March, April, May….and so it goes on
I have avoided being political in my blogs, I have stayed away from venting concerns, anger and dismay, I have tried to use these ramblings to steer some sort of steady path by remaining positive, however…
(Spoiler skip to part 2 if you just need positivity)
Rossendale has 70,000 people – think about it, just think about that number then divide it by half and look at the number of tragic deaths that have been attributed to COVID-19. Yes in real terms this horrible invisible killer has wiped out the equivalent of almost half of the population of our borough. So we all sit down in front of the TV on a Sunday night and wait to hear how we now are all free and we can begin to prepare tomorrow’s picnic and plan a trip to the seaside… ahhh how lovely. Well it would be if this was over but let us get this straight. It isn’t. It is far from over. It may have calmed in London but it is still hitting the North West hard and figures are creeping up all over Scotland.
There was a reason why we were told to Stay Home Save Lives Protect the NHS… and COVID-19 has not finished invading our lives, our homes, our very existence. What the heck does Stay Alert tell you… look out for something that you cannot see? The best advice surely must be from those who are have been treating the hundreds of thousands of people who have been hospitalised. They are the people who have spent hour after hour in intensive care turning over the comatose patients hoping that their careful actions will save another life and they have done a marvellous job for which each and every one of them deserves all the thanks we can give and not just applause on a Thursday.
My good friend is a nurse practitioner in a hospital in Scotland and she looked exhausted when we FaceTimed on Saturday night, absolutely shattered after her shift. The residents in her small village bestow many gifts on her knowing the trauma she witnesses day in day out through the pandemic. A knock on her car window and a home cooked tea passed through, gifts left outside her home, an offer of a car to get her to work and thank yous in abundance.
I walked up to Lee Quarry on Saturday night, because I love the location, I feel at home in the isolation, thrive on the thinking time it offers me, love when the sun sets up there and offers amazing colours as the light bounces off the steeply sided man-made stone cliffs. However as I walked I heard a party and it was not the first time that day that I had come across large gatherings in people’s gardens. Beware the game of pass the parcel you didn’t know you were playing…. and when the music stops and the ‘virus present’ lands on your lap you won’t need to take any layers off the present; it is quite capable of doing that all by itself and a few days later it will have invaded you all on its very own…
Part 2 – Milestone birthday – VE Day and more bird photos
I haven’t blogged since April 19! Last time I was discussing Easter, OMG where has all that time gone? Since then we have a new month and my mum, bless her, had her 80th in Scotland with just my dad and the postman to 
wish her happy birthday in person. It was VE Day and the home-made bunting on my happy terrace flew colourfully in the wind while many cul-de-sacs held socially distant but jolly street parties.
Groundhog day has been grinding a lot of people down, and home life can be a little tricky at times as let’s just say I am not the only person in this house with a strong personality! However we usually resolve issues… eventually.
I have continued to shop as infrequently as possible in supermarkets, not least because I find some people’s idea of social distancing at 2m is not the same as my own. Like others, I do find myself looking at people thinking… have you got IT? I am sure I am not on my own.
Not talking as much has actually had a positive effect on my voice and although I still do my exercises both neck strengthening and vocal, most days my voice seems to be improving. Maybe there is a message in there somewhere… hmmm.
I did have lots planned this month… an election to cover (postponed), a trip on the East Lancashire Railway with Dementia Friendly Rossendale (cancelled), a massed care home choir afternoon with Activities R Us (postponed), school newspaper clubs (cancelled) and much much more.
I am missing my school work, but fortunately have picked up the odd bit of ad hoc work and that keeps my business in the public domain. A series of articles written for Veterans In Communities on VE Day memories, and a private commission, were gratefully received by press in East Lancashire and Greater Manchester areas.
On a personal level I finally managed to get more fence paint so that job has been completed and I dug a veg patch and I was delighted to see little radish leaves emerging from the soil. Life’s pleasures are tiny but rich…
Photographer Liz Hall and I cooked up a crazy idea to create a video involving the Weir Knit and Natter ladies and what a brilliant time we all had making it. It was a very lengthy process editing the clips together but the almost 2 minutes of footage showing a ball of wool being passed from house to house is now on YouTube for all to see and the result, I hope, will bring a smile to your face too! And I was interviewed on Radio Lancashire discussing the initiative! Here is the link.
Another positive is because of the situation we are all in, I have spent more time walking and on the Britannia Greenway I have photographed a 
chaffinch and discovered he was eating a daddy longlegs he had just caught, captured an amazing mating dance between house sparrows, stunning sunsets on New Line Reservoir and lovely pictures of the duckling families. I have also enjoyed many many walks so I must be getting healthier.
Stuff the Stay Alert – just Stay Home Stay Safe… then when this is over we will all be able to enjoy each other’s company. The seaside will still be there…