Cleared ...

Today began with an unusual treat - I didn't have to go shopping, because I'd done it yesterday! So I took another fifteen minutes in bed with my tea and my phone, catching up on some Blips, and then had a leisurely breakfast reading all the online comment on Johnson's execrable appearance in front of the investigation into his misleading of Parliament. There was one clip that homed in on the face of his legal advisor, sitting just behind him, that said it all. 

I did a quick burst on my Italian after I'd washed up. I've finished all the main items in the Duolingo course now, and have to rely on practice and revision exercises , many of which are timed. I find I can do the timed stuff better in the morning when I'm fresh - later in the day it becomes very frustrating. Before lunch I wrote the Intercessions for Sunday morning, so I feel happier to have that done now.

In the afternoon I thought the shore of Loch Striven might be sheltered somewhat from the brisk wind, and I was right. What's more, there were spells of sunshine and blue sky in among the clouds, and we got home five minutes before it began to rain. We were amazed at the amount of felling that's been accomplished in the fenced-off MOD area along the roadside (I posted a photo of it in progress a few weeks back; the conifers were diseased as they are all over this area.) Now the roadside feels open, you can see the contours of the hillside - and you can see the big fuel tanks that previously were only visible on aerial photos. That's what I've posted for today, just because I liked the sky with the surviving tall, skinny silver birches and the wonderful orange of the cut trees stacked along the top of the rise. We met the terrifying tractor thing that carried the logs to where they're collecting them off-site - the road is very narrow and the tractor thing and trailer are not!

Can barely credit that it's three years since the start of lockdown; all manner of memories of these horrid days returned, and the thought of the fear we felt. Carpe diem, folks ...