where art collides

Suspended animation.

Awake early. Again. Just after 5am. Lay in bed with a big decision in front of me. Should I get up and go downstairs and do something or stay in bed? In bed was a state of extreme coziness. Outside of the comfort of my down duvet it was cold and uninviting. Too early for the central heating to have kicked in.

I wouldn’t say my emotional state was anything like anguish but it was headed mildly in that direction. Staying in bed fully awake was a bit like being in suspended animation. What a waste of time. A valuable resource. I wasn’t dozing I was just lying there awake with thinking being the only activity I could perform.

Devoting some time to thinking isn’t a bad thing. These can be creative moments. I like sometimes to set aside time to do this sort of thing. Not sure people typically do it but why not? A bit like setting time in the calendar for business brainstorming or planning. This isn’t planning per se but if you want to get the most out of life you have to do stuff. I don’t want to look back and not be able to feel I’ve made good use of it. Mind you when I get to that stage I will probably have other things to think about.

The problem with lying in bed just thinking is remembering those thoughts afterwards. What I really need is to be able to dictate mental notes that I can later retrieve. In reality what happens is that note has to be something particularly significant for me to remember it. Otherwise it is consigned to a big pile of other mental notes that are not catalogued, indexed or otherwise made easy to find. I might get lucky and come across it again when shuffling mental notes but usually it is gone. 

I’m not sure how I can even tell you this as in order to do so I have to have remembered that mental notes were made and subsequently lost.

Gotta go and make the tea…

Goooaaaaalll

Just watching the imps v Accrington on ifollow/chromecast. Looks bloody cold out there. A day of getting on with things here. Anne and I now in the shed for the footy. Warm here. In the house we have the fire on and the central heating. To some extent this is because the boiler was out of service for some of the afternoon after the Worcester Bosch engineer deemed it unsafe. Plumber Andy swung by and sorted it. Won’t bore you with the deets. Things are going well on the pitch. We are 3 – 0 up 65 minutes gone.

Started a new Facebook group yesterday for people called Trefor. Only one member so far. Me 🙂 Did spend 10 minutes earlier this evening messaging other Trefors inviting them. See how it goes eh? Bit of fun.

A new week of lockdown. Same as the last one but the weather is a little milder. Lulling us into a false sense of security. Not mild enough for us to be breathing in deeply the sweet new smell of spring. It will be some time before we can enjoy that.

When spring does arrive this year we will all have different expectations. Hopes. The hope that life will return to normal or at least as near normal as if can be after what will have been at least a year of pestilent disruption. You feel that had Samuel Pepys been alive today he would have been in his element. Bring out your dead.

Can we even remember what spring is all about? Interminable darkness has that effect on the brain. The candle has been lit but it still flickers in an ill wind (I’m on a roll here 🙂 )

This morning is the first working week proper. Last week there were quite a few folk still on holiday and productivity levels were down. Mentally I have prepared myself for invigoration. Energy levels must be high starting the new year. Run don’t walk. Set the year up for success. Whatever your definition of success.

There is no point in planning anything before Easter. We might as well be on Mars, or the moon if that is more convenient. Easier to get to as it is  nearer but to all intents and purposes equally remote. I’m expecting things to pick up big time as soon as the end of lockdown is announced. Especially Anne’s Vans campervan bookings.

I’ve been looking at the Caribbean for Spring 2022 but other than a bit of general planning there isn’t much point in firming things up yet. Flight schedules are disrupted and even for later this year they haven’t been published yet.

Other than the three week jaunt to California which is so long ago it feels like something I read in a history book, last year our holiday was a week in wet North Wales. A good time was had but the CV restrictions did impinge on it a little. Things like not being able to stand at the bar and reduced menus. We stayed in Portmeirion for a couple of nights. It felt strange seeing the day visitors stream in at 10am. I think we would like to stay there again. Do the steam railway up to Blaenau Ffestiniog n stuff. This year I sense the already booked trip to Rome in June will not take place. Can’t see the European Football people letting spectators in to watch Italy v Wales which is the purpose of going. We might take a van somewhere in the UK. See how it goes.

In the meantime we await the invitation to be vaccinated. There is a vaccination centre in the hospital social club around the corner from our house and our GP has also been set up for the same. Spoilt for choice as opposed to if we were invited to one of the seven super hubs or whatever they are called. The nearest one for us is at Birmingham’s Millennium Point which is 100 miles and a two hour drive away. If that was the only choice on offer I guess it would have to be hello Brum.

