The things I carried

The title of today's blip comes from a well known book, The Things They Carried. In my case, I was physically carrying some objects Ihad bought, and accidentally managed to lose a £5 note. Damn the new normal!

CleanSteve and I went downtown to check out the outdoor market, which is pitch-only, in Church Street car park. It looked fun, so we have booked a stall each for next week. Of course, it's terribly exposed, but we don't know when the indoor market will be allowed to resume, and there is no requirement to wear visors or space helmets. I find them a little freaky.

I was delighted to be able to drop off two bags boxes of stuff at the charity shop. That is a first. Also managed to sneak some stuff into the dustbin the other day, things that I would normally send to the Tip, and I also upcycled an old game board and a composting caddy into a coffee table. Progress...

After Steve took the car back home, I wandered about and even went into two charity shops. Had to queue for ages to get into the second, and after I'd bought this jigsaw (above, called Fishing Collage, and not credited to an artist or image maker) and a book, and didn't receive a bag for them, I accidentally lost the fiver, most likely in the street.  Oops . The mad thing is, I had an extra bag on me. This new thing of not touching and being super careful with everything is really messing with my head. Simple things like packing shopping, and putting money properly away have always been a challenge to me, because of the time pressure. I always feel I must not keep anyone waiting.

On the way home, I bumped into my hairdresser. She gave me her card (also in the shot above) and said she will not be returning to the salon while things are so awkward, but that she WILL come over to our house and cut both of our hair(s). That will end up being a fiver cheaper. So, no loss really. This will be after 4th July, which is Independence Day for hairdressers, pubs and cafes in England, unless something terrible happens first. 

Back at home, I lazed around, and did some more listing on eBay. Chatted to my old school mates. Those who were not in junior school at my old school cannot see why we hated it so much. They had a different experience. Today we discussed the fact that both my grandmother and her sister became novices (trainee nuns). My grandmother quit the Benedictines to get married, and my great-aunt became a fully-fledged Carmelite, an enclosed order, but left on grounds of ill-health. She moved to Scotland's atlantic coast, and lived a solitary, bird-like existence in a bungalow by the shore. 

Our mother would have made an passable nun, I think but fortunately for us, she wanted to have a family. My friend who was chatting to me, said her mother had struggled with the dual possibilities of marriage or becoming a nun, but a trip to Lourdes helped to clarify things for her. This same woman's sister became a nun, at London' s Tyburn convent, less than 20 years ago (it's the one where Elton John used to go to the AA meetings, under Marble Arch. I think I went there too, once). Apparently she might have married, once, but her sweetheart was lost in the boat disaster off the Isle of Iona, in 1999, when five young men were killed. Sounds like something from a novel of the 1890s.

Another friend reminded me of the careers advice we'd been given:
1) become a nun, or 
2) become a mother, or 
3) become a teacher

Reader, I became (3). The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Later, I tuned in to Oban's online BLM rally. There were some technical issues, that were resolved, followed by excellent speakers, one of whom was my nephew Nat. He is black, and went to Oban high school for his final years. One of the tales he recounted was that of a person he knew at school, who was incredulous that Nat could swim, because he'd been told that black people can't swim because their bones and their skulls are too heavy. This was just a few years ago. 

You can hear him speak here, if you're minded. He's at 14.40 to 20.00. (Sorry if you're not on FB. Also, skip the first few seconds, they didn't realise they were live). =68.ARARbv4xFP2tRbcVHwxASvGsKOGjDh0tGjtgWvPUap4an0H2zX_16vM4QyX3zgGn6Zd1b8G-Xf1vzfOGyHRKSriDSDBaiSHl8iOw7TleEPMIJwMy5QdnA5OKL70qV03JJgvnw-F50ERnUE8AYCawgaxB0F6lpWsF48gIAJjnnJQH9MupdORgdCdb392yNGoUeLjkU8IPPkYUdu_TVAvtqx0ivXzuv7C8MfO46wTiuRLXcfib6mTGeGmfGX--tP_7VG4nwxbIAs9uy0X3EZ9w8ZbaooqlX3-uXnHhJZmlZEyhAiMQ0b3H_rrKdYPrmlsxdTnpAFowRg4JTbLkK2HGDl61zHY8AFGui0qXgQ&__tn__=-UK-R]https://www.facebook.com/blmoban/videos/3421125601288325/?comment_id=3421256694608549&notif_id=1592679549668581&notif_t=video_reply&__xts__[0]=68.ARARbv4xFP2tRbcVHwxASvGsKOGjDh0tGjtgWvPUap4an0H2zX_16vM4QyX3zgGn6Zd1b8G-Xf1vzfOGyHRKSriDSDBaiSHl8iOw7TleEPMIJwMy5QdnA5OKL70qV03JJgvnw-F50ERnUE8AYCawgaxB0F6lpWsF48gIAJjnnJQH9MupdORgdCdb392yNGoUeLjkU8IPPkYUdu_TVAvtqx0ivXzuv7C8MfO46wTiuRLXcfib6mTGeGmfGX--tP_7VG4nwxbIAs9uy0X3EZ9w8ZbaooqlX3-uXnHhJZmlZEyhAiMQ0b3H_rrKdYPrmlsxdTnpAFowRg4JTbLkK2HGDl61zHY8AFGui0qXgQ&__tn__=-UK-R

Right, back to whatever it is I am doing tonight...