Monday, November 29, 2021

Published Monday, November 29, 2021 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 28th November 2021

I've volunteered to do the society walk on 5th December so did a trial run on Monday. Very nice walk west from Upper Bucklebury and dont recall doing that area before.
Went to see Reading lose 1 0 to Sheffield United on Tuesday evening. Not many near me.
A lazy day on Wednesday, housework, crossword, reading and guitar playing. M had her booster on Thursday. I had the long awaited session at Pirate Studios with Tony, Mike and Peat. It went well so another is booked for December the 9th. Apart from being good musicians they are also great singers and Peat is very well organised. Did a ride arranged by Stuart with Kelvin and Andy on Friday out to The Six Bells at Warborough. Its a pub often used in Midsommer Murders. Turned out to be about 41 miles. When I got back M wasn't feeling to good because of her booster jab. Cold and wet on Saturday so mainly stayed in. Boris annouced some tighter covid restrictions because of the Omnicron variant. All people entering the UK will have to have a PCR test and quarantine until they get a negative result. How will they enforce that? Also what if the contact was recent and not showing yet? Masks to be mandatory in shops and on public transport. Should have been anyway. Reading beat Swansea 3 2 away, Andy Carroll scored. This picture of the remaining Reading gasometer is doing the rounds.
Lazy day on Sunday. Very cold out. We were meant to be going to see Bill Bailey at South Street in the evening but decided not to as Madeline is coming next week and we don't want to catch anything. I'd booked us in at The Cottage Inn fir next Sunday's walk but they phoned to say there'd been a mix up so couldn't fit us in so bokked at The Spotted Dog only to be told on Sunday night that they couldn't fit us in either. It's probably brexit, all the efficient hospitality workers hace gone home leaving us with clueless schoolgirls. We a smattering of snow in the evening.
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Monday, November 22, 2021

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Coronavirus - Sunday 21st November 2021

A lazy day on Monday. A fair bit of strumming. Did my Kennet, Theale, Mapledurham ride on Tuesday morning. Very autumnal. 
Did a Mansfield Rd walk from Henley to Shiplake organised by Roger on Wednesday. Stopped off at The Botttle And Glass barn for lunch. Very autumnal again.
Went for a swim on Thursday lunchtime. Madeline was looking very happy.
Had  goolie zoom in the evening. Everyone OK. Went for another swim on Friday. Had to pop to Tesco's later and completely forgot about taking a mask. I normally still wear one in shops. Don't think anyone else was wearing one. Did wear one when we went swimming, but not in the pool obviously. Went to watch Reading on Saturday, they drew 1 1 with Forest, not bad considering we were a goal down after 4 minutes. Horrible away kit.
In the evening we went to the John Barleycorn in Goring to celebrate Mandy's 60th. It had been postponed because of covid. Good company, good pub, good beer, had one bar more or less to ourselves. A good start to the day on Sunday, finished the everyman crossword really easily, mainly M though, as it has been all week.
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Monday, November 15, 2021

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Coronavirus - Sunday 14th Novemver 2021

Went for a ride on Monday morning. I'd got out of the habit of going out by myself as its been a busy few weeks. Did a loop out past the Englefield estate then down and across the Kennet hit an unexpexted problem though trying to get back via Green Park.
Went for my booster jab whenI got back at the pharmacy in Coley Park. It was a Pfizer. I asked if I'd be getting a flu jab as well as that's what was said a while back. She said they had to be booked separately but as they weren't busy she did it any way. Covid in my left, flu in my right. Then went to buy some bird food as I stopped putting it out in the spring when we  had grass seed down. Madeline has had jabs too today but looks happy.
However lt looked like the jabs may have taken their toll on Tuesday.
Went for a ride in the morning, did a southern loop out to Swallowfield and along the Thames from Sonning. I had an email from Martin Daniels, an old university chum I'd lost touch with so started a but of a dialogue. It turns out he's been living in California since 1982. I've haven't had any side effects from the jabs but where I had the Pfizer jab is a lot more painful than the AstraZeneca ones. A quiet day on Wednesday. Got this weird shot of London from Sally taken from the top of where she works. The building on the right is the walkie talkie.
Lovely shots of Madeline giggling on Thursday morning.
Went swimming for the first time in ages. I was meant to be going with M but she's just had some skin tags removed and can't go near water. We were supposed to be going up to London to see Sam Lee at the Union Chapel in the evening but decided to cancel due to severe disruption on the trains. Went to the cinema to see Dune instead. Madeline  started reading on Friday.

