2021 – the 9 month year

I’m pretty sure it is Wednesday although it feels as if days have no real meaning when you are confined to barracks. I follow a routine dictated by my calendar. Today there were a couple of calls down for the morning, a walk at lunchtime and then free time. Free to do whatever needs doing to fill the day.

The doors to the shed are slightly ajar. It is slightly too warm inside. The sensible solution would be to lower the temperature setting on the heater but whoever said sensible was right. Someone is using a chainsaw or similar within earshot.  I seem to recall this situation being the case last autumn. Can’t be the same bit of building work surelement. The door stays open.

It is the 6th january 2021. Someone on Facebook asked whether it  was too late to wish people a Happy New Year. Never too late. Mind you it does feel as if 2020 has been extended by 3 months and 2021 cut down to 9. So it is only 84 days until 2021 proper gets going. Until the shackles can be cast aside and we all run through the streets hysterically, shouting  madly and banging pots and pans. Twitching nervously as I write this 🙂

The world of work is still slowly grinding into gear.  I deal with some African customers and it is the middle of their summer holidays over there so people are on elongated breaks. I’d do the same.  I tend to take most of August off although in 2020 there was no point as our world was only just reopening albeit for only a short while. Seems like a long time ago now. Although we got some quality time the weather was atrocious. Bear in mind we were in North Wales.

This lockdown situation is something nobody has had to contend with before. The battle against covid has been compared with a war. Even in WW2 people weren’t locked down and the pubs remained open. Where the pubs are concerned I don’t think it is the desire to go out and get merry or drunk that people are missing. It’s the human engagement. A Zoom call is not a replacement for this. We want a bit of banter. Yes a beer would be great, I’m thinking Timothy Taylor’s Landlord or a Beavertown Neck Oil, but banter is better.

When we dropped Tom off at his London flat after the first lockdown we stopped off a night at the University Arms in Cambridge and had dinner with Terry. We also did some shopping (John Lewis – how come I only discovered John Lewis at the age of 58), bought a few books and strolled around taking in what sights could be seen considering most colleges were still closed to the public. I’d quite like to do that again. Maybe not Cambridge this time but somewhere nice with a nice hotel in the middle of town where we could just walk out and be right where it was at. Stroll back to the hotel to drop stuff off when it suited us.

In the meantime I am planning spring 2022 – Lincoln – Boston (Massachusetts), down the East Coast and thence to the Caribbean before headed home. These things need planning well in advance 🙂

That’s all for today. Got a mailing list to clean!

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