WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY AUGUST 22, 2021

Clare: I'm SO jealous you saw the Stones. I was going to see them in LA some years back, but the thought of hassling with LA traffic and thousands of people changed my mind. I always liked Charlie Watts - he seemed not to take any of the brouhaha too seriously. And married to the same person for more than 50 years! Amazing when you consider that environment.

Lovely mouse poem, LINDA. Sorry Awful Cousin is making plans!

Enjoyed my long read of all your posts and then realised I hadn't even started a reply this morning. Really enjoyed my shower today and we seem to be gradually reducing the time it takes so am considering doing it more often (still doing it ourselves, not with people coming in). Unfortunately, still discovering more broken skin. Nurses have now decided they will call every Monday and Friday, so we can plan our week better..

Congratulations to LYNETTE and her OH..

Pleased funeral went well down South and DIBNLIB enjoyed some visits around it... Glad Benson also enjoyed his holiday with friends!

DIANE - pleased friends were able to help out with communications - I would have expected local library would have facilities for making claims!

OH has finished proof-reading the magazine and now needs to find some time to print the main mailing. J heard a rumour in town that we may be facing a local lockdown due to seriously high covid figures (having spent most of the pandemic as one of the best areas - blaming the tourists of course! This would mean changing plans for church yet again!

OG - Good to hear from you. But your final paragraph concerned me. I am planning to come up to Scotland in a couple of weeks for the memorial service for a very dear friend of thirty-five years who died last month. The service is in Perth. I have been watching the infection rates rising, and then Nicola Sturgeon yesterday hinted about possible further restrictions. I do not want to be told at the door of the cathedral, when I have driven 500 miles to get there, that I'm not allowed in! I have booked a central Perth B&B which sounds OK (how can you tell??) but will still need two stops on the way up and the way home - and again, how can you guarantee places will be properly sanitised? I desperately want to get to the service - I was not able to get up for her funeral and really want to be there for the memorial service -but with all the uncertainty ... can anyone lend me a magic carpet???

PatO:   Re your trip, I hope you'd know what's going on before you left.  Regardless, suggest you take your own wipes, spray, etc.  (I also take my own pillow, but I do that anyway.... )   Can you reduce your layovers to one stop each way?  Are you checking out your proposed lodgings on Tripadvisor for reviews?

OG:  How long before your skin is healed up?

Oh dear, Pat - you have a problem there. And then there is always the possibility that Ms Sturgeon won't even let you over the border! Hope things become clearer before you have to commit to going to the service. Sorry to hear about your friend.

OG - Good to hear from you again but sorry you're still having skin problems. Do take care of yourself. Good that you might get a more organised, planned approach from the nurses.

I've heard from my brother again, since the loss of his wife to covid. Not a good message, and I shall have to reply to him in careful terms. My OH is chafing at the news of his Cousin's possible visit, even though she is not welcome --- and so my OH says, remember the old adage -- "You can choose your friends, but not your relatives!!"

Lindybird:  Aha, going with the poetic flow!  :-)   Sorry about your bro....  So, I didn't get whether your OH is happy or unhappy about cousin's possible visit.  I'm guessing the latter, but....

OG - pleased to read that you are getting on better showering and that the nurses are reduced down to a Monday and Friday which gives you all more freedom. Do hope the skin problems clear up reasonably quickly. Hope you don't have to go into a lockdown again just when good progress was being made.

Lindybird - loved the mouse poem and your pot of blue flowers - they looked like bluebells to me.

PatO - Do hope you manage the trip for the memorial service. I think you just have to take that leap of faith that all places where one can stay are doing their best to stay as clean as possible. It seems the only worry will be if NS decudes to call a lockdown. Just keep your ears open and hopefully you will be OK.

We have finally found a local gardner to come in and make a start on blitzing ours as its overcome with weeds etc and our dau has had a lot on in the holidays and has not had time to tackle it. She is back at school next week. They made a start on it yesterday and its looking so much better. Still a few hours work needed to get it neat and tidied up with hedges and trees to trim down. However he is very reasonable and cheaper that the one we had coming to do the lawns. We will have him one more time next month and then I will dispose of him politely and continue with our new gardner. We are too unsteady on our pins to do any gardening nowadays.

Thanks KATE for the peregrine link. Something positive for those in Victoria’s lockdown.

Victoria’s covid numbers continue to rise with half of them infectious while in community before getting tested. NSW passed 1000 new cases yesterday. The contact tracers have lost control and it can only get worse with Premier’s solution “get jabbed” but people still gathering. She was too slow to set lockdown at the beginning of this outbreak. Fingers crossed, our state is clear but for how long?

LINDA – My mouse is my best friend; we hold hands very often.

[Much later] Very long phone call from Dau as she let off steam about school, kids outgrowing clothes, shopping in a mask, assisting with school excursions, cooking & general drudgery. BTW I saw an item about the shortage of fast-food milkshakes and chicken in England. What stunned me was the sight of people wandering around maskless. I have become so accustomed masks here that I found it very strange!!!

It is a scientific fact that your body will not absorb cholesterol if you take it from another person’s plate. (Dave Barry0

Calories are tiny creatures that live in your wardrobe and sew your clothes a little bit tighter every night.

Parent: Now, eat your spinach. It’s good for growing children.
Child: Who wants to grow children?