The weather wasn't very nice all day yesterday so I spent most of it working on my photo website. There is always a lot of sorting out to do and adding of photos. I have a local area section and have so many local photos to add I have taken in the last year of "coronavirus related" subjects. People queuing, signs, mask wearing. All sorts of things that we couldn't have believed would become normal just 18 months ago. Sorting through the photos it made me realise how incredibly we have adapted.
I have got into a bit of a routine while trying out these £4 "Too Good To Go" bags this week. I walk down to the M&S local at the petrol station at 9pm, collect my bag and meet Tom off the bus as this is the time he has been finishing this week. Last night youngest daughter said she would walk down with me but she wanted to pop into the Co-op first. As only 8 people are allowed into the Co-op at a time at the moment and I didn't want to get mixed up with the people queuing I stood a little bit up the road waiting for her. It was so interesting watching people's behaviour. People were pulling up in their cars and effortlessly popping on their masks as they stood at the end of the queue, happily standing two metres apart (I would have struggled to estimate two metres at the beginning of this but now it is easy!) and entering the shop when one person left. How wonderful we all are I thought. We adapt so cheerfully really, I know there are exceptions which the news loves to report, but on the whole all I have seen is people politely going about their day and fitting in. Who would have thought a traffic light system would be operating at a local petrol station.
I often think when I see reports of World War 2 and the blitz spirit how wonderful people were in those days. My Dad who grew up in Liverpool during the war, which was terribly badly affected by bombing, loves to tell us stories of how they all adapted. From his Mum planting a beautiful garden on top of their air raid shelter so it blended into the garden to the other terrible times of calling out "He's dead Miss" to the teacher when she was calling the school register after a bad night of bombing. Although of course we can't compare this situation to how bad it was during a war in another way we can. Between 40,000 and 43,000 civilians were killed in the Blitz during WW2, approximately a third of the people who have died from coronavirus in this country, yet still we carry on with our days, cheerfully (well mostly!) Maybe one day people will be talking about the "coronavirus spirit" to a certain extent they already are, celebrating all the people who have volunteered and helped, but just living a "normal" life is important to me. I don't mind following the rules but I want my family to be happy and still enjoy their days as much as possible. Eldest son phoned last night, he is working so hard on this government contract driving people to and from quarantine hotels but of course he has no idea when it might just suddenly end. It is impossible to plan but as he said he is simply going to take one day at a time, which is all we can do really.
It's raining here this morning and it looks like it will be on and off for the whole weekend which is a shame but I have lots to get on with. I have given up trying to fix my 1970s Robert's radio. I have tried everything, trawling through YouTube videos and online radio fixing forums (yes there really is such a thing!) but not a sound. I have another plan for it now which I hope will work out soon. I also had another idea how I would make a unique board at the caravan to display our old caravan club badges we collected in the 1960s. I have given up trying to find a retro looking pin board as they are either too expensive or too big and will be working on my new idea today. Hopefully I will be sharing my success's not failures with these ideas later next week! Have a lovely day everyone and I hope it doesn't rain on you all day. xx
