tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33195851560442149672024-03-14T06:17:12.448+00:00Cheshire WifeLife after relocation and renovationcheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-20194341546146933812022-01-11T18:30:00.002+00:002022-03-28T11:43:45.655+01:00As time goes by - review of 2021<p>Now that we are past Twelfth Night and the Christmas festivities are behind it sees like a good time to take a look at back at the last year.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjAPB_gPaUe6dT-z1e2cFc6FbpBEwuwLgvIqGjQzlMW5t1Z5z8JfYm_TjJPnkck4S4WfcHpyseL3pzU6Af_D1IbOUsJ_YMZPRhPSYWquBt0bWElaIEX9NXw5gu_C5s_OYZsBfr0eyA-6NuQSZ3ZbCc73k1TVq2HojOaufviHPVv1lP4o529mziJNnG=s265" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="265" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjAPB_gPaUe6dT-z1e2cFc6FbpBEwuwLgvIqGjQzlMW5t1Z5z8JfYm_TjJPnkck4S4WfcHpyseL3pzU6Af_D1IbOUsJ_YMZPRhPSYWquBt0bWElaIEX9NXw5gu_C5s_OYZsBfr0eyA-6NuQSZ3ZbCc73k1TVq2HojOaufviHPVv1lP4o529mziJNnG=w400-h287" width="400" /></a> <br /></div><p>And so the year that seemed to be never ending has finally come to a close. At times, time appeared to be standing still. Here, in the north west of England, we had a bitterly cold start to the year with sub zero night time temperatures for most of the month. Irrespective of the weather, work commenced on the building of the new village hall, partly funded by a Big Lottery Fund grant. The old village hall was a second hand building acquired around 1950 with a design life of 15 years and for some years had been badly in need of replacement. It had take several years of painstaking work for the Big Lottery Fund team, comprising six of the village hall committee members, to jump through all the necessary hoops to satisfy the Big Lottery Fund that it was a worthy cause and for the grant from them, to be approved.<br /></p><p>Sadly in the second week of January our village lost two of its' elder statesmen on consecutive days. The whole country was in hard lockdown. Numbers at funerals were severely restricted. Unable to attend their funerals, villagers rallied round and we were organised to line the route of their funeral corteges as a mark of respect, which was appreciated by their families.</p><p>Storm Christoph arrived in the third week of January, affecting most of the country with strong winds and heavy rain. The North West was particularly badly hit with 24 hours of non stop rain, leaving all of the roads in and out of the village flooded. Fortunately the flood waters soon subsided.</p><p>By the start of February the coronavirus vaccination programme was in full swing. Husband and I had our first one at beginning of the month and the second one 12 weeks later. With coronavirus restrictions still in place, life and time moved slowly on. Spring arrived and with it the lifting of some of the lockdown restrictions. However, holidays booked for May and June were cancelled. For the May holiday we took a refund. The June holiday we rebooked for September.</p><p>With the arrival of Spring came the start of the gardening year and the delivery of the new greenhouse that I had ordered the previous Autumn. The old one was 18 years old and had served us well, but had never been the same since the neighbour's tree had fallen onto it during a storm, some years before. Having had the second coronavirus vaccination I was suffering from side effects of an upset stomach and problems sleeping, which were to haunt me intermittently for about four months.</p><p>With the gradual lifting of the lockdown restrictions I was able to have my first hair cut of the year in May. Through out May and June the lockdown restrictions continued to be eased until July 19 which was dubbed Freedom Day. Life was now as normal as it was going to get for the foreseeable future.</p><p>At the end of July life for us took on a different perspective when my brother announced that he had had to had a kidney removed because of a cancerous growth on it. Fortunately he made a good recovery and the cancer was a very low grade tumour requiring no further treatment. Around this time what looked like a spot appeared on husband's nose. When antibiotics did not clear it up, a squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed. This was seven days before we were due to go to Crete for a two week holiday. After thinking about it over the weekend we decide to cancel the holiday and get his nose sorted out. For a time we were in limbo. By mid September we had the biopsy result through. The squamous cell carcinoma was in fact benign. This news allowed us to rebook our holiday to Crete for the beginning of October. As they say things come in threes. In the middle of all this husband's brother-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer.</p><p>By now the new village hall was built, finished and ready to be handed over to the village hall committee with the opening event planned for mid October. We returned from our holiday in Crete the night before to attend the grand opening. The following week husband managed to catch a cold which he of course passed to me. It was quite a shock to the system after two years of having nothing, as the result of lockdown and social distancing etc.</p><p>The next thing up for us was our coronavirus booster vaccination on November 1 - thankfully no side effects this time. When the weather permitted, we were out in the garden putting it to bed for the winter. Black Friday bought with it Storm Arwen, taking out our power for 47 hours. To say that those 47 hours were grim would be an under statement. On the second night without power we had a hard frost. Now at least the dahlias could be lifted! Sadly, the previous weekend husband's brother in law had died.</p><p>December heralded the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which meant that the government imposed some restrictions on our lives. Now the press and the media whipped things up into a frenzy, trying to guess what the governments next move should be. We had back bench MPs voting against the government, while the press and media reported what they wanted to see, rather than what was really happening. That died down over Christmas, but in the absence of real news, we now seem to be back to the press and media making the news, instead of reporting what is happening. Hopefully things will improve and 2022 does not turn out to be the year that we were governed by the press and media.<br /></p><p></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-80802267883588205332021-12-31T18:00:00.002+00:002021-12-31T18:00:00.226+00:00<p></p><p><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Happy New Year </span></span></span><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigt2hA9hpnHojWGpktBsjelCXHluNmBP5V9iOFFMM401cyLD6RpiAUXS-ECQjldP6FH3fNxTpvSOTLmzxqWl2dyA_Ls1uUD6DxDCMDT0dTcAqVgthl1yFkObCs-qoOJSy-GeX1YX3UlmKm3iEtw75fUoNNTOKDcMTC1v0DxiM1xifRXu7Acex3RYqP=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigt2hA9hpnHojWGpktBsjelCXHluNmBP5V9iOFFMM401cyLD6RpiAUXS-ECQjldP6FH3fNxTpvSOTLmzxqWl2dyA_Ls1uUD6DxDCMDT0dTcAqVgthl1yFkObCs-qoOJSy-GeX1YX3UlmKm3iEtw75fUoNNTOKDcMTC1v0DxiM1xifRXu7Acex3RYqP=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br />cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-27464076436164451772021-12-24T12:00:00.006+00:002021-12-24T12:00:00.187+00:00<p> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Merry Christmas</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-OJB9BzuxD7l9A2xa58Xf-Adq5vPhPnbaz58OXp2pXXEkvSg_bgSdLv8Av6FgkC8OhZ9CRd9J6u9K9kENVemTfLAhaD-cqs09V_TSsqpaA-_nRHRyHLE__3V9Lbt6mD7nu-e-y3dBRp3MepRtHau6O9oJ-U9aUxIBK8-dfqy-VUMCDs4l54XmcZaR=s2832" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2124" data-original-width="2832" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-OJB9BzuxD7l9A2xa58Xf-Adq5vPhPnbaz58OXp2pXXEkvSg_bgSdLv8Av6FgkC8OhZ9CRd9J6u9K9kENVemTfLAhaD-cqs09V_TSsqpaA-_nRHRyHLE__3V9Lbt6mD7nu-e-y3dBRp3MepRtHau6O9oJ-U9aUxIBK8-dfqy-VUMCDs4l54XmcZaR=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><p></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-91451266470041174902021-08-24T21:30:00.001+01:002021-08-24T21:30:00.156+01:00More records broken<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSZ_SEbrj5MYeJbqRuSEyxraO9fDveuZXFZbrgP00Sl93DBgsdxBJuu0HJk1x6sYCQy2hPRwlREPmngMS0XPGsqLvmyqhVyMwpLzodnvM4g-6V_H2cqGCE7wRNRJXdSAsj0qvsHsLWBvw/s2048/IMG_0655.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSZ_SEbrj5MYeJbqRuSEyxraO9fDveuZXFZbrgP00Sl93DBgsdxBJuu0HJk1x6sYCQy2hPRwlREPmngMS0XPGsqLvmyqhVyMwpLzodnvM4g-6V_H2cqGCE7wRNRJXdSAsj0qvsHsLWBvw/w400-h300/IMG_0655.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>I have never paid too much attention to the viewing statistics for my blog, but now the way blogger have set things up it is hard to avoid them. Last month I could not help but notice that my blog's viewing figures were going up by leaps and bounds until on consecutive days the number of views hit over one thousand. I am certain that this has never happened before. After that hiatus the viewing figures continued to be high for several days. However, they have now dropped back to what I consider to be normal levels. It is hard to work out why I was getting so many hits, as they are not all reading my latest post and it is not as if the views are translating into comments. That is partly because I have set things up so that comments can only be made on the last three posts that I have published, which is to prevent the undesirable comments that get left on my blog now and again.<br /></p><p>Several of my posts have had more than one thousands views, but it has taken months, if not years for them to achieve that many views. For some time my most viewed post was <a href="http://cheshire-wife.blogspot.com/2011/08/wheres-tooth-fairy.html" target="_blank">Where's the tooth fairy?</a> which is about my experiences of the initial stages of a dental implant procedure. I had intended to write a follow up post when the work was finished, but somehow never got round to it and now it is too long ago for me to remember all the detail. Currently my the post with the most views is <a href="http://cheshire-wife.blogspot.com/2010/03/home-strait.html" target="_blank">The home strait</a> about my elderly mother and her care home, which is an experience that a lot of us have had to cope with. These post were published in 2011 and 2010 respectively. Thankfully there have been no more dental implants and my mother died nearly ten years ago.</p><p>Life still has its' ups and downs. Currently we are having a down and are in limbo. When I know the direction of travel I shall post about it.<br /></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-28971810619053690502021-07-22T13:00:00.002+01:002021-07-22T21:39:31.122+01:00Hitting the ton<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyc6OqdOGHAuUcnU5XkqNZBG-ntBUJkGRa-Tyxaw-j8DqRqzSRdM75A6JVXbGLYmT2Je0zH308ZZ4DaCVI_-cxGIeKIxWEP6tdAw38RtE3Ts9mLG6zliaYGljHs2FCUM_S00y_eg68cY/s2048/IMG_0645.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyc6OqdOGHAuUcnU5XkqNZBG-ntBUJkGRa-Tyxaw-j8DqRqzSRdM75A6JVXbGLYmT2Je0zH308ZZ4DaCVI_-cxGIeKIxWEP6tdAw38RtE3Ts9mLG6zliaYGljHs2FCUM_S00y_eg68cY/w300-h400/IMG_0645.