A small adventure
The smallest and simplest of adventures needs planning these days, don’t you find? Armed with shopping card, credit card, phone, hand san, shopping list, face mask and disposable gloves, we set off to go shopping yesterday morning. My Hero was going to do Bettine’s shopping and I had our longer list in hand.
It was a dreary morning, quite unlike the glorious Spring sunshine of recent days, so perhaps that was the reason the roads were so empty at just gone 8.30am? We’ve heard that people are beginning to venture out a little more, that more people are returning to work in spite of the continuing recommendation that we all stay at home except for essential travel - like the weekly shop we were undertaking right now.
I was anxious about the social distancing, the fact that not everyone is as observant of the recommendations as we are and I was concerned about the lack of supplies in some departments too. But I needn’t have worried. There were so few customers that it would have been a challenge to find another one to stand close to and thankfully, the shelves were really well stocked with everything I needed.
Except for the elusive Tunnocks Tea Cakes . (Did I say essential?)
Even when I reached the Quick Check payment point, there was no need for the floor markings to maintain a safe distance from others. I went straight through, barely hesitating to check my list to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.
Meanwhile, my hero was sitting in the car, having finished Bettine’s shopping long ago. He was entertained by watching the “husbands” in the car park, continually edging their cars closer to the store entrance whilst their wives/partners/girlfriends/mothers/neighours/companions/staff (!) did the shopping.
We drove home via Bettine’s, across the Common where the wild flowers - cowslips and bee orchids amongst them - were more glorious than I’ve seen in a long time. The cows don’t come out for another week or so yet, so I guess they were at their best in the rain. I’m sorry that the weather prevented a better photo but it’s enough to remind me of a special time.
As if we’d forget!
Coming downstairs to the studio this morning, my eye caught sight of another vignette of life right now: our bear Bernd still stands in the window of our sitting room, waving to the handful of people who venture up the lane these days. But today, Friday, there’s also the evidence of last night’s Clap for Carers in the form of a cowbell and some kind of musical instrument/noise maker acquired on our travels somewhere, both of them more effective than our hands in creating enough noise to carry across the valley.
One day, we’ll look back at all of this and think “how strange”.