Sand flows through the glass…

Deep frost out there this morning. I’ve set the fire. It should light itself from yesterday’s embers but if not will help it along. Also have a pot of cawfee on the go at the request of the lovely Mrs Davies.

Today is the Sabbath. In the UK. Sunday 10th January. The virtual church service which has lately been dogged by technical problems and not therefore been streaming is going out as a prerecorded gig. I don’t know how many of the faithful tune in but the church is staying in the game. The institution will have had to survive much greater hazards than covid

Despite being a day of rest I sense that some jobs will still get done. Replace kitchen light bulb sounds doable. I only just noticed it was on the list so it must have sneaked on yesterday. It shall be done. That is the purpose of having an online list. Of the two porch door  bolt handles the top one seems to have been fixed but the bottom one needs some more work. May well have another go at that one this am.

Four paragraphs in and the fire is alight. Very satisfying when that happens. Not everyone is any good at lighting fires you know 🙂

The house is quiet. Not much traffic on the road. It is early, cold and we are locked down, I guess. During the first lockdown my hair grew longer than it had ever been. It came as a relief to eventually get it cut. However I can see the same happening again. Will need to dig out the Alice bands again. No idea where they got to. My biggest issue first time around was managing the beard. Not being a beard aficionado I didn’t do a good job of keeping it trimmed which put me off having it really. See how it goes this time. Maybe I’ll invest in a trimmer!

Winter never really arrives in the UK until January. December is typically quite a miserable month weather wise. How often do we get a white Christmas? “Not very often Tref”. January is real winter and comes with the low light levels that make you hanker after sunnier times. This year I shall be heading neither to St Moritz for the skiing nor Moustique for the winter sun. Not a skier anyway since I broke my leg on a school skiing trip to Italy. Not a sun seeker either 🙂 What am I? You don’t need to answer that 🙂

Was awake early this morning. Again. Lying in bed I glanced at the clock radio which showed 05:57. “It’s about 6 o’clock” I said to myself. It was Anne’s turn to make the tea but too early yet and I doubt she would have appreciated being woken up to be told.

This made me think about the importance or otherwise of having a clock. Sure I need to know when I have arranged meetings with work and sure we need to know the kickoff time for a game we plan to watch. However I am up now, showered and sat on a sofa writing this and the time is unimportant. Breakfast has not yet been taken. The time I eat is irrelevant. Should I just eat when I am hungry?

Is bedtime important? If I go to bed at 8pm I will wake up at 2 or 3am. That would probs be a bit of a nuisance as Anne would still be asleep and I would either have to lie there patiently waiting for morning or get up and do something downstairs (been there).

Anyway thassitfornow. I’m off for a bit of brekkie. It is time.

Woke up to freezing temperatures outside. The house is warm although we have a boiler issue. It’s a new boiler and already leaking so andy the plumber appeared at 7.00am to take a skeet. Seals furred up and disintegrating! At 9am ish the boiler company was on the blower and has arranged for an engineer to come out on Tuesday, earlier if poss. This is good responsiveness. As long as the leak gets no worse we will be fine. Otherwise we will be huddled around the fire in the front room or spending more time in the shed which is toasty and well insulated.

Insulation in the house has improved over the years as we had pvc double glazing fitted to the rear elevation (as they say). The house was built in 1939 so it is not inherently well insulated. Sokay.

Our previous house in Greetwell Gate was built in 1870 and when we moved to this one we imagined the storm clouds gathering overhead as the first occupants took ownership. A few interesting ghosts still in residence no doubt. German bombers used to use Lincoln Cathedral as a navigation point en route to bombing industrial centres in the midlands. The house has changed significantly since  those days. Five bedrooms not three. Three loos not one. A shed etc. We are in number 118 but next door is 76. We think that the prewar numbering had been designed for terrace houses aka most of the rest of Lincoln but the postwar recession and presumably a reduction in the industrial base in the city must have affected this.

Although today is a Friday it doesn’t really feel as if it is.

In other news I’ve been partially cracking through the jobs list. Hanna’s bed was moved back into her room and the chair that had been downstairs but moved upstairs temporarily is now back downstairs. Nobody ever sits in it though! A new light fitting has been ordered for my office (bit of effort that was), the vent cover for the downstairs loo extractor put back in place by the back door (flappy bit is broken though so we will have to see if that matters) and I checked out the broken light bulb in the back porch. The bulb is fine it’s the fitting that is knackered so that will have to wait. Later we are moving the bit of sofa back from the downstairs store room into the TV room. Then that’s more or less it for the jour.