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><p>Here in the UK we are having a heatwave and the temperature on our patio is regularly reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I have to say that I quite like the heat and I am enjoying myself pottering around in the garden, dressed for the beach. So while some of Europe is mopping up after torrential rain and floods, we are basking in the sun. It is usually the other way round. We have the rain and floods and Europe has the heat. If this is anything to do with Brexit, I am all for it. I know that this good weather will not last. It never does in this country. Thunderstorms are forecast for the weekend. The rain will be good for the garden, although our lawn has not turned brown, probably because we have had an awful lot of rain this year. The baking heat has turned our wettest flowerbed with its bog like clay soil into something which is more like a rock than soil with a small earthquake thrown in for good measure. Thankfully we only have one flower bed like that. The other flower beds do not have such heavy soil.</p><p>Shortly I shall be out to catch some more rays as this maybe the closest we are going to get to a holiday in the sun this year, although we do have a holiday booked for a few weeks time.<br /></p><p></p><p></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-89913743459842273322021-07-11T18:00:00.001+01:002021-07-11T18:00:00.246+01:001066 or 1966?<p>It was 1966. 30 July 1966 to be precise, when England won the World Cup.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEQf7D4PmLffN1nLQVFAjFYUW54zg9eKynFkx8lAsM1FXZpSM3aTI8fe5tyVLXyFDi6hP4E4HnMZEh1MdddHv3tM1OK2uuCM6vPXmO_6DdLAU9kDcAdya4B-epIkdCaI8yTf90fbDqew/s1200/1966.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1200" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEQf7D4PmLffN1nLQVFAjFYUW54zg9eKynFkx8lAsM1FXZpSM3aTI8fe5tyVLXyFDi6hP4E4HnMZEh1MdddHv3tM1OK2uuCM6vPXmO_6DdLAU9kDcAdya4B-epIkdCaI8yTf90fbDqew/w640-h384/1966.webp" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Some of us can still remember it. And for my generation, I am sure that England winning the World Cup in 1966 is a feat that can not be beaten.That is not to take anything away from the achievements of the current England team. I wish them luck for this evening.<br /></p><p></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-23568643267809638302021-07-09T21:00:00.001+01:002021-07-09T21:00:00.189+01:00In case you were wondering......<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9bFQ7rgNjRln4FOzw1gL3K_igkA_F50STHPbsgPg8gZiqUkf-j9NWJAattrGipuaefGNJkXrt4ExAaRa5Qt67W0v-iyczHWB_876QjhY6Tzn9sxKMCqIXESwSuDF2LSXW9O8M0l_Cas/s2048/IMG_0628.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9bFQ7rgNjRln4FOzw1gL3K_igkA_F50STHPbsgPg8gZiqUkf-j9NWJAattrGipuaefGNJkXrt4ExAaRa5Qt67W0v-iyczHWB_876QjhY6Tzn9sxKMCqIXESwSuDF2LSXW9O8M0l_Cas/w640-h480/IMG_0628.JPG" width="640" /></a></p><p></p><p>In the absence of anything else to do I have been spending time in the garden.</p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCWWCvzuOf1ngSxfRvJX86Ew4EZhETdi4vxO8hywUOggueAwfoSWl65GLVKqJIhxKK0AyJ8ZbN-NmChyphenhyphennykx1B8qZlQRb-Tqx1G3GJLTX1oU7EP-MQCB6gpg9Gh27H1nSaSEzS7WacTAo/s2048/IMG_0625.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCWWCvzuOf1ngSxfRvJX86Ew4EZhETdi4vxO8hywUOggueAwfoSWl65GLVKqJIhxKK0AyJ8ZbN-NmChyphenhyphennykx1B8qZlQRb-Tqx1G3GJLTX1oU7EP-MQCB6gpg9Gh27H1nSaSEzS7WacTAo/w640-h480/IMG_0625.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>No need for social distancing or to wear a mask. </p><p>The easing of restrictions has not made much difference to us. As we are usually away a lot, when we are at home we do not go out much. Consequently there has not been very little to write about recently.<br /></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-3152630997462756172021-03-23T21:30:00.002+00:002021-07-23T20:48:51.218+01:00The way we are<p>
Spring is in the air but, I am not entirely sure that Winter is done with us. Some days have been pleasant and sunny, while others have been cloudy and windy. However, we have managed to spend some welcome time in the garden.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCX8JdaEJ3ftXy5b8gAU5v-9LyOgzz14Y55cCHqfADRMTTa9SDwEza6E4OBG0rsTJHObpfyNC-ghaC8aae-4vdxZ1zC3qNC-LzRTFbczU-0XlixtuODGoDwRLD524q6OV0esutEfwUvDo/s2048/IMG_0586.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCX8JdaEJ3ftXy5b8gAU5v-9LyOgzz14Y55cCHqfADRMTTa9SDwEza6E4OBG0rsTJHObpfyNC-ghaC8aae-4vdxZ1zC3qNC-LzRTFbczU-0XlixtuODGoDwRLD524q6OV0esutEfwUvDo/w640-h480/IMG_0586.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />Today is a year since England went into its first lockdown and it has being marked by a <i>National Day of Reflection</i>. We are now starting to ease our way out of our third lockdown. Schools went back two weeks ago and we have a timetable for the opening of hairdressers, non-essential shops, gyms and hospitality etc. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own plans, which are similar but different to England’s plans. During the coronavirus pandemic the three devolved governments have gone out of their way to be awkward and do things differently to England. However, their tactics have not given them a better outcome from the pandemic, with regard to infection rates and the number of deaths. My feelings are that it would have been better if the UK’s response to the pandemic had been managed from London. Then the whole country would have moved in and out of lockdown at the same time. Northern Ireland have managed things in the only the way that the Irish would - you probably need to be British to understand that sentiment. Scotland’s response has been chaotic and difficult to fathom with Nicola Sturgeon showing her true colours. While Wales have flipped in and out of lockdown as often as most people change their socks. Why am I bothered by this? - because we live near Chester, two miles from the border with Wales and whatever the Welsh do has an impact on us. People from Chester work in Wales and vice versa. So if infection rates go up over the border, they will probably also go up over here. Last week Wales eased its lockdown ahead of Mother’s Day allowing families to meet up. Something we were not allowed to do here in England. In two to three weeks time, Wales will probably have a spike in infections resulting from Mother’s Day socialising. I see that Anglesey already has seen increased infection rates. I can't wait for the hairdressers to open, as I just want to get my hair cut.<br /><p></p><p>Coronavirus vaccinations continue to be a hot topic of conversation with the shenangihans in the European Union causing concern not only in Europe, but worldwide. Mainland Europe is currently experiencing a third wave of infections leading to more lockdowns and restrictions. All exacerbated by the slow rollout of the vaccine there. Delayed supplies of the vaccines and worries about side effects being the most recent excuses to poke a political finger at the UK. This carton from <i>The Times </i>of <i>Wednesday 17 March 2021 </i>says it all.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6CWAmsKeK0M-UXa8BC-fB0D9aRa1NOtw4iqvUcSq_DZp1ABwPLkXsduNt_ufpRu5_qlnQazALDtz0Xzng65Y2zB8CrhSNZOYgFW3_iRUWkAqbX496V5gVbBrDxmEDH6-NCir21UdRAw/s2048/IMG_0593+%2528Edited%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6CWAmsKeK0M-UXa8BC-fB0D9aRa1NOtw4iqvUcSq_DZp1ABwPLkXsduNt_ufpRu5_qlnQazALDtz0Xzng65Y2zB8CrhSNZOYgFW3_iRUWkAqbX496V5gVbBrDxmEDH6-NCir21UdRAw/w640-h480/IMG_0593+%2528Edited%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>The problem is the contract that the EU have with AstraZeneca. They negotiated on price which has put them at the back of the queue whereas the UK negotiated on vaccine availability, putting them at the front of the queue. The Europeans clearly do not understand the concept of queueing. We all know about the German towels on the sunbed.<br /></p><p>Meanwhile back in the UK, the hiatus after the murder of Sarah Everard seems to have died down. I am not saying that her death was not a tragedy, but I seem to be missing something. At the time of her murder the whole country was in lockdown and we are still not allowed to meet anyone indoors. We can only meet one person outdoors, so what was she doing visiting a friend? When I was around her age I too lived in London and probably walked home alone late at night, but I lived in a different area of London. I would never have walked around Brixton alone, even in daylight. The vigil on the Saturday evening broke the coronavirus regulations. The police were right to break up the crowds and despite all the fuss about their tactics, only four people were arrested.</p><p>The other issue still rumbling on is the Meg and Haz side show. Here in the UK people are not that interested. We are currently lockdown in a pandemic and have more important things to think about than two self centred and privileged individuals complaining about how badly life has treated them. After all, we lived through the events and saw then reported in the media at the time. I watched the interview, if you could call it an interview, so that I could make up my own mind about what they had to say. It was more like a conversation with Meghan steering it in the direction that she wanted it to go. It had taken them 15 months to write the script and learn their lines. Everything was twisted to fit the distorted narrative that they want to peddle. If Meghan had ever read a Jane Austen novel she would have understood the lot of a younger son, but she realised too late that she had signed up for a bit part rather than the starring role. The media is awash with stories of Meghan's erratic behaviour - they can't all be wrong. Every time I see her petulant face I see Wallis Simpson - that other American divorcee who caused the last constitutional crisis in 1936. One can only imagine how unbelievably let down and betrayed Prince William must feel. These tell all interviews rarely end well. They are probably already, regretting that they did it.</p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-77998654471623336092021-02-05T20:45:00.002+00:002021-07-09T20:58:25.113+01:00Getting the needle<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6G220XLFAKriYm2ojQkP9gdjLo6QaOL_WTo1U_NLDxftr0jit9TO5CUL4jvixw4kctOqTtazWPM31va0rNlURi-UxSJGHopZmkPXvhe93X77UqWHDJPtVhl8NoWuY6vbeyqWhKBJiQo/s1600/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6G220XLFAKriYm2ojQkP9gdjLo6QaOL_WTo1U_NLDxftr0jit9TO5CUL4jvixw4kctOqTtazWPM31va0rNlURi-UxSJGHopZmkPXvhe93X77UqWHDJPtVhl8NoWuY6vbeyqWhKBJiQo/w400-h266/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here at the moment, the hot conversation topic seems to be the coronavirus vaccine roll out. Well it is either that or the more depressing infection rate or daily death toll. Last week's spat with the EU over the export of vaccines to the UK has spiced things up and shown the EU bullies that the world is watching them and is not impressed with their behaviour. The UK continues with its' speedy rollout - showing the rest of the world how it should be done. Their aim is to have offered every over 70 their first vaccination by mid February and it is looking as if they are on target to meet that deadline.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Ten days ago husband's brother in law, who was 72 last month and is seven months older than husband, received his appointment to have his first vaccination on Monday of this week. So, of course husband started to wonder when he would get his invite. On Tuesday a letter arrived for husband from the NHS, providing him with the information that he needed to make an appointment for his first vaccination. He wasted no time in logging into the necessary website, only to find that appointments were only available at a branch of Boots in the centre of Chester. Alternatively, the letter said that he could wait until his GP practice contacted him, which is what he decided to do, as we had heard that they were using a vaccination centre, which had been set up in a church hall nearer to us than the centre of Chester. Well, he did not have long to wait as on Tuesday lunchtime our GP surgery telephoned offering him an appointment late on Wednesday afternoon. After a bit of dithering, as it was a slightly inconvenient time, he accepted and asked if I could go with him, although I am not over 70. So, it was agreed that we could go together. Really he needed me to hold his hand, because he does not like needles.