New Year's Day Walk

There has been a pattern to our New Year's Days for quite a while now.  We would meet up with friends for a walk across the fields to a local pub and after a few pints in front of a roaring fire, adjourn to one of the friends' houses for dinner - generally chilli con carne.  This year the pubs are not open and its not possible to socialise indoors.

Instead, I went for a walk with the micro spikes.  We didn't use them on our walk yesterday but when we got back there was a gradually growing list of friends who had suffered injuries from the slippery conditions that day.  Some involving trips to Accident and Emergency.  With the covid crisis getting worse, hospitals are not good places to be just now. Cathy decided discretion was the better part of valour and stayed in the warm and the dry.

The spikes were a good decision, more than one lane were still very much ice rinks, and I would have had to retrace my steps without them.   As you can see from this phone shot we have had the lightest possible dusting of snow.  As I set off it was sleeting, (hence the phone shot) and by the time I returned it was very much properly raining so all that lovely crisp whiteness has now gone.

When I got back we recreated a pub, with beer mats, crisps, pub games (dominos and cribbage) and suitable refreshments.  Although there was no draught beer our pub did seem to have a reasonable selection of bottled beers and Cathy hit upon a particularly fine red wine.  We ordered a chilli con carne (I had to to take on the roles of barman, chef and customer at this point) but it was all very convivial.  Not quite as good as the real thing, but definitely worth making the effort for.

So one day into the New year, and '21 isn't too bad at the moment. I hope that all of your New Year's Days are equally successful.