Lockdown Day 46: Bank Holiday Barbecue

Today was definitely an outdoor day. I started off at eight in the morning with a visit to ED’s café where the staff as ever were helpful and courteous and presented me with my morning cuppa. There is something rather wonderful about taking tea in the garden in your pyjamas in the summer. 

I enjoyed a good hour of this before duty called. I had a date with TSM to help her dye her hair. I really gave this my best shot and despite some initial grumblings from my client I pretty soon got into the technique of checking and rechecking for missing grey bits and pulling out the hair into long strands so that I could work the dye into them. 

We did the whole barbecue thing properly with cheese and salad some pickles and mustard and ketchup and burger buns and everything that makes for a good barbie. Plus beer and cocktails. We invented our own lockdown cocktail with gin and elderflower liqueur, lemons and limes, sugarcane syrup, and Prosecco. Like most cocktails This was far too drinkable and had to be treated with caution. We settled on one pitcher so as not to let things get too out of hand.

We played Trivial Pursuit at which we were all surprisingly good. One question was “what animal makes more noise than a jet taking off “? I thought Mystic Em’s quick and witty response was excellent although the Dizzle did not like it as it implied he had this honour (it is actually the blue whale).

Various people went out for walks and bike rides during the day but I was not feeling very athletic and stuck to having an afternoon snooze in a comfy chair. I blame the hair dyeing, it involves a lot of effort and wore me out. 

We FaceTimed TGR in the evening who seems as well as ever and we had a happy chat. And before you knew it the day was over. 

We didn’t do anything for the VE Day memorial holiday. I am a huge admirer of those who served in WW2 and fought fascism (my father included) but I think this endless nostalgia is a sign of a country that is looking backwards rather than forwards, and that certain right wing politicians are still using it seventy five years later as a source of jingoism and false flag patriotism. Apologies if that seems controversial but I don’t recall celebrating the 75th anniversary of the end of the Boer war as a young man in 1977 and wouldn’t have considered it healthy to do so. And I certainly don’t think putting out the bunting and dressing up in 1940s clothing is a fitting commemoration either. End of rant.

A good day despite Lockdown. But as I go to bed  I reflect quietly on the ordinary men and women who endured the war, and the nearly 700 people who have died in the last 24 hours from Covid-19. There is always much to think on and learn from.