And the Pandemic continues –
No-one, least of all myself would have predicted that after five months of silent suffering we still find ourselves in the midst of a global Pandemic which forced us into a total lockdown and officially announced on March 23rd when strict lockdown rules were instigated. This meant that other than going out for one essential shop and a daily walk most found ourselves facing an uncertain future with little or no physical contact with friends and family although the popularity of Zoom and Houseparties turned out to be an enormous blessing in disguise but nothing like sitting at a table chatting in normal and convivial settings. Over the past few months this has largely been my main source of contact with friends and family. Looking back now I sometimes wonder how I managed to get through this initial period when we lived in constant fear of the Pandemic. Daily walks in nearby Palewell Park, discovered more by accident than design, and mostly empty spaces with few walkers which suited my karma. This and my daily shop in the local Waitrose was all I had to look forward to for several weeks but chats on Houseparty helped broke the feeling of isolation and surprisingly kept me keep sane.
By the beginning of June the government started announcing a few rule changes to lockdown as the number of confirmed Coranavirus cases and subsequent deaths decreased The pandemic at last was on a slow decline and to my absolute joy one of the first sports permitted to open its gates, was golf but only with some very strict rules and restrictions. This led to an enormous influx of golfers booking tee times, a complete nightmare when the entire furloughed population wants to play with so much free time on their hands plus the unusually warm weather which meant that golf courses all over the UK were oversubscribed as golf became UK’s most popular sport. Even though the strict rules initial rules only allowed two players per tee time within a ten minute period. It took me at least a couple of weeks before I hit my first golf balls but luckily Dukes Meadow’s 9 hole par 3 course also opened, tee times were only bookable by phone which although this initially meant endless dialling before 8 am , sometimes taking up to twenty minutes, to wait for a voice to answer the phone and book a tee time but in the long run it was worth the wait. Thankfully by June golf’s many strict restrictions were lifted and normal play resumed . For me walking around a golf course was an enormous pleasure during this period of restricted lockdown. A couple of weeks later tennis also re-started but with strict restrictions. Initially only singles were allowed with two cans of balls to avoid touching opponent’s balls!!! Thankfully these ridiculous rule were relaxed and normal modes of play re-instated but benches and bins are still not allowed on courts.
By June travelling to see friends and family was permitted as long as we kept to social distancing but at least it meant needed break of scenery and the reason after a couple of sunny days I drove down to Brighton to meet up with friends Bev, Jenny and Leo for a delightful picnic lunch. A week later spent the day in Bath having lunch with my sister and her three daughters, Penny, Lucy and Rosy in the garden of Penny’s house in Lansdown. Thankfully it was a lovely warm sunny day and we all sat outside chatting amiably, catching up with family gossip – this was the first time we had met since Christmas.
This followed a trip to Sandbanks a week later to see Fanny and Robert where we all had lunch in the Shell Bay restaurant taking the chain ferry across the bay. Sadly the weather had cooled down somewhat and we all ended up eating outdoors wearing winter woolies but if anything it was another delightful day and a much needed break from London. .
Even though COVID-19 continues it’s uncharted course, I am happy to enjoy small mercies
Apologies it’s taken so long to finish this blog – but little has changed and we are now in the midst of a new spike…