Not totally relevant to AF but my take on the first month of self isolation.
Last evening I was sitting on our front terrace listening to Billy Blackbird singing his heart out whilst in the copse over the lane Tarquin the cock pheasant was shouting loudly at my neighbour. Over-head a clear blue sky was testament to the effect of Cornona virus. Normally it would be criss crossed with con-trials from the many airliners transiting across the Atlantic to the west but for several weeks apart from the odd military AWACs it has been clear.
I searched in vain for the arrival of swallows who usually get here in mid April but not yet. Our local buzzard floated lazily over the valley opposite. Ignore the news which I do as far as possible and life was idilic.
That morning I had sat in the office overlooking the pond watching Bullfinches and Goldfinches feeding on the nyger seeds whilst tits and sparrows gorged themselves on the seed feeders and fat balls and Squidge the squirrel and his cousin Noel stole peanuts. Mother earth is laughing at us as nature ignores our petty problems and continues to flourish. I mused that we had brought this on ourselves with our arrogance, thinking we owned this earth as we raped and pillaged its resources. Will we change? I doubt it. This time will allow the Earth to recover and people will congratulate each other how they help reduce climate change and rejoice how dolfins again swam in the Grand Canal In Venice but memories are short. Take this opportunity to think long and hard about where to go if we survive this current crisis. And no Jean, not Ayef! lol 😁
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BobD
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Well said our Bob ... profound and beautiful words.
Indeed, who did we humans think we were, treating the planet as our own, destroying everything that was the slightest nuisance to us? What greedy, wasteful beings we’d become. I write that in the past tense because I’m trying to be optimistic!
And let’s hope the kindness people are showing in these difficult times isn’t just temporary. I love these words from Roald Dahl ...
“I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being. I'll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else. Kindness - that simple word. To be kind - it covers everything, to my mind. If you're kind that's it.”
I totally agree, If everyone were kind there would be no wars, no terrorism, and the earth would flourish. It is out there in abundance but unfortunately it only takes a very few to spoil things. Do unto others ............
If I could be 100% well on the planet Ayef I'd be off like a shot! Don't forget that planet has never been scarred and spoilt like our beautiful earth has in so many places. 😊.
I looked out into my back garden today and gave thanks that I had it. Its raining and I'm glad (the first rain for many weeks) because it will give everywhere a good watering and I can have a break from the daily grind of digging out the dandelions that appear every day!
I try to garden organically as much as possible but fail with dandelions. Our grass is full of them and the surrounding fields for miles arround are ablaze with gold normally from mid march ( not that I have seen them this year as I haven't been out for over 5 weeks now). But when they get in the borders I'm ruthless. I paint the leaves with glyphosate gel. It is a very delicate job and one I hate as you have to be very careful to not get the gel on any valued plants. The gel just gets on the leaves and does not go in the soil. It translocates and kills the dandi by the root. In about 3 weeks they just disappear. Sometimes if they are very vigourous they come back the year after but a second treatment usually finishes them off. I feel guilty about using glyphosate but often it is the only solution when the buggers have seeded themselves in the middle of choice plants. We have had a little rain in the night -the first for weeks-but not the storms promised by those lying weather people.
We had a good downpour here yesterday and I must say that my front and back lawns really needed it as they were losing their colour. Still a little drizzly today. Sun forecast again from tomorrow and the rest of the week. Yes, I try to garden organically too. My compost bin was full, so I thought dig some out and spread it, but as I did a baby slow worm slithered out. I felt too guilty in case I hurt others in there to dig any more. Haven't a clue what to do now?
I don't know anything about slow worms . Are they a sort of snake? Buy another bin online? We have compost heaps at the bottom of the garden . Last year next doors small chickens got in and ran amok in one nearly flattening it as well as having a go at our cabbages and eating all the beetroot tops.
We have 3 enormous compost heaps at the bottom of the garden and have great problems distributing it fast enough. I too garden completely organically and never dig unless I have a new plant to put in and then have to take plants out. Difficult to find the space to put the compost cos of the plants. Have a tiny window of time in the depth of winter when I could put it on but the spring bulbs start showing around November!
Glyphosate is dreadful stuff. Be extremely careful not to get any of it on yourself. It does dreadful things to your microbiome. I believe it goes down into the aquifers and slowly accumulates. I have a long handled fork with two prongs, It has a bevelled metal piece part way down the handle to give leverage. Excellent tools for levering out things like dandelions. I know that it sometimes leaves a tiny bit of root in but over the years the dandelions do become fewer and less vigorous. Also have another super tool which has a very long handle. You position the three prongs over the plant you want to pull up, press down with your foot which makes the prongs close, and you can lever the plant up easily and release it into the wheelbarrow.
My, very profound comments young man😉. Stay well and that goes for everyone!
Not a truer word spoken Bob. I have a field behind me and have watched Mr & Mrs pheasant scurrying around and Mrs pheasant playing hard to get. Mr & Mrs Robin come early every morning for breakfast and even the magpies are coming in pairs 🤞🏻. Blue tits dart backwards and forwards and many other birds too. Often there are deer early morning but since clocks have changed I would have to be up before sparrows fart to see them. The sky is blue in the main and as you say free from tail streams. I have Manchester airport one way and Leeds Bradford other way so usually busy.