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We left home at 5 pm on Wednesday afternoon for the 20 minute drive to the vaccination centre and were back home before 6 pm. Arriving early for our 5.30 appointment, marshalls in the car park indicated the parking options and explained the one way system in operation. At the door to the church hall we were greeted by a volunteer with hand sanitiser. Then another volunteer directed us to the desk handling our GP practice. Several GP practices are using this vaccination centre. Once checked in we were handed a questionnaire and shepherded into a queue for the vaccination. The queue moved remarkably quicky and within five minutes of arriving we had both been injected with the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine. But we were not quite done, we then had to spend 15 minutes in the post vaccination observation area. Before we could access this area a label with our exit time was stuck to the sleeve of our anoraks by another volunteer. This area was in a draughty marquee that had been erected at the back of the hall and was the worst bit of the whole process. Just to take our mind off things we had been given a leaflet about the vaccine to read. It was 5.30 in the evening, in the middle of the UK Winter with the outside temperture being five degrees Celsius. After that it took me all night to get warm! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Now we just have to wait for the antibodies to do their business and the appointment for the second vaccination.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">All in all, it was an impressively slick operation.</div>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-30775957603869175752021-01-12T18:15:00.003+00:002021-07-09T20:57:19.742+01:002020 hindsight<p>Here in the UK we are lockdown once again, so I thought that I would look back on
some of the events of the last twelve months. <br /></p><p>Well, what a year it was! I am not sure that hindsight is of much use now.
Foresight would have been more useful a year ago, but if any of us had seen in
a crystal ball what 2020 had to offer, how many of us would even have
got out of bed last January?</p><p>About a year ago we set off for Cape Town. So as the
pandemic kicked off in China we were reliant on the internet for news as we
travelled around South Africa. I am sure that everywhere that we stayed had a television
in the bedroom but we do not usually watch television when we are away from
home. In fact we do not even watch much television when we are at home. We were aware of the situation in China but had no idea of what it would escalate into. No one did. Initially the weather was good and we enjoyed the blue skies and sunshine of the Western Cape. We didn't have a care in the world as we enjoyed a day's wine tour around Franschhoek with lunch at Richard Branson's Mont Rochelle vineyard, where the scenery is absolutely stunning.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlviNF7HJTcEKOfU3FcKauGbrPn0i9W_WQIepMY0QbZgqhlDxHRu1oWj1BrS_ltyRK8zEEjEoo6d6kgx1hWtX2vGXXPncak_E0bzkBDN368B5OwhfFgK3AH4M3wx2A7EJog9HwCCYm9c/s4000/P1030096.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlviNF7HJTcEKOfU3FcKauGbrPn0i9W_WQIepMY0QbZgqhlDxHRu1oWj1BrS_ltyRK8zEEjEoo6d6kgx1hWtX2vGXXPncak_E0bzkBDN368B5OwhfFgK3AH4M3wx2A7EJog9HwCCYm9c/w640-h480/P1030096.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p>The good weather was not to last. During our drive along the Garden Route the weather gods decided to end South Africa's drought with spectacular thunderstorms, torrential rain and power cuts. Maybe we should have seen this as a harbinger of what was to come. After Port Elizabeth we flew to the Victoria Falls for a couple of days. There the weather was dry. At Johannesburg airport we saw a group of Chinese people being taken to one side. I think by now the whole world saw all Chinese as carriers of this virus which had infected so many people in China. The last six nights of our holiday were spent in the Seychelles, where every day we had yet more thunderstorms and rain. After nearly four weeks away we were glad to return home on February 1, to a UK that had just left the EU although there were no obvious changes at Manchester airport. We had managed to avoid delayed flights and quarantine and no one seemed to be bothered about where we had been, but then Big Brother Emirates knew exactly when and where we were flying to and from. I just hoped that we did not get burgled.</p><p>Back in the UK it was cold, grey and wet. We seemed to have brought the South African rain back with us. From the edge of our seats, we watched the television news as coronavirus spread west from China. Here life was normal. We could socialise, shop for non essential items and go to the hairdresser. But for how long? Countries in Europe were locking down. Horrified we watched as hospitals in Italy, Spain and France were overwhelmed by cases of the virus. It was only a matter of time before coronavirus reached our shores. We are an island. Someone would kindly import it for us even though the government set up isolation centres for travellers returning to the UK from hot spots, in an attempt to contain the virus. By the third week in March the battle was lost and the UK was also locked down as the number of coronavirus infections started to climb.</p><p>At first lockdown was a bit of a novelty. There was not much traffic on the roads, people were polite and kept their distance and restricted numbers in the supermarket made shopping a less unpleasant experience and the weather played its' part by being dry and sunny. This meant that we could spend time in the garden in addition to our allowed essential exercise of a walk around the village. Away from our Cheshire bubble things were grim, as the number of infections and deaths continued to rise. And so life went on. Holidays which had been booked and looked forward to for some time were cancelled and re-arranged. We naively thought that it would all be over in a few months and that life would return to normal. Then when we thought that things were improving as the infection rate dropped, we were instructed to wear face masks in shops, public transport and enclosed spaces. I am not a fan of mask wearing, but maybe the powers that be were right to insist on us wearing them. Everyday different scientists would pop up advising on what we should and shouldn't be doing. All seemed to be experts in their fields. Who knew that we had so many professors?<br /></p><p>Over the summer the lockdown was relaxed, as the number of coronavirus infections fell and life became a bit more normal. We were even allowed to have a foreign holiday and we were fortunate enough to manage a week away on the Greek island of Crete at the beginning of September. But there were still rules to be abided by and that was the problem. Many did not follow the rules. In particular the young, who in general get away with an asymptomatic or mild dose of the virus. We were lucky enough to return from Crete just hours before England brought in quarantine rules for travellers returning from Crete, which had been necessitated by young people returning from the island with the virus, having partied the night away while on holiday. By mid September the second wave of the pandemic was starting in the UK as infection rate began to go up again and some parts of the country were under local restrictions. In October a tiered system of restrictions was brought in covering all of England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had their own restrictions set out by their devolved governments. My husband and I had been shocked to see on the TV, places where people were partying in the street, hugging and kissing one another against all the rules. And the authorities were letting them get away with it. Infection rates continued to climb resulting in a one month lockdown during Novmber, in the hope of saving Christmas. It did bring the numbers down, only for them to go up again in December.</p><p>In the run up to Christmas the restrictions were tightened as the number of infections rose, but there were still plans to relax the rules for five days over the Christmas bank holiday. Then the weekend before Christmas the bombshell was dropped that a new more infectious variant had been identified and was spreading rapidly around London and the south east of England. These areas were effectively lockdown overnight leaving Christmas plans in ruins. As the news of this new variant spread countries in Europe and around the world banned travellers from the leper colony that was the UK. Within a day the Frog President Macron, while suffering from coronavirus himself, took the knee jerk decision to close the French border with the UK, leaving hundreds of EU nationals stranded in England. Most of those stranded were not coronavirus carrying Brits trying to cross the English Channel to France, but eastern European lorry drivers wanting to get home for Christmas.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fNKxxOlXad2lxu8D8rCxLzmfeOJ7MvXtGwKfJzKWr6J1xsQRXG8KIbE8BhsuylX5E5dEqa0qMxn_IM-z113aYZAcqXwZgMt9SFxqTlHLNr4a-G_ypEmKeEIOv6xEYVNxFqbFzLBmchE/s976/french+border.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fNKxxOlXad2lxu8D8rCxLzmfeOJ7MvXtGwKfJzKWr6J1xsQRXG8KIbE8BhsuylX5E5dEqa0qMxn_IM-z113aYZAcqXwZgMt9SFxqTlHLNr4a-G_ypEmKeEIOv6xEYVNxFqbFzLBmchE/w640-h360/french+border.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>This caused chaos around the channel ports in Kent as thousands of lorries, trying to cross the Channel, ended up blocking the roads. Some lorry drivers ended up spending Christmas in their cab. The French will not be forgiven for their stupid actions and will live to regret them. This household for one will no longer buy anything French including wine. Other countries produce equally drinkable wine.</p><p>Within days several other countries admitted that the new variant, termed the UK or Kent variant, was already present in their country and had been present before the UK announcement. When you take into account the fact the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic started in Europe weeks ahead of the second wave in the UK, then it is quite likely that the new variant actually originated in Europe. The UK simply identified it and alerted the world, as we lead the world in genome testing.</p><p>All year the Brexit talks had continued between the UK and the EU, finally coming to an agreement just before Christmas. In the US it had been a presidential election year with the Democrat candidate Joe Biden defeating the Republican incumbent president Donald Trump. But everything, in this strangest of years, was overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic and I am wondering how many hours we have spent watching government briefings about how the pandemic has progressed and changes to the lockdown restrictions. I am also wondering how many times husband and I have walked around our village for exercise!<br /></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-54421821063527957412020-12-31T12:00:00.002+00:002021-02-05T21:13:44.357+00:00Happy New Year<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bY4uvodV7FVg9wjs1d_SSAxAnGt1Xzy3lfjyf-RjwjwwuI-igo39pRKljA1fYKIu-2lct0TV8ZTjWwipGYZxa0d-b1PCWsJTiH7kSncNkymcX2TssKmmkbn9JYImdOwxLN4FboT_NCA/s626/realistic-new-year-2021-background_52683-52237.