DAY 4

A quiet day all round really, the Boys and Robert are all at their desks with essay deadlines and work to keep them occupied. I was left to amuse myself – something to be fair I am not known for. I like company and am not great with my own, hence the need for a list of tasks to keep me entertained. A bit of light ironing for an hour, while singing along to an 80’s playlist was fun, until there were complaints about the noise from the workers. The Furloughed Fundraisers’ WhatsApp amused me with a video of a colleague’s small girl stomping her way round a walk in the woods, clearly only outdoors under sufferance, and doubting her Mother’s sanity at the need for exercise. It reminded me of the Smallest Boy’s aversion to a walk and the hours I have spent dragging him uphill, like a small, stout anchor behind me. I was just relaying this to my colleague and saying how he still hates a walk and would rather not, when said Smallest Boy wandered into the kitchen and volunteered to walk to the village shop with me! Talk about making me a liar of me. So we had a very companionable stroll (though he still moaned about going via the scenic route which involves a hill) in the sunshine for an hour and picked up yet more food for dinner from the shop.

I had decided it was time for a meat free (well apart from the lardons) dish, so produced a smoked haddock, Jersey Royals, green beans and asparagus warm salad for dinner. This was greeted with a degree of suspicion, but all but after initial scepticism, was polished off and praised.

I had a Zoom call at 7pm with an old friend from University days which was lovely and arranged so that we could catch-up for an hour before the NHS clap. The wonders of technology, I can’t imagine what lockdown would have been like without the capacity to keep in touch on-line. I can’t believe it’s the 9th week of clapping – where does the time go. There is talk of next week being the last time as hopefully the restrictions will again be relaxed, as we move towards coming out of this and on the path to recovery. The neighbours shared a bottle of Prosecco post clap to celebrate and Elsa’s new puppies were brought out for a quick viewing – they really are adorable.

DAY 5

The bike is ready for collection – very exciting and I can’t believe I have actually missed it. After years of neglect, I am actually enjoying my spins on my trusty steed. Ken has done a fantastic job and I now have all the stuff proper cyclists have like a pump, a drinks bottle and a puncture repair kit (will probably have to learn how to deal with a flat tyre, but if I can change a flat on the car (and I can) then I am sure I can master it on a bike.

I whizzed home and then went for a small spin round the village. I had a birthday card to post and needed to return a plate and tea towel to Fiona, who had baked Robert a very tasty rhubarb cake to say thank you for the trout he dropped off. I had hoped to pop into the shop, but the queue was round the corner, and to be honest there wasn’t really anything we needed – I just thought a scotch egg might be nice.

We had, what is fast becoming a weekly event, our meet and drink in the field with the Ashworths and Hels arrived bearing Bakewell Tart – Robert is in 7th Heaven. We had a lovely couple of hours with them before heading home for a curry, which Alex had prepared and very nice it was too.

After dinner we split into two rooms for quizzes. Alex joins Amy and her family for their weekly test and the rest of us join in with the Marlow Rugby Club one run by Ed The Gooch Smyth and his lovely assistant Tina. A good performance by the whole family this week. We got 58 out of 60 (last week a bit of a disaster as we dropped many points on TV and music rounds) and Alex won his quiz.

DAY 6

Chores and that’s about it today, apart from a splendid roast chicken dinner. Though I have finally worked out that the relaxation of the regulations means I can drive or ride my bike to a location and meet a friend for a socially distanced walk. So Monday morning I am meeting a former train chum, Christina, in Waitrose car park and going for a Bank Holiday walk, Tuesday morning I am meeting Mrs Duguid at Marlow Common and walking her hound with her and Wednesday I am meeting Sarah C-S for a walk in Marlow Woods followed by a socially distanced coffee. It feels like I have a social like again. Now enough of this, as I have to go and brush up on my darts. The ring of shame needs to live elsewhere next week. The match is tomorrow, as it is too windy today, so I have time to improve, albeit from a low base.

I also completed another furlough task – cleaning out the drawers in the dresser where all the old photographs are kept – predictably I spent more time looking at the pictures, but there is now a much greater sense of order. Photo of the day was one of Nick is a suitably relaxed pose aged about 18 months old – if ever a photo gave a clue as to what he’d be like when he grew up, this does .