Seeing as it is Friday, regardless of whether it feels like it or not, I might treat meself to a drop of something later. Will have a root through the cupboards in case I missed any gin though I think we are out of the stuff. My 3pm meeting has been put off until next week so that’s me done for the week. Hello weekend.

Big nuze from the former colony now known as the USA with riots going on incited by the Orangudon. We had to swap back and forth between watching that and the Man City victory of Man U in the shed. We were watching in the shed, the game wasn’t happening there. Nor the riots. I won’t elaborate. You all know what’s occurrin.

V frosty walk to work this morning but it is a nice sunny day. I’m going to walk to the post office in the Carlton Centre later this morning to post parcels to Tom and dad. Dad’s feels like as if it is a bit of a red cross parcel with a bar of chocolate and some choccy biscuits. He is still in isolation at Ty Llandaff in Caerdydd. The ten days is up on Saturday I think where the other residents will probably throw a welcoming party where they have lots of cups of tea and ideally all get their first covid vaccinations done. Happy days 🙂

Doesn’t feel right calling it Ty Llandaff. You will know that it should either be Llandaff House or Ty Llandaf. They are mixing their languages but I guess that’s marketing for you. Probably the same firm chose the name that advertises broadband speeds in mbps. Knowworramean?

Moved the Christmas tree out to the front of the hoose after breakfast. Anne is now annoyed as she has to hoover up millions of pine needles. In the past I have taken it through the double doors of the conservatoire which have a wider opening but I am not here to argue, merely to obey.

We did last night compile a new jobs list for me for 2021. I have to have a jobs list to get things done. I can’t be relied upon to realise what needs doing without it being shoved in my face. Otherwise I would spend all day writing this stuff. The job of walking to the post office is a good one. It will make me get out and have some exercise. Put my tweed cap on to keep my head warm on this cold day. Feels very old man ish to talk about wearing tweed caps but my kids also wear them so I am on safe ground there. 

The jobs list is a paper on although I might suggest that Anne transfers it to a google doc where it can be easily accessed. The rule with paper jobs lists is that all the jobs have to have been struck off as complete before any new ones get put on. This doesn’t always work but I do need the sense of satisfaction and achievement of seeing the whole page full of crossed off jobs. Sometimes I do a job and don’t mark it down as done, just to see how long it takes Anne to notice. Little amusements eh?

The good thing about making it an online list would be that I would have a historical record of jobs done whereas bits of paper are thrown away when finished with. I think I’ll start one. I have one for shopping. Each year I do a new list that just gets added to for each new shop. I can then refer to the list on my phone when walking around Waitrose. It doesn’t give me the perfect record of my shopping that say a copy of the scanned items list would but it is interesting enough (I think).

I looked at Waitrose this morning to see what the click and collect sitch might be. There are plenty of slots a couple of weeks out. Suspect the click and collect days are over for us. We (I) spent a ridiculous amount on it during the first lockdown. It is too easy to add items that you don’t really need. Also despite my protestations I have come to accept Anne’s stance that Lidl is a lot cheaper. Yesterday I paid £1.40 for a pot of cottage cheese in Waitrose that Anne got for 60p in Lidl. Quality probs not quite the same but not 80p different. We have to train me 🙂

…

The long darkness of a January night has descended. I am sat in the shed watching the daily covid briefing. Bojo is taking it today. I’ve also occasionally been dipping into CNN to catch updates to the orangudon sitch. They hit the hay at 4am in DC (to use the American vernacular) which was 9am for us so we had to wait for everyone to get up, have breakfast, do their teeth etc before any action was likely. It is now lunchtime in Washington. Will we have to wait until after they have had lunch or is that off the menu today? Really we are after some impeachment action or 25th amendment. Notice how familiar I have become with American political terminology.

Sitting back as I am in my chair I can’t see whether the light is on in the kitchen. This is relevant because light means activity which in turn means food. We are finishing off the steak pie from the other day yum. Not sure what’s on the agenda after that. 

