News from Nowhere

If things had gone according to plan, D. and valydiarosada would have arrived yesterday to spend the New Year with us: but two days ago, D. phoned: valydiarosada had been suffering the symptoms of a heavy cold, had tested for covid and proved positive. So the traditional New Year's visit has been deferred until a time to be agreed once everyone has tested negative. I'm disappointed, of course, but not devastated. The New Year is just a date on the calendar; it's not as if I hadn't already, of my own free will, deferred my Christmas Day by 24 hours. I will enjoy their visit whenever it happens, and meanwhile I will observe the New Year as I choose - which will probably mean going to bed at pretty much my usual time. I won't be watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny. Sorry, Jools.

We have also deferred our planned visit to D.'s sister and brother-in-law, who live in the high Pennines: we were to have spent New Year's Day with them, but we have agreed to wait until D. and valydiarosada are here. Which makes sense. But, I complained to durham_rambler, I was ready for a day out... He had a suggestion: a business called Stack are applying to convert the space vacated by Marks & Spencer in Durham city centre into a vibrant multi-unit food and drinks and games venue, and he is deeply immersed in drafting the response of the City of Durham Trust to their licensing and planning applications. We could go to Seaburn and look at their existing business there. So that's what we did.



We made the most of the excursion, calling in at Boots to collect a prescription. Which meant a bit of navigating by dead reckoning, and a magical mystery tour via Lambton and the Penshaw Monument. A short stroll along the front at Seaburn, a quick circuit of the various bars and food outlets in the Stack - nothing wrong with this set-up on an otherwise empty site on the front, but how will it fit into the city centre, snuggled up to the World Heritage site? No doubt we'll find out, because I think it is likely to go ahead... Fish and chips for lunch at the Salt House (next door but one to the Italian restaurant where we usually meet the family), and then home.

We've also invited J. to dinner on New Year's Day, to help eat some of the food we had laid in for visitors. It's going to be quite a sociable New Year, one way and another (by my standards, at any rate).

The plan was that we should - as we have in past years - take advantage of anef's attendance at Durham's Classics summer school to meet, probably for a leisurely lunch on a day with a light afternoon schedule, and that S., who also attends the summer school, should be invited to join us.

The first wobble in the plan was that durham_rambler and I caught Covid - but we had every hope it would be over in good time, and so it was. Then it was S.'s turn to catch it, but she got through it even faster than we did, so that was all right. The summer school schedule was more densely packed than usual, and didn't lend itself to leisurely lunches, so we revised the plan: we would meet for an early dinner, and S. and anef would skip the Friday evening's "entertainment" - which I think S. actually saw as an improvement on the original plan.

Then anef caught Covid. Everything I have read about the current surge in cases matches my recent experience: that the virus is tidying up anyone who has escaped so far. Luckily, most of us have the symptoms of a bad cold, accompanied by more or less fatigue, and I'm hoping it'll be no worse for anef. But that really was the end of Plan A.

At the same time, the summer school was beginning to consider the impact of Saturday's rail strike, had already abandoned Saturday morning's class and was eyeing Friday's schedule. So Plan B was that S. should come here when classes ended on Friday, in time for a mid-afternoon cup of tea.

Then Friday - today - arrived, and S. phoned at lunchtime to say classes had been abandoned, and could she come now for that cup of tea? Of course we said, come to lunch, but she had already had lunch: I do understand that this was intended to be helpful, though I'm baffled that anyone who knows me could think it is more trouble to stretch lunch to an extra person than to have that person sit there and watch while I eat - I will never understand other people!

Anyway, that's what we did, it was very pleasant, and we had a good gossip. And I think we have entered a new phase of Covid. It isn't over, but right now it isn't stopping things happening, it is just making things more complicated.

Get well soon, anef!

durham_rambler continues to feel better. On Thursday he did a test which came back positive, but this morning's was negative (not quite two weeks since his first positive test). I haven't been matching him test-for-test: what would that have told us? But given his 'all clear', I took a test and got a faint but clear positive result, which was no surprise - it looks as if I'm lagging a day or so behind him.

So at last durham_rambler has been able to run some errands: he has collected repeat prescriptions, and booked the car into the garage for an expert opinion on that worrying noise ...

Meanwhile, I have the perfect excuse not even to think about going out and doing things during this heatwave.

( The chronological version )

The tl:dr; version: we both have nasty snuffly head-coldy symptoms. durham_rambler is feeling a bit better, but is testing positive for Covid; I am feeling a bit worse, but am testing negative.