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="626" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bY4uvodV7FVg9wjs1d_SSAxAnGt1Xzy3lfjyf-RjwjwwuI-igo39pRKljA1fYKIu-2lct0TV8ZTjWwipGYZxa0d-b1PCWsJTiH7kSncNkymcX2TssKmmkbn9JYImdOwxLN4FboT_NCA/w640-h354/realistic-new-year-2021-background_52683-52237.webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-805510490255336702020-12-25T00:30:00.009+00:002021-02-05T21:13:57.344+00:00For one day only<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5rltZS64oI8AF4YAlrpNA0OIDe4McgrJ3-Ux5QjWZGy-W1IeQDjbmC6Pn5z_2WdzX-opOPpBXv0hpGDDi6-1J9sQ2MB6wIKBjpOmXwTKqrM3xSWAJ6kPAtty-_wwuQbSdmjtJg_U0rA/s759/christmas-feature_759.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="759" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5rltZS64oI8AF4YAlrpNA0OIDe4McgrJ3-Ux5QjWZGy-W1IeQDjbmC6Pn5z_2WdzX-opOPpBXv0hpGDDi6-1J9sQ2MB6wIKBjpOmXwTKqrM3xSWAJ6kPAtty-_wwuQbSdmjtJg_U0rA/w400-h223/christmas-feature_759.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Here in England we are allowed to enjoy ourselves today. So we had better make the most of it!<br /></p><p></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-55543619160231228442020-11-24T17:56:00.001+00:002021-01-12T18:16:38.019+00:00In the nick of time<p>Do not adjust your computer. You have seen this photograph before and as with other things right now we are back to where we were a few months ago. We have seen this view a bit too much recently.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgcFUxSlAKpc6giaMRSxfHR_X1Okfc_rRAPKPq_4Nlnpgw1yNz1py9PovFtabkIuhlrpXGdsezuC1UYM1SC_K3lIUbHt4iPaqFESImNORyYGH3fGg_PTZWBVcZjVpVQxJcohzhnG8m8Y/s2048/IMG_0348.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgcFUxSlAKpc6giaMRSxfHR_X1Okfc_rRAPKPq_4Nlnpgw1yNz1py9PovFtabkIuhlrpXGdsezuC1UYM1SC_K3lIUbHt4iPaqFESImNORyYGH3fGg_PTZWBVcZjVpVQxJcohzhnG8m8Y/w640-h480/IMG_0348.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>When we have not had to look at the rain pounding our garden furniture we have been working in the garden. I had hoped that that the circumstances this year would have given us the opportunity to get on top of the garden, but the weather has once again foiled our attempts. Everything looked so promising in the Spring when we had such good weather. We should have known that it was too good to last. Anyway right now there is not much else to do. Lockdown 2 has seen to that.<p></p><p></p><p>I know that I have been absent, because of nothing much to write about, but I suppose what is worth writing about is our week away. We have been back a couple of months now. However, I imagine that a week away in September will turn out to be the highlight of our Summer. Back in June we were hoping to go to Corfu in September. As the Summer progressed we had second thoughts about going to Corfu. This was to be our first visit to Corfu and we decided that we would be better going to somewhere that we were familiar with. Eventually we managed to get through to Jet2 who allowed us to change not only our destination but also our departure date. So on September 1 we set off to one of our favourite destinations - Agios Nikolaos in Crete, which meant that we did get to see this lovely view - without the cruise ship.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfBRInB39-vBN7YCrKwjfV7bFOgWt33ZSG1T86SiHx1eg60YkEQLHSqQqsA_Qg8XfNtquFZMxZUyOUCz9JuAi7MNcGLmC4JzeUncA4dRiQmJ0GqxIgqG0ldiOsOwZZEDaiPbVAJWKFFk/s4000/P1010965.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfBRInB39-vBN7YCrKwjfV7bFOgWt33ZSG1T86SiHx1eg60YkEQLHSqQqsA_Qg8XfNtquFZMxZUyOUCz9JuAi7MNcGLmC4JzeUncA4dRiQmJ0GqxIgqG0ldiOsOwZZEDaiPbVAJWKFFk/w640-h480/P1010965.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p>As the holiday approached there was always the risk that the UK government would decide that Crete/Greece's coronavirus infection rate was too high and we would not be allowed to go, which meant that most of our preparations were left until the last minute. To our relief the week before we went Crete was on the approved list of countries and we were able to go. Our flight to Heraklion was at 8.55 am. We were at a very quiet Manchester airport by 7.00 am, wearing face masks of course. During our journey we were allowed to remove the mask a couple of times to eat and drink. By the time we reached our hotel in Agios Nikolaos we had been wearing the wretched thing for about nine and a half hours - quite an endurance test. At last we could remove it. The hotel reception took our temperatures with a forehead gun then left us to our own devices. We had chosen this hotel because we had been before and felt that we would be safe there. The accommodation is mainly in bungalows spread around its extensive grounds. The dining room has a roof but no windows so is essentially outside, as is the bar. There are plenty of sunbeds and umbrelllas around the hotel grounds and it has a large swimming pool which we have never seen more than about six guests in at any time. Then there is a small beach and access to the sea from sunbathing jetties. In our bungalow was a pack containing a small hand sanitiser, wet wipes, two diposable face masks and a leaflet about the Greek coronavirus restrictions.</p><p>After a quick unpack and freshen up it was time to go out for our evening meal. It was good to see that the small supermarket across the road from the hotel was still in business. However, just down the road the nearest taverna to the hotel was closed and for sale. It was not a place that we used much. We had decided to walk down to the lake. To our relief most places were still there and open for business, but the resort was very quiet. We headed to one of our favourite tavernas by the lake run by twin brothers. They were pleased to see us - business was very slow. Their season had not started until July - normally it would start late April. That night, while we ate in their taverna, we were about the only customers they had.</p><p>Our lazy week in the sun went all too quickly. Most days we walked down to the lake for lunch or our evening meal. We did a bit of shopping, lay in the sun, read a book and swam. There was nothing else to do. There were no trips or excursions. The boats used for day trips were moored between our hotel and the next one. We enjoyed ourselves. And I have to say that we preferred a quiet resort to the usual busy one. We only wore face masks for our brief forays into shops. The hotel did not disappoint and we shall be going back next year.</p><p>To our relief while we were away Crete remained on the UK's approved list of countries that we could travel to without having to quarantine on our return to the UK. However, on our last day, September 7, the UK government announced that from 4 am on September 9 travellers entering the UK from Crete and some other Greek islands would have to quarantine for 14 days. How lucky were we? We were due to fly home on September 8. That evening as we went out for our last supper the waiters in the tavernas had heard about the UK quarantine rules, but I am sure that they did not realised that it would mean that holiday makers from the UK would not come.</p><p>Although we would have liked to have stayed for longer, we were pleased to be going home. Our taxi got us to the airport in good time and from the departure lounge we watched our plane land. Then saw the not very many new arrivals as they left the plane.</p><p> Would we have come if our holiday had been a week later? We don't know. </p><p>Our return flight was full unlike the flight out, which had been about two thirds full. We landed back in a wet Manchester at 6.20 pm on September 8 - nine hours to spare. By the following day Jet2 had suspended holidays to Crete.<br /></p><p>It had been good to get away, even if only for one week. We had had seven days of blue skies and sun - something which we had not seen much of in Cheshire during the Summer and I had not had to cook for a week.<br /></p>cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-75505793708152889082020-07-17T21:30:00.001+01:002020-12-30T16:12:14.605+00:00Testing times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Back in March when, whether we liked it or not, we all stepped into this lockdown journey into the unknown I said then that it would be August before we were back to normal and it is looking as if my prediction was not far wrong. There are still some spanners in the works and by normal I mean the new normal not the old normal. It has been quite a journey and it is not over yet.<br />
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Initially the idea of being at home and maybe getting a few jobs done in the house and garden did not seem to be such a bad idea. It was something of a novelty not to need to be rushing around to go anywhere, as everything gradually got cancelled and I am quite good with my own company. Going out was a bit scary as the road were eerily quiet and we had been given the impression that coronavirus was everywhere - it just couldn’t be seen. The weather here was good. So we had a few walks around the village and spent some time in the garden. I even hoped that maybe this would be the year that we finally got on top of our garden - we have now been her sixteen years. Those hopes were dashed when the local council suspended our green bin garden waste collection. With the tip also closed, where were we to put the garden rubbish? Any excuse to cut services. Soon everyday seemed to be the same. We needed a newspaper to tell us which day of the week it was, as we tried to stick to what was left of our usual routines.<br />
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Looking back now, it is easy to see the mistakes that have been made. The UK locked down too late, on the advice of the government scientists who thought that if we locked down too early people would get bored with lockdown and not adhere to the rules. OK people have got bored, but the sooner we locked down, the sooner lockdown could be eased. So thousands went to football matches and horse racing meetings, which were considered not to be an issue as they were outside, but there was a resulting spike in coronavirus cases. At this point they did not seem to be protecting the NHS and saving lives. Then there is the matter of face masks. The original advice was that they gave very little protection. It was also thought that most people do not know how to wear them and would become cavalier about social distancing. So during the worst of the pandemic masks weren’t worn. Now with the infection and death rate falling dramatically, they are being deemed necessary. People still do not know how to wear them and the reusable ones that have become so popular need to be washed at a very high temperature to remove any bugs that may be on them. How many are doing that? Not many I am sure. I have seen them removed, then screwed up and shoved in a pocket like a dirty handkerchief. They have become a sort of status symbol or a fashion statement. Trump and his henchmen all wearing black face masks look like the Mafia. How soon will it be before a bank is robbed and the robbers can not be described because they are all wearing masks?<br />