I might pick up another book. I finished the one about the growth of religion in Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire between 1851 and1851. I found it to be an interesting read. Increased my knowledge base on the subject. The ultimate goal is to write about my family going back before the middle of the eighteenth century. We were involved in farming, religion and the woollen manufacturing industry. There was much action in all three of those areas in the 18th century and earlier.

It remains cold outside. Last night was the coldest for a couple of years apaz. Stay warm. Not everyone will be able to.

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!

They are calling it Lockdown 3 but it doesn’t really feel as if we ever left lockdown 2. Ok I got a few rounds of golf in but the pubs never reopened. I guess those in the media who shape these pseudo hysterical sentiments live mostly in London where they have been able to go about their business mostly until they recently entered Tier 4. 

Now we are all in Tier 5 together. Once common theme through all these lockdowns is the feeling that we should have entered them earlier. That is water under the bridge but it certainly shapes our opinions on the performance of our political masters regardless of the difficulty of the job to hand.

Now, sitting in isolation in the shed, it doesn’t feel inappropriate to want to wind the clock forward 3 months. That would be a massive chunk of life to wish away but it is somewhat reflective of the state of things at the moment. We should probably make more of an effort to get something out of this lockdown. It’s easier for some of us than for others. If you spent most of 2020 shut away from people it is going to have been a lot tougher a year than for some of us with a small crowd in a large house regardless of the stresses and strains of that in itself.

As part of this “effort” I have had bran flakes with blueberries and a banana for breakfast two mornings running. A good bowl of cereal is quite energising in the morning. If you have bacon in the fridge that is a big temptation but the last of that was consumed at the weekend and I have no plans to visit the butchers. In fact Anne is doing most of the shopping which will save us a fortune. It’s Lidl versus Waitrose.

It’s a sunnier day out today. Shame really as Coops and I were off to play golf. I will have to go for a walk at lunchtime to compensate otherwise I’ll be sat on my backside all day. 

…

Walked to the Bailgate. Crisp day with not many people about. The occasional runner. Lots of businesses closed. Just food and drink emporia and churches open. 45 mins or so including stopping to chat at  distance with a friend. Took a few pics.

Back home and tucked in to a splendid salad consisting of peas, black rice, chillies and a few other bits with a curry flavoured dressing. Had it with a fillet of smoked mackerel and some smoked salmon when the mackerel ran out.

Today we put away the Christmas decorations in the garage. Not an inconsiderable number of boxes and bags. It’s a good job it’s only once a year. I periodically have to tidy the garage shelves. I sense that time is not far off but it will wait a little longer.

It is a difficult start to 2021. Two of the 4 Davies offspring are having to self isolate due to either housemate or recent contact being tested positive. I have also received a tedious Office for National Statistics survey to complete and am having to do my dad’s tax return. The mid winter festival excesses are also suddenly over even though the twelve days are not yet up. I sense that in 2020 the excess started back at the beginning of lockdown in March, or even February on our holiday in California.

The weather is of the usual dour English January variety. My one meeting today was cancelled, probably due to lack of enthusiasm all round, so the opportunity was taken to finally put up the fence posts and wiring to espalier the cooking apple tree. The tree is a few years old now and it should have been done from the start but I think it will be ok. The rain and fading light has driven me in. The ladder will need putting back in the garage but I can do that when I am ready to leave t’shed. Momentary lapse into Yorkshire there.

Bojo is making an announcement ce soir at 8pm. Clashes with Southampton v Liverpool. He appears to be going to crank up the lockdown volume further. So be it. Bring on the dancing vaccine dispensers. Unsure at this point whether it will affect my game of golf with Coops tomorrow. Sense it will. Only 9 holes par 3 but gets you out and it isn’t serious stuff. 

Been lots of discussion about schools. Bojo says they are safe places to be and wants the kids to keep going. Unfortunately he is lying. OK let’s say being disingenuous. They might well be safe for the kids as they are unlikely to have adverse affects from Covid. However the staff won’t be safe and neither will the families of the kids when they take the virus home. I totally get the desire to keep them in school but in these current rapidly spreading virus circumstances schools are likely to be superspreader hotspots.

Tonight it is gourmet dining. Fish fingers with small spuds and either baked beans or peas. Am leaning towards the beans as they have a sauce and the peas option might be a little on the dry side.

The next month or two should actually prove to be quite interesting as it will just be Anne and I in the house. Normally when it is just the two of us we are both busy doing our own thing and meet up at certain times of the day. There will still be an element of this but we are both likely to be more in the house than away from it. Ok I’ll be in the shed for a lot of the time but the same logic still applies.

