Still locked down

Adhisthana, July 2019

Here I am again, in my house, walking or running around Leamington's lovely parks, or at work in the Diabetes Centre. With a weekly excursion to a supermarket, that's it. But I'm thriving. I'm eating sensibly and losing weight very slowly, but unlike previous attempts at weight loss I think I can keep this up. While I hear most people talking about gaining weight at home, it's been relatively easy (after the first couple of weeks) for me to keep to my 1200 kcal limit, and even include chocolate every now and then.

I have mowed the lawn and pruned a load of shrubs, and then with the easing of the lockdown I have been in touch with the Lady Gardener to beg the favour of a visit (scheduled for June). I also contacted Ilf about external painting, and he's going to get back to me with an idea of when he might fit me in. Doors and Windows Ulf can do nothing about my front door at the moment because his suppliers aren't working, but Clf the Roofer may be able to help with my hall windows which he was so scathing about when he renewed the roof six months ago. Which then meant that I would need access to the pub garden, and the pub is most definitely still closed.

A sign in the pub window provided a phone number for the security firm responsible for keeping the site secure, and a helpful man even answered the phone. He disclosed a lot more information about the pub management than I was expecting, including the fact that the previous management is still responsible for the pub, but the interior has been stripped of all valuables and will need tens of thousands of pounds to restore it to a functional state. As well as this dire news he provided the combination for the padlock on the gates of the beer garden and told me that the lock is very stiff. So stiff that I haven't managed to prise it open yet - today I applied a load of penetrating oil and we'll see whether that helps.

Other activity at home includes jigsaws, games and socialising via Zoom, Buddhism three times a week at present (and a fourth time when I joined a thing at the weekend) and I re-started a tiny OU creative writing module online. I first started it about two years ago so had quite forgotten what I had done back then, and re-reading my own work after all this time was a delight.

So all is well for me in my little bubble, hoping for the lifting of restrictions on hairdressers while appreciating that such close proximity means I wouldn't be comfortable going to the salon even if it were allowed. The weather has been glorious with more sunshine to come, and the news reports tell of a reduction in the infection rate and mortality figures while warning of the seriousness of the recession to come. We certainly live in interesting times.