Wonderings Lately :: January & February

Well the year begun with that usual sense of anticipation and excitement. New Year is a celebration I prefer low-key in normal times so I was quite happy with a nice meal at home and fireworks on the TV. It's a shame that the tele-visual offerings were so dire - especially with such a captive audience - but thankful for surprise fireworks anyway.

So January began, and we all kept our optimism for a few days, remembering that there was a vaccine now, surely things will be getting better from now on? Unfortunately, the reality was that things were pretty much the same (or slightly worse) than before and we were back fairly quickly in a national lockdown once more.

So what is there to update each month? We've not really done much of anything. We are lucky, very much so, and we still have jobs and these lockdowns allow us to save money, which we really need to pay for our wedding. But that's so hard to plan for when things are so unknown, and life becomes so boring when it's so monotonous. The weather is grim, the days are short and I'm basically hibernating at home.

So I've not taken a lot of pictures, and I don't have a lot to write about as wanderings or wonderings.

As we move through March, the government's plans for easing are starting to be implemented and I am glad these are being done slowly and cautiously. Hopefully it is for the long term this time; third time lucky? I'm also anxious about returning to 'normality', life is very boring but it's also very easy at the moment. I have no plans and I need to go nowhere but home. What is life like post-COVID? Are we ready to find out?

As March starts to bloom, spring is in the air, days are longer, and the sun shows up a bit more. There is much optimism, and a little bit of trepidation is probably wise. We proceed with caution.

Lately...

I bought a new (to me) phone. Snazzier than my old one, which will soon be recycled.

Got this new tea pot for my birthday and absolutely love it! So much joy!

Here's Boris announcing the 'road map' out of lockdown. I really wish he'd brush his hair.

I went for a long bike ride on a nice day in Feb back to my old neighbourhood in Canada Water. Loved a change of scenery and revisiting somewhere familiar.

I enjoyed my birthday, despite the lockdown. I never expected that we would still be under such tight restrictions on my birthday but alas we were. I enjoyed a walk in the park with a friend, although less impressed with her sellotape (!) and Friday fish and chips. Since it was Valentines weekend Victor and I also enjoyed a fancy waitrose 3 course meal deal dinner. <3

Got a tiny bit of snow and it was very exciting!

And the majority of the past few months have been wedding prep. I'm crocheting and creating felt flowers plus drying rose petals for confetti. What else can you do with every evening in front of the TV?!

Victor's Christmas chocolates lasted about 2 weeks and I ate only about 3 or 4 of these.

Took a long walk along a new to us bit of the Wandle trail. Unfortunately not a particularly attractive outer London walk but nice to visit somewhere a bit different still within walking distance. This was probably the nicest part of the walk.

These photos are in the wrong order, so these last two are from our New Year's Day visit to Whitstable. Not too busy (unlike the parks in London), we had a lovely but chilly walk along the sea, blowing away the cobwebs and starting the new year fresh.