends, when it is quieter or even empty. After 3 days f working from my dining table, I cleared off my old desk (bought for me by my parents, when I was around 12 or 13) in order to be able to separate my work space from my living space, and a few days after that I manhandled my office chair into my car to bring it home, as sitting at a dining chair for hours a day is...not good. I's much harder work, and less efficient, than being able to work normally from the office, but it's the best I can do right now.

However, it is not all gloom and doom. As well as the stress and anxiety there are positives. I am deeply grateful that I live where I do, in a rural area, with a house large enough that I don't feel too confined, and with the luxury of a garden. I would have found lockdown in my previous house, which was smaller, and where several of the neighbours lived loud and at times volatile lives, and their children had nowhere much to play except the street, much harder. 

I already had a good relationship with both sets of immediate neighbours before this started,  which has been a boon - we've checked in on each other,  shared  relevant information about services available in the village, and each time we have a grocery delivery or click-and-collect have checked in to see if the others need anything adding. 

My right hand neighbours have even been delivering a paper to me, on Saturdays, (I had mentioned, in passing, that  it was the non-essential purchase I was missing, and as they normally do a run to the village shop for essentials on a Saturday morning,they've been buying a paper and putting it through my door, which is lovely.

I also feel very lucky that I am am able to go out every day for my one,  government endorsed, Permitted Exercise each day, and that I have such lovely countryside in which to walk. It's rural enough that most days, I either don't see anyone, or just see  one or two people walking or walking dogs, and there is plenty of space to stay over 2m apart.

There are lots of public footpaths, so I can vary my route, and I've enjoyed watching the fields, woods and hedgerows change as Spring advances, from bare branches and frosty mornings, when lockdown started, through the blooming of primroses,  blackthorn and hawthorn, then wild violets, bluebells and wild garlic, and the trees coming into leaf, and now, flower. 

I have also enjoyed seeing more wildlife - initially, it was mostly rabbits, in all the fields, and commoner types of bird, such as robins, blackbirds, bluetits  and sparrows.

Chaffinch

I have also spotted wrens several times,which gives me great pleasure. I love wrens, they are so tiny, and so very bolshy and territorial despite their size. (also uncooperative - I haven't managed to get a picture of any of them, yet) 

Great Tit

However, as Spring has advanced, and I have explored more and found less frequented paths, I have also seen deer - I've been getting better at walking softly and appearing unthreatening, so I can get closer without causing them to flee.

Roe Deer bucj

There have been foxes, gorgeous, bright red ones, and smaller, leaner ones.

And, in the past week, I even found a den where there are a family of fox cubs

I am not yet quite sure how many there are. I am absolutely certain there are 3, as I have seen three of them at the same time. 

I am nearly sure that there are four, and there might be as many as five. 

They are adorable - just like puppies, when they relax and start playing they yip and bark and make little squeaky noises, and while they are wary enough to disappear back into their earth if I move to fast or get too close, if I am patient, they will often re-emerge 

I saw a rather thin and harassed looking fox in the same field, which I assumed was their mother, but I have since seen another, much larger and redder and sleeker one, too, and have read up and learned that foxes cooperate to raise their cubs, and there will often be a group of 4 or 5 foxes (male and females) cooperating to raise one litter of cubs.

They sometimes have more than one vixen who has a litter, and raise them together, co-parenting fox style, but generally just the most important vixen will have cubs. (Nature being what it is, the strongest cubs get most food and attention,and develop faster - I am hoping that all of 'mine' survive - the smallest of them is (seen in my first photo) is extremely cute, and I really he hope that s/he makes it, as well as the bigger ones.

I have a bigger selection of wildlife pictures on flickr.

My neighbours tell me that they've seen a hedgehog in their garden - I hope it visits mine, too, although I haven't seen it so far, and I am hoping I might manage to see a badger at some stage. 

I must go now - my neighbours have just arrived to deliver some scones and cake they have been baking, (from a socially approved distance, of course! )

How is everyone else's lock down treating them?

Wonderful food, and A Visit to the National Gallery

I recently had a day in London, and took the opportunity to revisit Mere, Monica Galetti's restaurant, for lunch. 

