Independence Day revisited
Jul. 6th, 2020 08:43 pmThe government seems to have completely misread the public mood, in believing that the big excitement of the weekend's changes was that hooray! the pubs were open! It would be like New Year's Eve ... Some pubs were open, and some people did visit them, but I'm seeing far more people being excited about getting their hair cut. I did neither of these things. According to the news. the other new freedom was the celebration of marriages, but I wasn't interested in doing that, either.
We did, however, visit another household in her own home; for the first time in three months we were inside a house other than this one. This wasn't intentional. We had arranged to visit J, partly for the pleasure of visiting J, and partly because the person who has set up the e-mail account on her new laptop had made some choices she wasn't happy with, and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
durham_rambler wanted to change this. We had every intention of sitting in her garden: it is, after all, July, and we brought extra jumpers with us. But Sunday was windy; Sunday was very windy, and J lives at the end of a ridge, high and exposed, where it was windier still. So when we knocked at her door, she beckoned us in, and in we went. We maintained distances (indeed, for much of the time durham_rambler was in another room, doing things to the computer), but J and I sat in her large sittng room and gossiped and enjoyed the extensive views across the fields.
I don't think we would have gone out at five to applaud the NHS one last time, even if we had been at home. What started as something reasonably spontaneous feels increasingly stage-managed. The radio news issues instructions: applaud tonight, stop applauding after tonight... and I don't feel it has anything to do with me (though I miss that moment each week when neighbours would appear on their doorsteps). Yesterday we were talking of other things, and the moment passed. We did, though, see a spectacular double rainbow, long and surprisingly low, the inner bow so bright and clear we could identify the spot at either end where it touched the ground (do we get two pots of gold?), the outer bow about half complete.
Afterwards, back home and reading the paper, I discovered that our afternoon was rntirely in accordance with the current guidelines. I suppose I should be pleased. We spent Sunday evening, as has become our habit, with the wondrful Robb Johnson at the Hove Palladium. I wonder if we will ever be permitted to sing in public again?
We did, however, visit another household in her own home; for the first time in three months we were inside a house other than this one. This wasn't intentional. We had arranged to visit J, partly for the pleasure of visiting J, and partly because the person who has set up the e-mail account on her new laptop had made some choices she wasn't happy with, and
durham_rambler wanted to change this. We had every intention of sitting in her garden: it is, after all, July, and we brought extra jumpers with us. But Sunday was windy; Sunday was very windy, and J lives at the end of a ridge, high and exposed, where it was windier still. So when we knocked at her door, she beckoned us in, and in we went. We maintained distances (indeed, for much of the time durham_rambler was in another room, doing things to the computer), but J and I sat in her large sittng room and gossiped and enjoyed the extensive views across the fields.I don't think we would have gone out at five to applaud the NHS one last time, even if we had been at home. What started as something reasonably spontaneous feels increasingly stage-managed. The radio news issues instructions: applaud tonight, stop applauding after tonight... and I don't feel it has anything to do with me (though I miss that moment each week when neighbours would appear on their doorsteps). Yesterday we were talking of other things, and the moment passed. We did, though, see a spectacular double rainbow, long and surprisingly low, the inner bow so bright and clear we could identify the spot at either end where it touched the ground (do we get two pots of gold?), the outer bow about half complete.
Afterwards, back home and reading the paper, I discovered that our afternoon was rntirely in accordance with the current guidelines. I suppose I should be pleased. We spent Sunday evening, as has become our habit, with the wondrful Robb Johnson at the Hove Palladium. I wonder if we will ever be permitted to sing in public again?
