Author Archives: Jenny S

The final month of this unusual year begins. Tomorrow the second lockdown ends and we enter Tier 2, again. I will have to check the finer details but apart from small businesses being able to reopen, I suspect it is not so different from the current situation. I read a very interesting article by LibbyContinue reading “Tuesday 1 December”

I woke up this morning hearing the birds twittering. It was almost like spring. My mother always said that 14 February was the birds’ wedding day, and mostly they don’t seem too vocal till the spring. Perhaps it has just been deceptively mild. A rude shock in store though: snow forecast in sunny Coulsdon onContinue reading “Monday 30 November”

By and large a house and garden day. It was very cloudy but still. I took advantage of the lack of breeze to lay more of the weed suppressant membrane on the vegetable patch. I have got to control the ground elder somehow. Fishing line versus deer seems to be working, so here’s hoping forContinue reading “Sunday 29 November”

We went for a walk in Lloyd Park this morning, and bumped into old friends we have not seen for ages. It was great to catch up albeit briefly, and it was very encouraging to see that so many groups of people were out, patronising the coffee shop, playing with the kids and taking aContinue reading “Saturday 28 November”

The dark days of winter. Today sunset was at 15.58.(error in 1st edition yesterday) From 8-16 December it will be at 15.51 and thereafter it begins to draw out. The solstice is on 21 December but only because sunrise is getting later. I am enormously cheered by the fact that by the end of DecemberContinue reading “Friday 27 November”

So it’s official, we will be back in Tier 2. I’ll have to read the regulations all over again but I think it means aquafit will resume, and that galleries and museums will reopen. But another week to go yet. My day’s excitement was a visit to the dentist, long overdue. I had to waitContinue reading “Thursday 26 November”

Since the government’s pronouncement, there has been a great deal of talk about Christmas. People seem to have put up fairy lights and trees already, perhaps to cheer themselves up. I am very resistant to this. I like Advent, and we have not even reached Advent Sunday yet. I find it a very calm periodContinue reading “Wednesday 25 November”

Seen from my study window yesterday morning: dawn over the Farthing Downs. Such a lovely start to the day. Today I went walking in Kent. In an area we have not been to before, just south of Sevenoaks, near Fletchers Green. Oast houses and horses, and winter wheat making the fields look green. We metContinue reading “Tuesday 24 November”

Today I received my first Christmas card, also a picture postcard from my niece in Edinburgh. I think real post has come into its own during lockdown. I have made the effort to write more, especially to people who live alone. I read that the Post Office is thinking of taking on extra postmen atContinue reading “Monday 23 November”

I have had all kinds of feedback on the blog today which is massively exciting. Christina Pluhar has excited interest, a former student has written to say she reads the blog every day, I have had advice on the French for bubble (une bulle), and a cartoon about remaining optimistic (I have good days, andContinue reading “Sunday 22 November”