I'd been once before, with my friend A, a little over a year ago, and had been looking for an opportunity to go back! 

Starter - Asparagus and Morels - Ragout, Broad Beans, Marmite
Mushroom Puree, Madeira Sauce

It was well worth it! They've just changed to their Spring menu, which meant lots of lovely fresh flavours.  I was only there for lunch, and didn't feel I had time for the full tasting menu, but as it turned out, since I was given 2 amuse-bouches as well as the courses I actually ordered. All of which were delicious!

Main - Herdwick Lamb - Cannon, Sweetbread & Tongue,
Black Garlic, Courgette & Basil, Lemon Thyme

   
It was all glorious, and, as you can see, beautiful to look at as well! I also got to try sweetbreads for the first time (my verdict is that I like them, or at least I like them if they have been cooked by Monica Galetti.)

Dessert - Yuzu and Rhubarb
Yuzu Posset, Rhubarb Compote, Ginger Shortbread, Rhubarb Sorbet

Well worth a visit if you are in London, (and while it isn't cheap, they do do a fixed price lunch menu during the week, as well as the tasting menu and a la carte).

After lunch, I went to the theatre (to see Betrayal again), then, as I had time to kill before my train home, I went the National Gallery,  as I am always happy to spend time there.

I usually tend to head to the Sainsbury wing, where they keep one of my favourites, the Wilton Diptych, and the Uccello George and the (rather sad) Dragon,  or alternatively to the opposite end of the gallery, where they keep another of my favourites, Henri Rousseau's Surprised!  

Details from Rubens' 'The Lion Hunt' 

This time, however, I decided to give those a miss, and to spend some time with some of the other artworks. 

I rather enjoyed Rubens' sketch, ' The Lion Hunt', particularly the worried horse batting its eyelashes at us.

And this study of Saints Christina and Ottilia. 

Particularly St. Ottilia, who is carrying a tasteful , if slightly startled, pair of eyeballs. 

It turns out that St Ottilia wasn't, as you might think, martyred by having her eyes removed but rather was miraculously cured of blindness.(The label by the painting is silent on whether this was before or after she formed the habit of wandering around with her eyeballs balanced on a book..!)

 I did also make time to go and visit The Ambassadors , and Whistlejacket.

Then I took a walk back to the station, through Hyde Park, where I spotted some of the resident parakeets ( They apparently descend from a small number of pets which escaped or were released, 3 years ago or so, and now there are literally thousands of them living wild)   

I also saw a pair of jays, which made me happy. I haven't seen one for years, so it was a lovely surprise, even if they were not very cooperative about posing for photos!

Altogether an enjoyable day.

Garden, and Birds

Those of you who know me on twitter may have seen that I had an unusual visitor to the garden on Monday.

I'm used to seeing a range of small birds - there are lots of sparrows, a couple of robins, a pair of blackbirds, and regular visits by jackdaws and crows.

However, Monday's visitor was a little more impressive! I didn't see it strike, just looked out through the kitchen window and saw it on the lawn.

It's a Sparrowhawk, and, true to its name, appeared to have caught a sparrow. At first we thought it might have got a young jackdaw, as there was a jackdaw on the shed paying a lot of attention, but on inspecting the left-over feathers afterwards I made a tentative sparrow-identification, so perhaps the jackdaw was just hoping for left-overs. (In which case, it will have been disappointed!) 

I shall be keeping a look out to see whether it visits again!

I have been doing a little more in the garden over the last few days, planting out some of my seedling tomato plants, and the Hydrangea and Fuchsia cuttings I took from my parents' garden last autumn, which I've been bringing on in pots. I'm hoping that they will in due course, become a smallish shrubbery inside my front fence, although that will take a few years! 

And my little baby apple tree is coming along nicely, it has quite a few leaves, and its blossom is starting to come out, on all three branches.

Easter Weekend

I decided to go down to Devon for Easter weekend, to visit my parents and relax and unwind a little.