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Here in the UK, from July 24 we are going to have to wear a mask to go into a shop. Well I am not keen on masks - they make me hot and when I am hot I don’t think straight. So I shall only be going to the supermarket and other essential shops, if I have to wear a face mask. We don’t need to worry about wearing a face mask on public transport, as where we live we are a mile from the nearest bus stop. So we have never used it. Even before lockdown I had got into the habit of buying stuff online and since lockdown I have being buying even more online, as shops were shut and items could not be found in the shops that were open. Returns are simple and buying from the comfort of your own home is much more relaxing than fighting with the crowds or having to queue to get into a shop. Also at the moment clothing can not be tried on in a shop. So if an item is not suitable a return trip is necessary to get a refund, which is more hassle and exposure to other people. Not to mention the time it takes.<br />
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Recently I have realised how much of what I buy is made in China, particularly clothes. After the events of this year, initially the gift to the world of the coronavirus pandemic and now its actions against Hong Kong, I have decided not to buy anything which states that it was made in China. If I was ruthless and decided to discard everything made in China right now, I would certainly be left with very few clothes, but the past can not be rewritten, so reluctantly I'll be keeping them, but there will be no new clothes from China.<br />
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That brings me to the other thorny subject, which has raised its head while the world has been in lockdown - Black Lives Matter. All that I have to say on that matter is that All Lives Matter. We should not be rewriting history, but should be learning from it.<br />
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Not to be forgotten is the hoo-ha of testing for the coronavirus infection and then the antibodies or immunity testing, which seems to have been forgotten about recently as the government try to concentrate on track and trace. A consistently reliable immunity test seems to have become a low priority as the scientists scrabble around to develop a vaccine which works. Little is known about how long immunity lasts or how effective it is in preventing reinfection. Research around immunity and antibodies/antigens seems to be low key. By the time that an effective vaccine is available coronavirus could have died out naturally. Testing the UK population to ascertain who may have coronavirus asymptomatically and where there maybe out breaks of the infection continues. Two or three weeks ago I was invited to participate in a study to measure the prevalence of COVID-19, which was being run by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department of Health & Social Care. The letter that I received said that I had been chosen at random and paticipation was voluntary. I decided to participate as I thought that I had nothing to loose and I that I had had the coronavirus infection some time ago. I was unlikely to yield a positive test and I might even get an immunity test out of it. Well no immunity test so far and my coronavirus test came back as negative. Having to self administer the swab test was exceeding difficult. So I can see why many are not returned. The swab test had too be done by 8 am. I am not a morning person. So set the alarm to get it done. Trying to get a swab all the way back to your tonsils when your mouth is dry and you are half asleep is a conjuring trick. Poking the swab up my nose was not so difficult. If I had to do it again I would do the test the night before or take the risk that the courier would not be on the door step at 8 am to collect it. I waited four days for the result to come through, which if you are ill is a long time. There must be a quicker and easier test.<br />
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Now a days nothing happens without broadband and ours has become very slow as a result of so many people working from home. I just wish that they would go back to work where the broadband must be better and faster. So that those of us without a place of work will have better broadband at home.<br />
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When and how is all this going to end? Who knows? A crystal ball would be useful. We have one group of scientists predicting a second wave with even more deaths and another suggesting that the UK now has herd immunity - all of those that are going to have coronavirus have had it. I know what I would like to believe.<br />
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-66864675090905297442020-06-22T21:38:00.003+01:002020-12-30T15:59:32.099+00:002020 unsorted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Right now we should be relaxing under the Cretan sun, but instead we are at home in Cheshire where the last few days have been particularly wet and we have been watching it rain stair rods. I know where we would prefer to be. How about you?<br />
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So instead of looking out at this view from our hotel towards the harbour at Agios Nikolaos<br />
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we have been looking at this view from our French windows.<br />
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I am sure that we are not alone in having our plans that we had made for this year, shredded by the coronavirus pandemic. <br />
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Over the last 18 months several of our family and friends have been ill and some sadly have died. This has made us realise that we could be next. So at the end of last year we decided that maybe we should have a few more holidays in an attempt to get through our bucket list. We had booked holidays for May, June and August/September, and would have probably booked something last minute for October. We thought that we had 2020 sorted. All of our booked holidays have been cancelled. All of that planning gone to waste.<br />
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For the June holiday in Crete we have had a refund and the August/September holiday has been rescheduled for next August. The May holiday, which was to Corfu, we have re-arranged for late September. But will we be going? Right now it is not possible to travel from the UK to Greece for the purpose of a holiday. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) advised against all non-essential international travel in March and that is still their advice. As a result of this advice our travel insurance has been suspended - meaning that we cannot book a holiday or travel until the FCO change their advice. Well if we do, we won't be covered by our insurance. Then there is the matter of Greece not allowing visitors from the UK to enter their country or if we are allowed in, we will be tested for coronavirus then be expected to be in quarantine for 14 days whether or not we test positive for coronavirus. And when we get back to the UK there will be another 14 days of quarantine.<br />
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Essentials on the holiday packing list in addition to sunscreen and a swim suit will be copious amounts of hand sanitising gel and a supply of face masks. From what I have read, and I know that much of it is speculation, I am wondering how enjoyable the whole experience will be. It will be an experience and maybe the experience of a life time, but will it be something to remember and repeat or forget and never do again?<br />
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Until things change this maybe as close as we are going to get to Corfu.<br />
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-20396440523714571162020-05-07T20:00:00.001+01:002020-12-30T15:59:51.417+00:00Somewhere under the rainbow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Here in the UK we are now in our seventh week of lockdown. I have watched the progress of the current coronavirus pandemic with the slightly detached view of a retired scientist. Yes, mistakes have been made and it is easy for me to say so, as I sit here in the semi-isolation of rural Cheshire, 200 miles from London. Whatever we might think, we have to live and cope with the situation as it stands. Hindsight is wonderful, but the decisions, made at the time in general, seemed to be the most appropriate for the circumstances and were made to protect our NHS. Initially husband and I watched the daily press briefing from Downing Street, but after a time it started to feel like a summons to the headmaster's office. The announcements were at times grim and every day the journalists, who are not scientists, seemed to ask the same questions. Not surprisingly the answers were pretty much the same. What has surprised me has been the patience with which the politicians and scientists have answered these questions on a daily basis.<br />
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As someone who started their working life in the NHS I cannot help but wonder what it would have been like had there been a pandemic when I was working in hospital pharmacy. It was forty years ago and I was a new qualified pharmacist in my early twenties. I know that a lot has changed in that time. Then we did not have mobile phones, computers or the internet and people did not travel anything like as much as they do today. So maybe a virus would not have spread as fast as coronavirus has. The intensive care unit (ITU), at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford where I worked, probably had no more than than ten beds. Everything in the unit was far less automated than today and what machines there were, were fairly basic. Occasionally I would visit ITU to check their drugs and I have to say that I found it intimidating. Medicines would have been important, but of the drugs regularly used today, only a handful would have been available forty years ago. Yes, nearly all of the drugs in common use today had not been discovered or developed then. It would have been very much survival of the fittest. Never the less we thought that we were at the cutting edge. The practice of medicine had moved on in leaps and bounds since the NHS had been set up in 1948. I enjoyed the years that I spent working in hospital pharmacy. The atmosphere in the hospitals that I worked in was aways good. You felt that you were part of a team, although sometimes there appeared to be more than one team. And you just would not be working there if you were not prepared for hard work and some sacrifices. At times it was an eye opener as I experienced and saw things that were disturbing and upsetting. Events that doctors and nurses were trained for, but which pharmacists of my generation were not. But I have to say that it was also very rewarding.<br />
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Part of me would still like to be working. It is what I was trained to do. Pharmacists who had retired in the last three years were asked to return to work in preparation for coronavirus arriving here. It is eight years since I retired, which counts me out and it is not as if I had not worked through some difficult times. In the Winter of Discontent I was working at St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner - now the Lanesborough Hotel. Without going into detail I can tell you that it was grim. During the swine flu epidemic of 2009/10 I was working in retail pharmacy. There was no PPE in those days. Admittedly swine flu was not as virulent as coronavirus. You just had to hope that you did not get it.<br />
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Here in the UK, thanks to the planning of the politicians, scientists and doctors, our NHS has not been overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic in the way that hospitals in some countries have been. There has always been spare capacity. Every patient has had a bed and a ventilator, if needed. It may no longer be the envy of the world, as it once was, but it is doing a pretty good job right now.</div>
cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-30865982778678593162020-04-12T10:00:00.000+01:002020-06-23T21:44:18.529+01:00Easter Eggs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What a find! And on Easter Sunday of all days. But not the chocolate variety.<br />
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Two years ago we ventured out into the garden on Easter Sunday after a very wet period of weather. Our garden was sodden from all of the rain, so we could only work on the beds closest to the cottage. I was trying to tidy up this raised bed, working to the left of the nest, which was well hidden. Suddenly there was a great commotion and just imagine my surprise when a duck emerged from the back of the bed. Then we found the nest with the eggs in it. How on earth had we not noticed a duck in this raised bed? I see it all of the time from the kitchen window. Well she really blended in very well. So well that it was difficult to see her even when we knew she was there. I did remember coming down into the kitchen one exceedingly wet Saturday morning and finding a large male duck on the patio. There is a pond in the farmer's field at the end of our garden. Often there are ducks and moor hens on the pond, but they never come so close to the cottage. Now we knew what he had been up to!<br />
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For the next few weeks we watched the nest like a hawk, in the expectation of seeing the duckings emerge. At the same time we were careful not to disturb the duck who was sitting on the eggs for most of the day. To our disappointment we saw not one single duckling. One morning we found an empty nest. The duck and her ducklings had vanished overnight. We left things untouched for a time, in case she returned, but she didn't. I tidied up the raised bed that she had called home and made sure that she would not return by rearranging some of the plants, so that it would not be so comfortable to make a nest there again. And it has not happened again, despite the incredibly wet winter that we have just had. <br />
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Eggs this year will have to be chocolate. Happy Easter!</div>
cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-298175158242353662020-03-26T21:39:00.000+00:002020-03-27T18:02:05.508+00:00Mad as a March hare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last Monday - March 16 , after the UK Health Secretary's crass announcement on Sunday morning that the over 70s would be expected to self-isolate to protect themselves from Coronavirus, we decided that we had better get ouselves out to do some shopping before even more draconian measures were announced. Our first port of call was the local garden centre. It was quiet -well we don't usually go to the garden centre on a Monday morning. That did not take long. So the next stop was the local Costco for some provisions. As we turned into the access road to Costco the traffic was very heavy. In fact heavier than we had ever seen there. We were soon directed into the car park by marshalls who were directing the traffic. Once in the car park there was really no way out. It was grid locked - not helped by the traffic lights at the end of the access road, which only leads to Costco. We initially thought that we would just go home and come back some other time, but we decided that we might as well go into the store, as strangely parking was not really a problem. However, it was a twenty minute crawl to get into a space. <br />
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As we entered the store we were told that they were out of toilet rolls and chicken portions, neither of which were on our shopping list. The tills were busy, but the store itself was reasonably quiet. Everybody seemed to be in the car park. Our aim was to stock up with beer and wine, plus a few other bits and pieces, which we did and by the time we reached the tills the queues had gone. However, the car park was just as bad.<br />
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It was another twenty minute crawl to get out of it. By now it was after 12.30 pm and the Jeremy Vine Show was on the car radio. We listened as a succession of indignant seventy somethings complained about the government's instructions to self-isolate. I was aghast at these instructions. My husband was 70 last August. When he hit that milestone, he did not suddenly become a frail, little old man. After weeks of self-isolation I hate to think what state he would be in both mentally and physically. Not to mention my own state of mind! Little did we know that by the end of the day more or less all of us would be in the same boat, as the government introduced restrictions that would affect all of our daily lives.<br />
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We realised that we would have to adapt to a different way of life within the restrictions. We watched the Prime Minister's daily briefings and the television news with interest and some trepidation as we heard about selfish individuals panic buying and striping the supermarket shelves bare. So I suppose that husband and I should not have been surprised by what we found, when we went to out local Tesco to do our weekly supermarket shop. The car park was only partly full as usual and there was no queue to get into the store, but once inside it looked like a bomb had hit it with empty aisles and bare shelves. There was a board listing the restricted items. I had a quick look at it and thought we would be alright to buy what we wanted, as there were two of us. Shopping completed we headed to a queueless till, where we were soon informed that we could only have three fruit, three vegetables and one loaf of bread. Of the six vegetables in our trolley which did I want and which one of the two different loaves of bread did I want? I protested that there were two of us, but to the cashier we were one customer and that was that. So to you Tesco, a black mark for allowing customers to panic buy to the point were there was simply almost nothing left for those of us who had stayed at home and obeyed the goverment's instructions. We were horrified. We usually shop once a week and we had only been allowed to buy enough fresh food for two to three days, which would mean shopping two to three times a week instead of once. All when we were supposed to be reducing social contact. This meant playing the supermarkets at their own game. There is a big ASDA about half a mile away, which we had never shopped in, but there is a first time for everything. We took two shopping baskets and split our shop between them, then went through the self service check outs. Success and relief and enough food to last seven days. In the following days I spent a lot of time wondering how to manage this week's shop, if it was going to be as challenging as last weeks had been. On Wednesday I went to the local Sainsburys and was pleasantly surprised to find a quiet and much better stocked store than I had anticipated. Hopefully some of the madness is over. Soon March will be too.<br />
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<i>Perhaps I should add that over the last few weeks I had built up our stock of food, especially the freezer, but fresh fruit and vegetables and other perishable items need to be bought regularly.</i> </div>
cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-53869157651847681092020-02-29T12:00:00.000+00:002020-03-02T00:09:23.181+00:00More or less accommodating<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When we were not at the airport on our recent trip to South Africa we were staying in a variety of different types of accommodation while travelling along the Garden Route in a hired car.<br />
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Our first taste of South African accommodation was in Cape Town, where we stayed in the same hotel that we had stayed in three years ago. Then we were very impressed. This time we were not. Everything had gone downhill. When husband had booked it he had advised the hotel of the time that we would be arriving. Given that we were from the UK they should have realised that we would probably have travelled overnight and would be tired. However, our room was not ready. They offered us a complimentary coffee, but I was so tired and annoyed I almost burst into tears. When we eventually got to the room it was nowhere near as good as the room we had had on our previous stay, despite booking the same category of room. Two days later we had to move room because of strange noises that were waking us up. We will not be going back there again.<br />
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From Cape Town we moved on to Hermanus, a fishing village on the coast, which is popular with whale watchers in the South African winter time. We were not going to see whales, but thought that we would have a look at the place. Hermanus is small with not a lot of accommodation to choose from. Here our choice of hotel was excellent, if expensive. It was the sort of place that we would like to go back to, but I can not see that we will ever go back to Hermanus.<br />
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Next stop Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands. This hotel was nothing like I thought that it was going to be based on the impression I had got from its' website. Our room appeared to be a cars' drive from the reception until we found that there was a shorter route on foot. The room that we were shown to was dark and there was a dripping noise. The air conditioning unit was leaking. The porter thought that this could be fixed by switching off the unit and phoning housekeeping for towels to mop up the water. When a girl from housekeeping arrived with towels she took one look at things and phoned maintenance. While this was going on I was muttering to husband that we were not going to stay in this room and they would have to find us another one. The outside temperature was thirty something Centigrade. We were going to need functioning air conditioning. Maintenance swiftly arrived and said that another room would be found for us, but before that happened they removed the casing from the air conditioning unit and a bucket full of water poured out of it. So we were moved two rooms along to room which was larger and much nicer. All appeared to be well until about 1.30 the next morning when I was woken up by what I though was an animal making a noise. The noise continued for about half an hour and I eventually realised that it was a baby crying - in the adjacent room. Eventually I managed to get back to sleep only to be woken again by this crying baby, which prompted another room move later that day.<br />
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The following few nights were to be spent in smaller accommodation. Initially at Swellendam, where we stayed in a boutique hotel and luxury country guest house. Our bathroom was enormous with two showers and twin wash basins along with the usual bathroom equipment. The bedroom which was a good size was dominated by the bed with surplus cushions, a faux fur throw<br />
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and a blanket all on top of a duvet. Most nights we ended up sleeping under just the duvet cover. The duvet having been removed from it. We had a comfortable night there, once we had sorted out the bed clothes.<br />
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Then it was on to a country lodge outside Oudtshoorn, that we had stayed in on our previous visit and been impressed. In the mean time it had changed owners and sadly had gone downhill. The less said about it the better.<br />