Drove up to Ian and Fran's in the afternoon. Had a very pleasant evening. Did a walk at Stanage Edge on Saturday. There were a lot of people out there.
Went out for a couple of pints early evening which seems to be a bit of a tradition in Sheffield. We tried to meet up with Roy and Sue but it didn't happen due to WhatsApp issues, they did come round later for a meal though and it was good to catch up. Went for a walk in the local cemetery on Sunday before heading off home.
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Monday, November 08, 2021

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Coronavirus - Sunday 7th November 2021

Headed off to Bedford on Monday as M needs to do some research at the records office. Arrived at the Air BnB about 4, unpacked and went for a wonder. Made a pasta dish and watched the quizzes. M went to the records office on Tuesday so I did a walk along the Great Ouse to Bromham. Spotted these trees that appeared to have blossom but in fact as the leaves had dried they'd gone pale green which looked white in the sunshine.
After Bromham my route back took me to this ford which given the footpath goes though it I assumed would be crossable but it wasn't.
That meant a 4 and a bit mile detour so my walk of just over 10 miles now became 14.5.
I popped in to a real ale pub called The Wellington Arms for a swifty. I remember going there with Chris Hardy round about 20 years ago. Hadn't changed. In the evening went to  Zizzi's and then to see No Time To Die. Not much mask wearing going on. Madeline keeps on smiling.
On Thursday I got a bus to Sandy and walked back. A bit dull really but did like this.
Very nice when I got back to Bedford along the river. There's an interesting lock that goes across the stream. Gates at one end and a sort of sluice arrangement at the other.
 There are two rowing clubs on the river in the middle of Bedford and we saw quite a few people out, even in the dark.  I haven't seen any other pleasure craft though but did pass quite a large marina. Met up with Julie Hardy and her brother Neil in the evening for a meal at the D'Parys Hotel, then back to Julie's after. Good meal and good to see them again. Got home just after midday on Thursday. Went out for first Thursday drinks in The Ale House in the evening. On Friday had a sesh with Tony and Mike Rowbottom, went well. Mike had bluetooth guitar connectors which worked really well and very nice Gibson J200 copy. Lazy day on Saturday. Had a Zoom with J n A to talk about Xmas. URZ had a great win away at Brum. 1 0 down but won with 2 goals from 18 year old Jahmari Clarke. Went to see This Is The Kit at the concert all in the evening who were exellent. Supported by Nuala Honan who was pretty good too. I had orginally bought tickets for my birthday in 2020. Another lazy day on Sunday. M game me a knitting lesson.
More smiles from Madeline.

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Monday, November 01, 2021

Published Monday, November 01, 2021 by with 0 comment

Coronavirus - Sunday 31st October 2021

M's remaing UC involvement was on Monday. On Tuesday me, Andy, Kelvin and Graham embarked on our autumn cycle ride, possibly the first since 2018. We got a train to Haslemere and then set off for the YH on the South Downs just north of Shoreham.
Outside Haslemere station
Andy had a few issues with his bike as his pedal kept falling off. In the end he had to get a taxi to take him to a cycle repair place in Billingshurst. We had lunch there and then continued to the YH. One bit of the route towards the end from Upper Beeding was uncyclable. This kind of scuppered our plans for the evening's entertainment so we ate in the YH. It was OK but if I'd made it I would have been right disappointed. On Wednesday we met up with Paul and Adrian, a couple of Andy's mates and did a circular ride Paul had arranged. We stopped for lunch at The White Horse in Ditchling. After that we cycled into Shoreham and had a couple of pints of Hophead in  really good pub called The Duke of Wellington. A serious bar billiards game was about to start which involved ironing the table.


Bought curry ready meals from a Waitrose and took them back to the YH. It was tricky to find a good routes back to Haslemere on Thursday so we got a train from Shoreham to Chichester and cycled back from there. Pretty good as far as Petersfield where we stopped for lunch but after that we tried to follow Sustrans route 22 which was challenging. In the end we bailed out and got the train from Liphook which is one stop before Haslemere. Got back about 6 and M filled me in on her UC adventures.
We've had a possible smile from Madeline before but I think this is a definite.
A bit of a lazy day on Friday. Same on Saturday but did put up some framed maps in the hall.
Where's Madeline? Went to watch Reading lose 2 0 to undefeated Bournemouth in the evening. 8 pm KO as on Sky. Clocks went back on Sunday morning. Another lazy day. Editted an old video of when James was just a bit older than Madeline to send to him.
Three generations of Eberlin girls.
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