It was, inevitably, still cold, but also sunny, which made a nice change. And as it was a sunny day, we decided to go to the seaside, to the (Baggy Point end) of Woolacombe.

There were some brave souls surfing (although not, I think, with much success. The waves were big, but irregular and unpredictable) We stuck to the walking along wearing thick coats option, which was more comfortable. We also decided against having an ice cream. Even though it *was* the seaside.

Saturday evening was, of course, the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who - and my lovely parents arranged dinner to fit round it (and even brought me a pre-dinner drink as I watched!)

On Sunday the clocks went forward, and as it was Easter Sunday, there was a church service to ring for, which of course felt as though it was an hour early.

The church did look lovely, though - the church yard is full of daffodils and crocuses and primroses, and the sun was out.


After ringing, we went for a walk locally, through the beech woods, where the old railway used to run.

It was cold, but there are some lovely views. And lots of primroses and snowdrops in the hedge-bottoms. (We even found one violet, but it was the proverbial shrinking violet!)

I really enjoyed being able to relax and unwind. The house is so quiet - I love lying in bed listening to the birdsong, and the calling of the tiny lambs in the field outside, and I enjoy watching all the different birds which come to the feeders outside the living room windows.

The most frequent visitors are a gang of goldfinches, but there are also lots of sparrows, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, a greenfinch, and blackbirds and thrushes (mostly on the ground under the feeders) I'm told there is a coaltit sometimes, although I didn't see it this time, and there is a very territorial robin, too!

Oh, and I got a lovely chocolate Easter Egg despite being officially grown up!

You Bustard!

It's been unseasonably warm and sunny these past few days, and I've been doing a lot of driving. It does make a nice change to be driving to and from work in daylight and sunshine, and to be able to see some of the birds and animals which live around here.

I'm no Birdchick. My knowledge of birds is limited - mostly I classify them as:

- Little birds found on the birdfeeders
- giant feral pigeons
- Ducks
- suicidal pheasants
- Magpies
- Others.

However, in the past few days I've seen several which all fit into the '
'others' category -

On Friday there were a couple of herons - one flying, with it's neck all folded up, which always looks highly improbable to me, the other standing by a rhyne, oon the levels, very visable agaisnt the bright green new growth of reeds.

This evening, there was a peregrine falcon - possibly a young one, as it looked brown rather than grey.

There were also, this evening, some deer*

The prize, however, has to be the bird I saw on Monday evening, as I was driving home after a tiring, unexpected, and somewhat stressful afternoon in court  (I was not expecting to be in court at all, but a mix up with listing and Counsel's diary meant that the person who should have gone, couldn't, so I needed to over it at short notice. Then instead of being there for about an hour, as expected, I was there 4 hours)

There was a lot of traffic, and it was slow, and I was hot, and tired, and hungry. Then, as I stopped in the queue of traffic caused by a large lorry trying to pass under a small bridge, I saw a Very Large Bird in the hedge-bottom next to me.  At first glance I thought it might be a peahen, but it was the wrong shape and size, and much taller. It stood in the hedgebottom, looking indecisively at the road for a few moments, then turned and disappered back into the undergrowth.

The only thing I could think of which it might be was a Great Bustard - these birds were hunted to extintion in the UK in the 19th C, but they have been re-introduced to Salisbury Plain over the past 6 or 7 years (from Russia).

When I got home, I looked for pictures of the Bustard - I mostly know of it from the fact that it is the County Bird of Wiltshire - many years ago when I was a Brownie Guide we had a picture of the Bustard on our uniform to show we were from Wilthire (I was quite pleased when we moved to Somerset, and we got to have a Wyvern, instead!) They are not particularly attractive looking birds, and the one I saw looked, to be hoest, a bit gormless.

But I am pretty sure that it was a Bustard -the pictures I've found, such as the one on the BBC story here look exactly like the bird I saw, so I do not see what wlse it could have been.

I didn't see a wing-tag, so can't say how old it was or identify the individual bird, but I'm quite excited to have seen it.
*Yes, I know deer are not birds. But they are generally shy enough that seeing them always feels like an unexpected gift.