Austerity. Self denial. Meditation. Isolation. Covid winter survival. Physical and mental wellbeing. Patience. Optimism. Hope.

The last of the Christmas bubble is back in her flat in London. She had already left before Tier 4 kicked in and by today it was simply a question of Tier 4 to Tier 4. We didn’t stop on the way down. It was a case of load up the car in Lincoln and unload straight into her flat in London. I stayed there only 5 minutes before setting the coordinates for home. We shall meet again.

You notice the change in pace of life as you get nearer rat race central. Nowadays I usually just stick the cruise control at the speed limit and let the computer take the strain. For much of the journey I was only occasionally passed but as you got near to London there were lots of cars needing to get somewhere in a hurry.

The big city was quite busy with people dressed for the cold. Drab and mostly grey with the occasional flash of colour. The fact that the shops, cafes and pubs were shuttered closed was very noticeable. There was the occasional boarded over joint suggesting they won’t have made it through lockdown. The diversity and vibrancy of life in London is half the reason for being there. At least whilst you are young and unencumbered. That reason is no longer valid.

As Waze guided me efficiently through the back streets the other thing to notice was the densely packed nature of living space. This observation is perhaps unnecessary, an obvious feature of a metropolis.  Made me glad I am fortunate to have a large house with garden and a posh shed to escape to. Lockdown affects us all but think how much more it will affect someone who is shut away for weeks on end in a tiny flat, maybe with a family to manage.

Home  now sipping a cup of tea and looking forward to a nice quiet dinner for two. It is raining heavily outside.

Lights out at the Strugglers Inn

It is snowing outside. The notion of sitting next to an open fire in the pub drinking beer in the warmth whilst outside the snow falls is one of those utopian visions of deep mid winter life. Never mind that you eventually have to wrap up again and head home through the snow. Never mind that when it melts the snow will turn an ugly brown mush. Live for that moment. Have another beer. 

Lincoln has a few such pubs.The Morning Star, The Strugglers. I drove past the The Strugglers yesterday. It was dark and looked cold. Lights Out at the Strugglers Inn I said to myself, quite pleased with that snatch of poetry. It at least felt like the title of some meaningful piece of prose. A newspaper article maybe. Deep definitely.

These imagined features of our existence are ones we all want to hold on to. Never mind that most people wouldn’t be sitting around the fire anyway. We like the idea that we could do this if it snowed. There is bound to be a suitable pub nearby.

I’m quite happy with the notion of immersing myself in my own dreams. My own escapism. It is after all why a lot of people go to the movies. Why film stars and celebrities are so feted. People like the idea of the lives they live. I think for me it’s all about doing it myself rather than simply wishing I could be in someone else’s shoes. It is also about being happy with what you have and who you are.

An early doors session at the Strugglers is something to look forward to in 2021. I don’t mean a socially distanced “sorry but you can’t stand at the bar” session. I mean one of those evenings where it is actually a struggle to get anywhere near the bar. Or maybe one where you give the money to someone else to get the round in because the pub is so packed you can’t get out of your very comfortable and convenient seat with your back to the wall and just the right distance from the fire. Throw in a pack of pork scratchings with that will you?

Lots of us are looking forward to this I’m sure. There are plenty of other things to look forward to but for the moment, with the snow still falling gently in the back garden, I’ll stay with early doors in The Strugglers.

Happy New Year.

New Year’s day brunch. Marcus Wareing rosti potato. Slow. Relaxing. Cup of tea. News is all Brexshit. Time will tell. There is comfort knowing I’m an Irish citizen. The UK will probably take a generation to recover from the divisions created by Bojo and his troop. I’ve moved on and am letting them get on with it but have a sharpened knife at the ready.

Sister Ann and her husband Toby who are both GPs are spending the weekend preparing to give covid inoculations at their practice. The elixirs arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both varieties. Will keep them busy. Their kids are manning the phones calling the punters to arms. Exciting.

Very pleasant meal last night, the three of us. I made it as far as 10pm then hit the hay. Lightweight. 

Today we are going for a walk to Whisby Nature reserve. Blow out the cobwebs. Fair bet there will be hundreds of others doing the same thing! See how it goes. One way system? Doubt it!

It is still outside. Dull. Cold. Bottom of the curve.