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Now for a rather grand sounding country house hotel beside Knysna Lagoon, which was pictured in my <a href="http://www.cheshire-wife.blogspot.com/2020/01/wish-you-were-here.html" target="_blank">Wish you were here</a> post. When we arrived here the power was off as a result of the previous night's heavy rain and an almighty thunderstorm was just getting underway. We had a spacious room overlooking the grey lagoon and our only complaint was with the wet weather.<br />
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Our final stop along the Garden Route was at Port Elizabeth, where we stayed in an hotel belonging to the same group as owned the hotel in Cape Town. Here we had noisy neighbours in the adjacent room and the hotel seemed to be large, impersonal, rather sad and basically disappointing.<br />
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Now for something entirely different. We were off to Zambia. Our hotel was next to the Victoria Falls. It was adequate. The rooms were small and gaudy. When we arrived the swimming pool had no water in it and the area around it looked like a building site. Even husband admitted that we should have stayed at the more expensive hotel next door whose facilities we were allowed to use.<br />
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After two nights we were back in South Africa - this time in Johannesburg for one night. The hotel was nicely decorated and furnished. However, we were thrown by the wash basin taps in the bathroom. The cold was labelled hot and the hot labelled cold! And in the bedroom light came round the edges of the black out curtains. It actually was not a problem, but it could have been.<br />
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Finally we got to spend six nights in the same hotel. For us this was to be R&R before we flew home. Night one was alright. Night two was not. The air conditioning, which we prefer to be off when we are sleeping, switched itself on at 2.00 am and decided to switch itself off some time around 5.00 am. So I expect you have guessed - another room move was looming. We explained the night's events to the guy on reception, who swiftly offered us another room and an upgrade and a late check out on our day of departure, if we wanted it. He said that the problem was caused by the balcony door not closing properly. I think that they knew that there was a problem with that room and took the chance that we would not notice it.<br />
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By the end of the trip we had got used to adapting to whatever perculiarities that night's accommodation offered us. It was good to get back home. There is nothing like your own bed.<br />
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-43959983142909321002020-02-14T21:58:00.001+00:002020-02-14T21:58:53.316+00:00At the airport<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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During January while away on our latest escapade we spent rather more time than I would have liked hanging around airports waiting for flights. Our 'home' airport, if that is what I can call it, is Manchester Airport.</div>
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It is the airport that we are most familiar with, but that does not make navigating security there any easier. If we are lucky we get ourselves a priority pass, which makes things easier. However, it always feels like some sort of boot camp as the staff bark orders at the passengers to remove belts, watches, jackets, shoes and this that and the other. It is always a relief to get through without being stopped, as we diligently pack by the rules, but it is amazing the number of passengers who still try to pack items which are not allowed and have not been allowed for several years. Having got over that hurdle we can then make any last minute purchases and raid the ATM, if our destination is Europe. Next we find somewhere to sit so that husband can read the newspaper, while I visit duty free to buy a few items that I regularly stock up on there.</div>
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The first flight or our most recent trip was to Dubai, where we arrived around midnight local time, although you would not know that as Dubai Airport functions 24 hours a day. Here we were in transit and had to go through security again, despite having already done so at Manchester Airport. However, surprisingly or maybe not surprisingly Dubai is not as fussy about things as Manchester is. Then we had to take the underground style train to another terminal. Dubai is an enormous airport and we had plenty of time so we occupied ourselves by having a walk around. We had just spent the last eight hours sitting on a plane and we had a further nine hours of flying to do before we reached our destination. Our next flight to Cape Town was to depart in the middle of the night. At the appointed time we made our way to the appropriate gate for boarding only to find that it was locked and it remained locked. We waited and waited. Eventually the gate was opened and we were ushered onto a bus, which seemed to drive us round and round the airport. By now it was 4 am and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see this plane. Did someone have something else in mind for us? Thankfully there was a plane waiting for us at the end of the bus ride. Next stop Cape Town and by now we had been travelling for 24 hours and I do not remember much about the airport.<br />
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After two weeks of travelling South Africa in a hired car, it was time to hit the airport and fly again. By now we were in Port Elizabeth. From there we were supposed to fly with South African Airways (SAA) to Livingstone in Zambia via Johannesburg. However, SAA changed changed our flight from Livingstone to Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) in Zimbabwe, leaving us no option but to accept the change. But first we had to fly to Johannesburg on a flight timed at 6.45 am, which meant setting the alarm clock for 4.00 am in order to be at the airport in time. In fact we arrived before the check in staff. The plane for the flight was small and even so there were several empty seats, as there were only fifteen passengers and three crew. We arrived at Johannesburg with plenty of time before our next flight. The airport there is huge with two terminals and no obvious demarcation between the two terminals. We went up escalators and down escalators, walked this way, that way and the other way before working out where our gate was. And again we had a bus journey to our plane. Once on aboard the plane I was surprised to read the following statement in the SAA in flight magazine about Johannesburg Airport -<i> the central terminal building is designed to</i> <i>give passengers a smooth and</i> <i>uninterrupted travel experience. </i>That was not quite our experience. But never mind that, before we could get out of VFA we had to purchase a visa, which had to be paid for in cash - US dollars, GB pounds or South African rand. Despite asking about this, we were unaware that this would be the case. Luckily we had enough cash between, as credit cards were not accepted. Welcome to Zimbabwe! We had arrived.<br />
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Two days later we were back there again, for a flight back to Johannesburg. The check in was painful, as their computer system went down just as we were checking in and must have taken about five minutes to come back up again. It seemed like an age. But remember this was Zimbabwe. The next hurdle was buying a drink- coffee actually, which had to be paid for in US dollars. Luckily husband had some. Credit card machines weren't working.<br />
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After an overnight stay in Johannesburg it was back to the airport for a flight to the Seychelles. By now we had the hang of this airport as we found our way to check in desk number 103. Our destination airport would be much smaller, but we still had to be back there six days later, two hours before an 8.40 am flight. So another early rise and breakfast of waffles and the plane as we headed back to Dubai. Here we were in transit again, which meant a security check in our arrival terminal and another one in our departure terminal, with a bus ride in between the two. This time here was no hold up at the departure gate and we were soon on our way home to Manchester.</div>
cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-80576125695179276822020-01-29T11:17:00.000+00:002020-01-29T11:17:29.745+00:00Wish you were here<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This photograph was taken ten days ago and you may think that this looks like a typical photograph of the English Lake District in the north west of the country not far from where we live in Cheshire, but you would be very wrong. We are several thousand miles away and it is in fact</div>
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Knysna Lagoon on South Africa’s Garden Route, which we drove over six days of cloud and rain, at times torrential with the added bonus of wind and thunderstorms plus the odd power cut on our arrival at Knysna.<br />
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Now we are on our way home via the Seychelles, where yet again it is raining.<br />
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It will be good to get home.<br />
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-71599800165393411612020-01-06T21:45:00.001+00:002020-01-06T21:45:51.938+00:00Going out with a blockage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am sure that for most people the end of 2019/beginning of 2020 went with a bang in the form of fireworks. Our new year was different and will be remembered for the blocked drains that husband struggled to clear.</div>
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Here the weather at the end of December was unusually mild for the time of year and we took advantage of it to finish off some of the Autumn gardening jobs that we had been unable to finish during the Autumn, because of the wet weather that was our lot. On the afternoon of December 30 as I headed to the back door, after a couple of hours in the garden, I noticed gubbins around the drain at the back of the kitchen. This usually means only one thing - that we have a blockage somewhere. Drains and blockages are not my department. So I pointed it out to my husband. The afternoon was turning cold and the light was beginning to go, but it needed to be investigated sooner rather than later. The drain outside the kitchen was indeed blocked and the man hole cover in the patio was stuck and husband couldn't lift it. He needed some more muscle, which meant a phone call to the local farmer. He was busy but might come later. Later did not happen. So next day - December 31/New Year's Eve he tried the farmer again first thing in the morning. This time he was at the cattle market but would send his son, which he did. The man hole cover was lifted to reveal a drain full almost to bursting. The septic tank was also brimful. What were we to do?</div>