A Quiet Weekend

It's been a fairly quiet weekend - too cold, and too intermittently wet, to do much, but I did manage a short walk into town yesterday. I didn't spot a kingfisher when I walked along by the river, (I have seen them in the past, despite it being a very urban river, and usually half full of shopping trollies and other junk) but there were some sleepy ducks, a beautifully reflective swan, (as well as a less reflective one, sitting on a nest with it's back turned towards me in a marked manner), and a moorhen, which ran away and hid, but not very well.

Today, I have mostly been reading, and defrosting my freezer, which is one of those things which has to be done. It's very dull.

Probably the most exciting part of the weekend was watching Doctor Who - Vampires in Venice (twice). I've still not 100% transferred my affections from David Tennant to Matt Smith, but it is good fun, all the same. And I'm warming to him. I wonder whether it is a sign of age, when the Doctor starts to look too young?

A Walk in the Country

It was chilly today, but around lunchtime the sun came out, so I decided to forget about the housework, and to head out for the afternoon.

I went to Stourhead, which is owned by the National Trust, now. The house is not open in the winter, but the park is open all year round, and it's a lovely place to go for a walk. There is a lake, with ornamental bridge, miniature Parthenon, and temple of Apollo, not to mention the grotto, thatched cottage and neoclassical summerhouse.

Its a little late for the best of the autumn coours , but there were still some lovely acers clinging on to the last of their crimson leaves, and plenty of beech leaves in every shade of copper. There are masses of rhodedendrons and although it's the wrong time of year for their flowers they have that dark green, shiny foliage against which the other colours show up beautifully.

I didn't see any deer this time - which probably had a lot to do with the high number of dogs and small and excited children around - but there were ducks, and swans upon the lake.

I saw several robins, and blackbirds, and a few chaffinches and something which may or may not have been a goldfinch.

All in all, it was a very

After my walk, I headed to the farm shop where I bought 3 different types of local apples, and some Medlars (the last, simply because I have never had them before, and know them only from Shakeapeare and other literary sources. They will have to be kept for a while to ripen properly, and it does appear that opinion is divided as to whether they are worth eating or not, but it will be interesting to see what they're like.

And as an added bonus, I got a lovely big paper bag to take my groceries home in, which proved very popular with Tybalt once I had emptied it of fruit.

A Good Day.

In Which We Mess About in Boats

We had just clambered on board when we noticed the approach of a helicopter – it appeared that the RNLI was doing a display – close formation between the helicopter & the lifeboat and demonstrating winching people on and of the boat. Most interesting.

I should perhaps introduce Konnie. She is C’s boat (probably technically a yacht, but that sounds so plutocratic, and she isn’t.) She is a Westerly Konsort , some 29’ long. If you were holidaying for a weekend, she’d be pretty roomy. If you live permanently on board, as K&C currently do, you learn to be really good at packing stuff. (although there is an awful lot of space for storage, if you know where it is!) And K&C have been spending the last few weeks sailing, prior to going back to work at the start of September.


So. After watching the Lifeboat, and catching up, we turned in for the night. If you look at the pictures of an average Konsort , my berth was the one behind the chart table (6th pic down) which is handy, as it almost completely enclosed, and thus virtually impossible to fall out of. This is a good thing, as it turned out to be quite a bouncy night - partly because we were towards the outside of the harbour so not sheltered, and partly because of the wash from the ferries going in and out.

High water was around 10.30 a.m. so we got up in a fairly leisurely way and had breakfast before heading out into the Solent at, or just before, high water.

It appears that the Solent is quite busy, as bits-of-water-for-sailing-on go, and also it was fairly breezy, so we decided that it wasn’t the ideal time for me to practice my nascent steering skills.

We were able to get the sails up and the engine off as soon as we cleared the harbour, and had plain sailing (Ha! See what I did there?) to our destination, Newtown River. Even though we only used the little sail (the Genoa), we made excellent speed, and did a little bit of leaning over sideways, too!