This line from the Moldovan entry pretty much summarises what I look for in the Eurovision song contest, and this year's edition offered plenty of it. There were other themes, too. Commentator Graham Norton described the show as "the great Italian shirt-shortage of 2022," and he had a point, there were indeed a number of bare-chested males on display. In the interests of balance, though, I should also note that Spain managed to secure third place by sending their (female) singer out skirtless (and yes, removing her jacket in the course of the song). There were several very emotional men, a category in which I include the UK entry, unmemorable but apparently not embarrassing. Estonia was a cowboy, and Iceland were cowgirls. The obligatory WTF moment was provided by Norway's contribution Give That Wolf A Banana, undermined by my strong suspicion that they were Doing It On Purpose. Here's the beginning of their biography:

Subwoolfer, the biggest band in the galaxy, got together 4.5 billion years ago on their home planet… the Moon.

Since then, Keith and Jim have conquered the music scene on every other planet, making them the most successful pop group ever… so they tell us.

( Back to the folklore... )

We had hoped that F and C would join us for the evening, as we are compatible in matters Eurovisual: but C messaged to say that F had caught Covid, so that didn't happen. The pandemic may be over, but people who are being relatively cautious are still catching the virus, and the potential long-term effects are bad enough that I find this worrying. Get well soon, F!

Saturday was durham_rambler's birthday - a significant one, which he had been saying for some time should not go unmarked. But saying it is one thing, doing something about it is quite another. Not to mention that the more the government talked about putting the pandemic behind us, the more I thought "Not ready!" So it was not until March was nearly upon us that we agreed that we would have, not a party exactly, but an afternoon on which we would inform a limited number of local friends that we were At Home.

I say "we agreed", because that is what I thought happened; and I thought I was pressing durham_rambler to get on with inviting his chosen guests. But I overheard him inviting someone with the assurance that I had conceded, so maybe he had been hoping for something larger. I admit I had been thinking of a number of people who could all sit down in comfortable chairs, with a wine glass each, who would turn up after lunch and go away before anyone started to think about dinner. As the date got closer, I began to suspect that durham_rambler had other ideas. Had we invented a new kind of surprise party, one that came as a surprise not to the birthday boy but to the (for want of a better word) housekeeping department?

Housekeeping is one of the reasons I've been less than usually present here over the last week or so. Neither of us is particularly houseproud at the best of times, and two years of lockdown has been two years of never having to tidy up for visitors. Now we were inviting people into our lair, including some who've never set foot in the house before...

Lots of pre-party nerves, then, followed by an afternoon of very enjoyable partying - sort-of-partying. People arrived, and accepted refreshment, and talked to each other. We didn't run out of drink - I wasn't worried about running out of wine (indeed, we now have more still white wine than we did to begin with) but I never know what to offer people who don't want alcohol (tea is popular). By and large people observed the no-presents rule, though M. stood on the doorstep, refusing to come in (because people at her evening class have been catching Covid) and proffering a triffid; it comes with hand-written instructions which claim that it thrives on neglect, and if this is true, it has come to the right place. On the other hand, the neighbour who tried to decline the invitation because he didn't think he could get his wheelchair past the threshhold entered without difficulty with the aid of a ramp (aka piece of board we knew would come in useful eventually).

durham_rambler had hoped that the last stragglers would stay for dinner, but no-one accepted the invitation - and indeed, as we feared, offering it was what finally brought the afternoon to a close. But that was fun, and I feel much braver about doing it - or something else - again.

A week ago I posted that I was virtually ready for Christmas, barring one or two small tasks which should not present any problem: well, I think we can all guess how that went, can't we?

The last of the packages were in the post the day before the deadline, but at least one of them has not yet arrived (in London, admittedly, which is where services are most likely to be interrupted). Food shopping went to plan. Glasses frames were tried on, and a pair chosen: I am not in love with them, but they are fine - the hardest thing was deciding whether to have the pair that I liked better with a mask, or the ones that I liked better without. And, talking of shopping, we have bought a car - or rather, we have signed a contract on an electric car, when it becomes available in the spring (they are not currently building them fast enough to meet the demand). All durham_rambler wants for Christmas Easter...

We have sung a small but beautifully curated selection of carols from the Bears' repertoire; and more carols with the Melrose Quartet, not to mention a dozen 'name that tune' challenges from their ongoing 'one song to the tune of another' project (but in their case the one song is always Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. This wasn't one they did at the concert, but it's a good indication of how it works:



An entire day went on visiting and being visited and virtually visiting (a Zoom call with S. who had cancelled her long-anticipated Christmas trip to Greece, and was remarkable philosophical about it). And I have cooked and washed up and cooked and washed up again, and done a little actual work in amidst it all. Reading the round-ups of the year's best television, we have watched all the wrong things: the Countdown finals, the University Challenge Christmas specials - oh, and I enjoyed re-watching Desperately Seeking Susan.

Any of these things could have been a post of its own: it's all good, but I don't know where the time goes. The point at which I thought yes, this is authentic Christmas was last night, on the sofa with a mug of instant coffee, watching Morecambe and Wise... This afternoon we hung up the Christmas cards, which is our token piece of Christmas decorating. And now it's time to do battle with the leftovers.