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The septic tank is half way down the garden and basically consists of three chambers and a pump. Clean water should be discharged from the third tank into a soak away in the middle of the lawn. This obviously had not been and was not happening. Probably because the water table has been so high for such a long period of time. Our garden has been water logged for the last three months. Every time that it has started to dry out a bit we have had yet more rain. We have lived at the cottage for nearly sixteen years and this is the wettest that we have seen it. We tried having the pump permanently switched on instead of the usual short stints twice a day. That didn't do much and we were concerned that the pump's motor would burn out. By now it was early afternoon and husband decided to go round to see the farmer who was entertaining the previous owners of the cottage. Grrrh! I thought. He would come round later and he did, but by then it was late afternoon and starting to get dark as well as cold. After some head scratching and fiddling with drain rods he offered to pump some of the water out of the drain, which helped and we hoped that the water level in the drain and septic tank would then drop. I don't suppose that the farmer had expected to spend late afternoon on New Year's Eve pumping out a drain. We gave him a good bottle of wine for his trouble.</div>
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We had New Year's day off from drain watching, but by January 2 husband was back to check on the water level in the drain after I had noticed water standing on the patio. Disappointingly the water level in the drain had not dropped. Husband was convinced that there was a blockage just before the drain reaches the septic tank. Out came the drain rods again. They made no difference. Perhaps they weren't long enough. The following day husband went off to buy some longer drain rods. Still not long enough he thought. He would go and buy some more. No I said it is time to get the professionals in. By now it was day five and as I put it to husband, if you had be ill for five days and self medication had not helped you would have gone to the doctor. Husband phoned some local drain people to whom he paid a princely sum, for them to come out the next day - Saturday. A lad did come. He spent about ten minutes looking at things and announced that he couldn't do anything. The septic tank was so congested that it needed to be pumped out and he would arrange for a tanker to come in the afternoon to pump out the septic tank. Unsurprisingly no tanker arrived, which meant more phone calls. After a string of excuses husband eventually spoke to someone who pointed out that if we had the appropriate insurance, we could make a claim against it to resolve the matter. And guess what we did have insurance cover. By now it was around 6 pm. Nevertheless a call to the insurance company was needed. Yes, an engineer would come out on Monday. We thought to pump out the septic tank. However, he came in a van. Where was he going to pump the contents of the septic tank to? After a good look at the septic tank he found the fault. The pump isn't working and needs to be replaced. So the septic tank that should not need to be emptied, did not need to be emptied after all. And the pump, well that will get replaced when we return from holiday. Tomorrow we are off to tick some more destinations off our bucket list. </div>
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-23170657948214889962019-12-31T21:06:00.001+00:002019-12-31T21:06:27.313+00:00Happy New Year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-37602676600287344952019-08-15T22:10:00.000+01:002019-08-15T22:12:44.288+01:00Be careful what you wish for<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is nothing to do with UK politics, but as I have given them a mention I might as well add that a blond Billy Bunter would not be my choice for prime minister. Anyway I did not have a vote. Boris Johnson now has the job, and we shall have to see what sort of a fist he makes of it.</div>
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This is a follow up to my previous post - Bucket List. The Greek islands cruise that I mentioned at the end of it had been on our bucket list for some time. We had seen a suitable cruise which sailed last year, but had dithered about booking it and had missed out when it got booked up quite early. So when we saw a Greek islands cruise for June 2019, back in the Spring of 2018, we did not hang around. It was with a cruise line that we had sailed with before and we were happy to cruise with them again. We booked it and we had been looking forward to it for over a year. Husband and I met on a Greek island thirty years ago and it would be our wedding anniversary during the cruise. So for us the Greek islands are a <a href="http://www.cheshire-wife.blogspot.com/2008/11/eros-in-small-world.html" target="_blank">special place</a>, even though the cruise was not visiting the island where we met.</div>
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This cruise line has three identical ships. We have now cruised with them three times - once on each ship. On our previous cruise with this company we had been woken up one morning by a loud clattering from the pool deck above our cabin.We complained and the staff were very apologetic about it. They volunteered that they had a policy of no noise before 8 am and it would not happen again, and it didn't. This time we were in the adjacent cabin. Unbelievably on our first morning we were woken at 6.15 am by crew clattering around on the deck above our cabin. Greece is two hours ahead of the UK, so to us that was 4.15 am. Of course we complained, but the staff did not seem interested or to take us seriously and the early morning manoeuvres above our cabin continued. After a few mornings of this I was waking up at the crack of dawn anyway. We complained again, but we were still plagued by early morning noises. Out of nine mornings only two were quiet. Long before we were even half way through the cruise I was counting down the days that we had left as I was desperate to come home for a decent nights' sleep. I just do not function, if I do not have enough sleep and sight seeing is hard work if you are tired. The route that the cruise took was good and the weather was great, but for me the whole thing was spoilt by a lack of sleep. By the time we got home I was like a zombie.</div>
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I thought that once we were home and I was sleeping in my own little bed, that the sleep issue would be a thing of the past. Strangely the first night home I slept well, but then the early morning curse kicked in and I was waking just after 6 am, even though we do not have a pool on the roof of our cottage. I was desperate for sleep, but kept waking up early. I felt like I needed a holiday. I did not feel as if I had had a holiday, but hey where had all that dirty washing come from? It was a weird few days before my normal sleep pattern re-established itself. Of course, in the mean time, dog tired and worn out through lack of sleep I had picked up a bug. Not your standard English cold, but I suspect a souvenir from someone else's foreign holiday. Seven days later and husband had it too. It was a holiday not to be forgotten and for the wrong reasons.</div>
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Having had nothing more than a cursory apology from the staff on the ship, we wrote to the UK managing director about our experiences. From him we received a very casually written letter with an off hand and flippant tone, which essentially said that noise was a fact if life. No apology and no assurance that it would not happen again. As a consequence, we have cancelled a cruise that we had booked with them for Christmas and New Year, and they have lost us. Cruising is big business and some sectors of the cruise industry are receiving a bad press and rightly so.</div>
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cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319585156044214967.post-10305075025018772792019-06-15T11:30:00.000+01:002019-06-15T11:30:46.142+01:00Bucket List<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Recently I have been thinking about our bucket list. Husband has been retired a few years now. So we have visited some of the places on our list. Some we would like to visit again. For others one visit was enough and we can cross them off as done. This gives us the opportunity to add some new destinations to our list, as the world becomes a smaller place. Most of the items on our bucket list are places to visit. Until I married I lived the life of a gypsy, changing jobs and moving on every few years and I have done enough stupid things in my life not to want to do any more.<br />
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The night after finishing my A levels I went to an outdoor, all night pop concert. At 3 am in the morning, as Free blasted out All Right Now, I wasn't well and wished that I was a million miles away. That cured me of ever wanting to go to anything like that again. Husband and I have seen several popular artists over the years. Most recently at the Manchester Arena, after the bombing. We arrived as request two hours before the concert in order to allow extra time to get through the enhanced security, which took about 20 minutes, leaving us with two hours to fill in before the concert started - 20 minutes late. The concert lasted two hours. Then we had to wait an hour to get out of the car park. Manchester is a one hour drive from our home. This is not a GCSE maths question, but it took us seven hours to see a two hour concert. The question is - was it worth it? And the answer is no. <br />
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When I was younger I sailed and capsized dinghies. Given the right conditions of sun and enough wind it is exhilarating, but my interest in sailing ran its' course and I gave it up. Another sport that is equally exhilarating is ski-ing. On my first ski-ing holiday, another first time skier and I took the chair lift up the mountain unaware that we should have pulled the bar down to hold us in. There we were hundreds of feet up in the air - one false move and we could have plunged into the valley below. And I have skied on and unintentionally, off piste, when husband and I got separated on the mountain as mist suddenly decended and I lost my way getting back to our hotel. This was long before the days of mobile phones. What might have been is too scary to even think about. That was our last ski-ing holiday.<br />
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So what else might be on our bucket list other than places to visit? Well the cottage was renovated and decorated some time ago and now needs freshening up, but that hardly worthy of a bucket listing. For a few years now we have had the vegetable garden that I was determined we should have. Our newest addition is a strawberry bed - that really pays dividends at this time of year. However, what we have never managed to do is to get on top of the garden itself. It has been my mission to do so ever since I retired and this year I am determined to achieve it, but as has been the case in previous years I am at the mercy of the weather. Last year was initially too wet, then too hot and dry. And we have been away in the Autumn for the last two years, which has hindered our progress with the garden as Autumn is a good time to be getting on with a lot of gardening jobs. This year we shall be here in the Autumn, but before I wish away the Summer I am hoping that the weather will be kinder this year and allow me to make some progress in the garden. However, lets not get ahead of ourselves as next week we are crossing another item off our bucket list. We are off on a Greek islands cruise. </div>
cheshire wifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13944869219641386387noreply@blogger.com1