As we sailed, C was giving me a little information about the rules - who has to give way to whom - as far as I can remember, boats under power give way to boats under sail, except when it is the othre way around because you give way to boats less able to take evasive action that you are, which is why we had to give way to the Isle of Wight ferry. Then there are all the rules depending on which tack you are on and whether you are in front or behind.

There were a lot of hired boats out all racing with one another, which made life a little interesting, as many of them seemed not to be paying much attention to where they were going or where any of the other boats were - we had to take evasive action to avoid being run in to by one of them, which was overtaking us (which apparently means it was their responsibility to steer clear of us, not the other way around.)

We arrived at Newtown river in time to moor, just before it started raining on us, and to have lunch, by which time it had stopped raining.

Newtown river, being a smallish river looked after (or adjacent to land looked after) by the National Trust, does not have frivolous luxuries like a water taxi, so, having moored up to a buoy, we had to inflate the dinghy in order to go ashore. (When I say ‘we’ I actually mean ‘C’, as despite my feminist principals, I have to confess that C did lots of energetic inflating of the dinghy, heaving it about and fitting the outboard, and K & I did the washing up & made a nice cup of tea.)

We skittered up the river (and let me tell you, the wash and waves from even quite little boats and gusts of wind seem quite big, when you are sitting in a tiny inflatable dinghy)

We saw lots of birds. The tide was out, so there was a lot of exposed tidal mud, and we saw Oyster-catchers, with bright red legs and beaks, some birds which we think were Bar-Tailed Godwits, and of course also ducks, Canada Geese and a couple of swans.

When we got ashore we walked into the nearest village, Shalfleet, where we found, not altogether unexpectedly, a very nice pub. We were a bit surprised at how near to the river it was – we had read up in advance and were expecting a 20-25 minute walk – instead, it was closer to 10 mins, which did cast a little doubt on whether we had actually earned our beer, but we decided to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt!. It was perfectly splendid beer, light, golden, hoppy, summery ale.

The walk to and from the village was nice, too. Most of it was along an unmetalled road, bordered with brambles loaded with just-ripe blackberries, with the occasional cottage set in beautifully kept gardens bursting with flowers. Even the pub had riotous hanging baskets and window boxes overflowing with flowers.

and the sun came out, too.

In Which there are Raptors

I had a luxurious and lazy morning, meeting El, Ticia and OSS at 10 a.m., after they dropped Vampi off at the airport, and had naps and breakfast.
Then we headed over to the raptor centre. We started our tour with Bob, who showed us a bald eagle (which obligingly coughed up a pellet for our education and amusement) a peregrine and a red-tailed hawk. We then spotted the Birdchick, who greeted us with a cheerful “Fiends!” We all turned and responded as naturally as if we had never been greeted any other way, but some of the schoolchildren in Birdchick’s group looked at us rather nervously.
We continued with Bob to visit some owls and more hawks, then Birdchick came back to steal us, and took us to meet a kestrel, red-tailed hawk and horned owl at closer quarters, which was fantastic. And also allowed us to see that the Birdchick’s hair is clearly modelled on the colour scheme of the hawk - protective coloration, perhaps?
Luckily for us, the Birdchick was then free to join us for lunch. We went to ‘Good Earth’, which has some awesome food - Chicken and Caramelised Pecan salad with raspberry vinaigrette, for on, and chicken and cashew salad with avocado were both delicious, and the mini desserts (shot glasses with chocolate mousse and strawberries) were also delicious. It turns out that both Ticia and the Birdchick are past masters at balancing spoons on their noses. Who knew? Lunch lasted for a long time, but it just flew by.

We then had to say goodbye to OSS, flying back to Chicago, then Ticia & El returned with me to the Sofitel, to admire my swanky hotel room, and to have coffee. Being easily amused, we were happily occupied for some time reading the room service and information leaflets - this place has a ‘Romance Concierge’ which led us to speculate on the other types of concierge who might come in handy. We feel that a pillow fight concierge, to maintain good supplies of pillows (and perhaps tactical advice) would be useful….

As evening drew in I drove Ticia back to Stillwater, and we have supper in the pirate bar (Yaaaar!)
I was so proud of myself for getting lot only slightly, and only once, en route back to the hotel…