This morning over breakfast we picked up the notification that our PCR tests were negative; actually sent just before midnight, barely 12 hours after taking the test.

This was a relief. Not so much the negative result, as I had not seriously considered any other possibility (whether this demonstrates realism or denial is left as an exercise for the reader). But I had anticipated a weekend of self-inflicted self-isolation, while we waited for the all clear, and was pleased to be able to call J. and tell her that we would, after all, be able to keep our lunch date -

So that was today: out to J's, wrangle her computer, eat lunch, accompany her to village Christmas fête (so many tombolas) and back again, return home via Lidl (buying herring and poppyseed stollen and the riesling with the wombat on the label, hooray!). Time for a cup of tea and an update.

What I have not done is move any closer to preparing for Christmas: we have already received our first card, and it's time we bought some to send... Nor have I bought any presents, at all. I seem to have forgotten how to shop. With the exception, obviously, of overindulging in treats, seasonal and perennial, from Lidl.

On Thursday morning we went to Boots, and were given our 'booster' vaccine shots. I apologise to the world for this: I do not think that it's a good strategy to triple vaccinate one country before the whole world has been offered at least one shot. But nor do I think that refusing this booster would change anything, and meanwhile the UK is taking no precautions other than vaccination against the virus - so yes, we went to Boots and were boosted. The system wasn't quite a smooth as that run by the GP. but it was fine, nonetheless. And while I was in Boots I replaced the facial scrub I like - or to be precise, bought something similar, the one I like having vanished.

While we were in town, I went to the bank and unlocked - I hope - the PIN of my debit card. Now I need an opportunity to use it to buy something, to make sure.

I bought a pair of slippers, but this was too soon for the card to be working, so I used a different card. I'm not crazy about the new slippers, but they fit me, and that's quite a big deal (I have broad feet); and the old ones were very broken.

durham_rambler bought me a chain for my glasses: they still fall off when I wear a mask, but they don't fall as far - and I don't end up patting random surfaces because I can't see where they have fallen to.

In the afternoon, durham_rambler's new printer arrived (in a huge box, which can't stay on the spare bed forever): now we can print things and not have them covered in blue smudges.

Encouraged by all these achievements, we went to the garage at the top of the road, which deals in second-hand electric cars, and looked at the one car they have in stock - but which they have just sold. But we have made contact, and it's all promising.

I am beginning to think about buying some new saucepans. I don't really know where to start. With the exception of the sauté pan which I bought at TK Maxx - and that must have been thirty years ago - the last pans I bought were the glass ones from Chester-le-Street market. They have done me very well (except for the little milk pan, which was the reason I bought the set of three, and got broken almost at ine) but I think I have destroyed their surface, and there's very little I can now use them for without it sticking and burning. So where do people buy sauncepans in this brave new world?

As explained previously, last night the pub quiz was held at the pub. During the hiatus, the pub has been radically redecorated, and there has been a change of management; the continuation of thirty-something years of quizzing is not entirely self-evident. Which is why, if the Quizmaster is keen to resume in-person sessions, some of us felt obliged to turn up and demonstrate demand.

In other respects, things were completely unchanged: no requirement to procuce evidence of vaccination, or even to scan a QR cide / give a contact address; very few masks; ordering at the bar. The pub wasn't busy - certainly not busy by quiz night standards - we were a team of five, with a table to ourselves, next door to a table of two (our rivals, as it turned out) also with a table to themselves. This is manageable, but more proximity than I am entirely comfortable with.

Even so, and even though we have been meeting by Zoom, it was a delight to be quizzing as a team, in the presence of other teams. We came second - which is to say that we tied for first, but lost the tie-break (as we usually do: they are not our strong point) but I don't think that's the reason I enjoyed it so much.

One mystery: a question we got wrong, and I still don't know why (no, I'm not making a case that we were cheated of a win, for all I know the other team had the same problem). The question concerned the flower eyebright, used in herbal medecine to treat eye problems, and the question was, what colour is it? As it happens, eyebright (euphrasia) is my favourite flower, which is why I persist in taking not very good pictures of it (it's tiny):



"White," I said, without hesitation. "White, with purple streaks and maybe a yellow spot."

The correct answer was blue. At the time I just thought there must be other plants to which the same name is applied - that happens. But back home I was curious, and I can't find any trace of it. If I search fot 'eiebright', the internet is unanimous (and how often does that happen?) in offering me the flower I know. And if I add the word 'blue' it offers me an indigo-dyed William Morris design. Which I am very pleased to meet, obviously, but the mystery remains.

We won't be at the pub next Wednesday, as we will be elsewhere. Will we still be meeting in person in two weeks' time? Who knows?