Isolation

The day dawned much brighter looking than I expected, so jumped out of bed and headed out to get a bike. Decided to give an electric bike a trial....oh my goodness, brilliant! You still have to pedal (I’d thought it was more like a moped), just feels like you’ve got a helping hand with the hills...just the thing. Whooshed down to Portobello (not hard anyway, but it helped on the way back!) and bought some lovely charcoal sourdough, an almond croissant and cinnamon bun at the bakery there, then found a takeaway coffee and had a brilliant 10 minutes sitting on a bench almost like a normal weekend morning, soaking up the beauty of a very sunny fresh but warm morning with the tide far out and the sand shining.
Went out and along the beach for a good walk, taking quite a lot of photos and feeling good. Back and headed home on the back roads and cycle track, bumping into C&A who were out for a walk. She had a t shirt on and it revealed a whole flight of beautiful butterfly tattoos....looked amazing even though I’m not usually a fan and had no idea she had any,
Collected some gorse flowers on the way home as I’d been listening to a programme in bed this morning where they said you could make tea out of gorse flowers and it was traditionally used to lift the spirits so thought I’d give it a try (although actually feeling fine already at the moment)
Video calls with T&K and with Mt&H when I got home...it’s Mt’s birthday today and it was lovely to see his cards (AR had made him one that was a big heart with him inside, with an eye patch on the heart and some pirate stickers) and the brownies T&K had made and taken round to drop off (K has been desperate to see the new puppy!). They looked tasty (extra). I’m resigned to not getting down to see them all for another few weeks, but am going to make the most of being here on my own.
Made my gorse tea (rather nice light coconut flavour) and had the croissant as I worked to shovel email and catch up a bit, then put some fast music on to help me do the housework.
Later on I decided to just relax and settled down to watch a film about Diana Kennedy the British woman who settled in Mexico and has become an expert in Mexican cookery. Have to admit I’d never heard of her before but enjoyed the film. Interesting to see what a strong minded and independent woman she’s always clearly been, travelling by bus around the villages in an insatiable quest to find out about local ingredients and methods. In her old age she’s developed daily routines that made me smile as I can see me doing some of the same....I’m turning into a strange old bat through the enforced break to my normal life, but to be honest most days I’m feeling fairly content (obviously not in terms of the bigger picture and the havoc to lives and economies this virus is wreacking, just in myself).
After that I read and knitted and had a very quiet evening before chatting to A on her usual drive home from work. She says A&E is definitely getting busier....the country is restive to get out and about.