Started work on decorating the downstairs toilet/shower room. Went for a swim at lunchtime. All of London and some out lying authorities are being put into tier 3 as cases are rapidly increasing. The government are suggesting this could be due to a new strain of the virus. Its not meant to be any more harmful and should still be zapped by the vaccine. Some authorities like Greenwich are closing schools early for Christmas but the government are saying they should stay open. Went to buy a Christmas tree from BnQ. They are reduced already. Did most of the painting in the toilet. Finushed off Troubled Blood on Wednesday morning, thought it was pretty good. It came in for a bit of stick as JK made some comments that the trans gender community found offensive and one of the characters in the book sometimes dresses as a woman in order to kidnap other women. I cant see that the 2 things are related though. Spent the day finishing off the toilet and doing the weekly clean. Pretty horrible day weather wise. Watched URZ v Norwich on Sky, we lost 2 1. Norwich deserved it I think. We gifted them the first goal, equalised with a deflected shot then they got a dodgy pen. Joined the goolie zoom at half time. Roy had also joined he was watching Rangers. Got up early on Thursday to get the Christmas decorations out of the loft and put the tree up before I went on a ride with Andy. We got a train to Cholsey and did a loop through Ewelme, Cookley Green, Stonor and Henley.
It was a lovely sunny day. Stopped of at the weir bear Benson Lock
Didn't realise there used to be watercress beds in Ewelme.
They now have a massive outdoor area at the Bottle and Glass including a barn.
Unfortunately the chap who got out of the car you can see told us Reading has been moved to tier 3. We were kind of expecting it as cases have been going up. When I got back M had decorated the Christmas tree.
I went out to post James and Amy's presents. When I got back M had put out the snowmen in the kitchen so it's officially Christmas.
Had a zoom briefing about the next phase of the Slow Ways project. In the evening I watched a Courtney Barnett live stream from the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne. Great concert in an impressive setting.
On Friday we had Paul, Carolyn, Tony and Sue over for socially distanced drinks in the garden. If had originally been planned for Saturday but that's when we move into tier 3 and such gatherings are not allowed so we pulled it back a day. Carolyn thinks she's had covid although she tested negative. Thinks she caught it at the opticians. Tony and Sue are being tested weekly as part of an ONS survey. The mulled wine, sausage rolls and mince pies were well recieved. Meant to take a photo but forgot. On Saturday I got a couple phone calls from an unknown number that I didn't answer but a message was left on the second. I was my cousin Phillip telling me his mum, my aunty Phil had passed away. She was 92, the last of her siblings and last one of my mum's and her siblings and partners. She had dementia and was in a care home. She also broke her hip a few weeks ago. Philllip has only been able to 'visit' through the care home window. She died in her sleep. Watched URZ on iFollow they were 3 0 down at half time but did pull one back in the second half. At 4 Boris announced that tier 3 areas in London and the South East will be moved to tier 4. No household mixing, all but essential things closed. This will also apply over Christmas to those areas. Elsewhere the Christmas easing has been reduced to just Christmas day. This is mainly down to the new faster spreading variant of the virus. This means Tom and Sally cant come. They'll be stuck in Greenwich without any presents as they are all here. We spoke to them and also James and Amy as Christmas in Scotland has also been reduced to one day. Sally in particular was understandably very upset. I contacted Ocado to see if we can change our massive shop due to arrive on Monday. A good start to the day on Sunday. Finished the Everyman crossword. Then heard from Ocado we cant change our shop. Decided to walk into town to get a sympathy card for Phil. Bumped into Sarah down the street who told us the gory details of their burglary. Her son and his friend were held at knife point. She was similarly threatened with a screw driver and Nigel was hit with a machete and left for dead. Sounds truly horrific. They think they were targeted but don't know why. Town was quiet considering it's the weekend before Christmas but not as quiet as the first lockdown though. MnS was open as it sells food as was WH Smiths presumably because they have a post office. Watched the TV series of Smiley's People but fell asleep during the last one.
.JPG)
0 comments:
Post a Comment