Strictly?

Saturday 24th October, 2020

It was deluging, bucketing, pouring with heavy rain at 9.45am so I went to the local church by car. The priest looked exhausted and unwell. As he had a major ceremony later in the day the other parishioner and I told him to desist from saying Mass for us. He looked relieved. He went off to rest. I sat. Then I finished writing a letter in the church. It was a hard letter in that a friend's wife has a few weeks to live. Where better than in a church to finish it?

I popped in to the library and took out two books. When I got home I realised I had already read them! On to the local shop to get a newspaper, for the Crossword! I also bought salad cream, a favourite since my University days when it would fill a baguette on its own as a breakfast, lunch, tea or supper delight or all four! Those were the pre healthy food days! I occasionally yearn for them and.....

The newspaper was full of the usual. Opinions differing. Attacks on, advice to, demands from the Government and others. Foreign news seemed to be Trump and Biden. Local news was Covid and.....Covid and Covid and Covid!!

I wrote another letter responding to one I received yesterday. It was a letter after my own heart expressing similar views to myself. I am ever pleased to hear them as I sometimes wonder if I am out on a limb. I know little but I do not believe lockdown is successful. I want fear and threat and dire warnings and fake scenarios of doom to be removed from the public forum! As I write that so I hear one of my spinster Aunts saying, mildly spitefully, " I want never gets".

Soda bread and lavender apple jelly for lunch. Then I made myself walk. Rain had gone. My usual route but a pop in to the local shop again and a Scotch pie reduced to 42p. If only I had the salad cream to add to it? On my walk I came across some fallen apples and ate one of them.  I recalled the delicious baked apples with brown sugar, raisins and cream last night! Today I vaguely fixated on food!

I watched the sky the whole time as friends tell me hey have been seeing skeins of geese. In fact they are getting up early tomorrow so as to drive to Leven where at they are told thousands upon thousands of geese are to congregate and fly at dawn. With the clocks going back they will not suffer too much! I envy them but have not the inclination to drive so far.

My one delight on walking has been the sudden awareness of funguses. Everywhere probably because of the damp I have seen them. Like the leaves in Autumn they have been of various colourings from lurid red to mushroom grey to tinted blue. All sorts of shapes and sizes also from wide, low and fat to spikey, lugubrious, squidgy and tall and arrow shaped. Nature so various, so beautiful.

"Are watching Strictly tonight?" gushed an email? NO.

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