Burns Night

Normally we go to Katy’s Burns Supper but obviously not this year. However we have the poems, the heather, the Robert Burns engraved glass that was my Dad’s and Ailie gave Mr C the Robert Burns whisky at Christmas. What’s missing ? the neeps and tatties are waiting to be cooked, and Mr C is off up the moor to see if he can catch the wee haggis.

I had a short walk in the woods with Carol who I’ve not seen for ages as she keeps to herself when feeling low. However she couldn’t manage any distance as her hip is sore, so I went over to drop off some cake and more wool to Chris who is home now and coping fine with her broken ankle

Another bizarre dream, but I can see where it came from.

I’m in a stuffy over furnished flat, everything a bit sepia coloured, sitting at a table opposite KimPhilby. Moscow then.
There was a white lace tablecloth and a beautiful crystal bowl full of oranges between us. It appeared I was there to get vital information from him. He said all would become clear when I got to the appointed rendezvous. I could see the place far in the distance - a frozen lake covered in snow with snow-covered pine trees surrounding it. There were immobile figures spaced out on the lake. Everything was very hazy but as I approached I understood the figures to be people hunched over with big overcoats on. They were actual people but with the faces of Lewis chessmen. They didn’t speak or move. I felt I was in trouble then suddenly I was in Portmerion North Wales standing by the giant chessboard, feeling very puzzled. Then I knew I was The Prisoner.

I woke at 6.10 and thought about the dream before I forgot it.
I’d read a lot about the Cambridge spies in the past and the Ali Smith book I’d finished before I went to sleep mentioned Anthony Blunt, the Fourth Man
When I woke at 2.10am I listened to a programme In the Psychiatrist Chair where a Russian spy now in UK was being interviewed.
Last night we watched a rubbishy programme with Jack Dee in Siberia.
The previous night we watched Mary Beard’s programme about museums when she explained about the Lewis Chessmen
A friend recently wanted info about the Outer Hebrides to plan a trip and I told her about the Peter May trilogy and the chessmen.
The grandchildren are learning to play chess and I told them about the Lewis set.
We visited Portmerion a couple of years ago.

I think being The Prisoner is obviously about feeling trapped by lockdown. It is going to go on a lot longer than we hope. Someone medical on BBC this morning said after the second vaccine we’d be 50% less likely to go to hospital with COVID. How do they know this already? The odds don’t sound great to me.