And so Mother Nature goes on impervious to everything else.
Bob, I too have thought long and hard over the last month. Yes, lockdown has caused problems for many but I have gained such a lot. People are happier, more caring, helpful, resourceful and understanding. Pace of life is calmer and so much more. I just fear once this is all over we will go back to all the old ways quickly and that scares me. ❤️
It's our age John - the teenage young of the mid 1960's and early 70's I always wanted to be a hippy, never quite made it, but was always an adventurer. The nearest I got was hitch hiking with my friend Liz to a town over 60 miles away and sleeping in the bushes in a park - we were both aged 15 and still at school! The next day we hitch hiked home (lucky we weren't murdered and found in a ditch). I told my mum I was staying at my friends house and she told her mum she was at mine! I lived in the depths of the countryside so there was little chance of being caught out.
What a shock a few months later when I arrived home one day to find my friends parents sat in my parents kitchen. My friend had gone missing and another friend had told on us! She'd actually run off with a beatnik - I knew nothing about it. I never saw her again, don't think she ever returned to the area where I lived and I heard years ago that she'd married a vet.
My two daughters were always amazed that I could see through every sneaky move they tried.
Yes, remember Wolfie Smith vaguely, but not Oddball.
Jean, I love your hitch-hiking story. Reminds me of when I was 16/17, a friend and I used to hitch-hike everywhere without our parents knowing. We’d think nothing of hitching from Surrey to the Sussex coast or Wales and back in a day. But my biggest adventure was two weeks hitching to Sweden and back with a “platonic” boyfriend. Our parents knew about that and were more worried that we might get up to things we were too young to do than the dangers of getting into cars with strangers lol. My own children are horrified at what I used to get up to, and so am I when I think about it 😂
No matter what age we are, we think we know it all and no harm will come to us. I certainly thought I did at age 15. However, I find I'm still learning new things now!
I went for a quick walk on my own the other day, down a track and into bluebell woods. I was more than a little fearful of someone attacking me. It's such a shame how our world has been spoiled by aggressive (I can do what I want) people, sadly the majority are males (but we mustn't upset them by saying that - it's rarely discussed). Not so long ago I wouldn't have given the slightest thought to walking on my own.
What a lovely adventure you must have had in Sweden. I remember going to Belgium and France aged 16 and Switzerland at 17. I didn't hitch-hike though, but eventually married the boyfriend I went with and from meeting we were together for about 27 years.
I lived in London when I was young and was a latchkey child from the age of 5. Went all over London with a little friend also aged 5 on buses and trains and went under the chain link fences to play on the bomb sites, which was expressly forbidden by my parents. Lots of interesting lumps and bumps and holes to crawl into. Aged about 7-12 we went up to Speaker’s corner and listened to the speakers on their soap boxes and the hecklers. We almost lived in the museums in exhibition road and played in Kensington gardens all completely without adult supervision of any kind except the park keeper in the childrens’ section who tried to stop us doing dangerous things, esp on the maypole. One of us would wrap the rope all round the others and then when they all spun out that one would be flying really high. That quite understandably used to make the keeper mad. Always walked to school all by myself including crossing the Bayswater road. Mum told me to ask someone to see me across the road. They always did. Not a problem. Later we had a zebra crossing. None of this no talking to strangers.
What wonderful adventures you had GrannyE. I bet you enjoyed every minute of that freedom.
I’m grateful to my parents for letting us kids (5 of us) get on with it. We lived in front of the Thames and apart from the rule that we weren’t to go on the lower towpath in case we fell in and drowned, we were allowed to go off and do almost anything as long as we were home for meals. Bring back “healthy neglect” I say 😊 x
Absolutely. My grandchildren are supervised every minute of every day practically. Children need down time and a bit of boredom is good for creativity.
Much later in my early 20s I bought a second hand Renault 4 and a girl friend and I youth hostelled and camped all round Europe. We drove up to Copenhagen, and took the over night ferry to Oslo sleeping on deck, were the first car after the snow plough to drive to Bergen and then back to Oslo on the coast road. Down to Hamburg, Berlin, crossed check point Charlie, out of Berlin via the southern route, mined on both sides of the road, Munich, Salzburg, Budapest,, Yugoslavia inland route down to Albania which we saw but it was closed of course. Up the coast to Split. Ferry to Pescara. Across to Rome, Pisa, Venice, Monaco, S.of F. Rhône Valley, Paris and home. Had a wonderful book ‘how to do Europe on 5$ a day’. Took in so many castles, cathedrals, museums, amazing mountains, towns, villages, waterfalls etc Quite unforgettable. I was so lucky to have done all that. Most hairy bits were the Muslim villages in Yugoslavia (were were very modestly dressed) where we drove through with the car locked because the villagers gathered round clanking stones together. Had stones thrown at my mother and myself in Italy when I was a child and did not want that experience repeated. Rome where we were pestered to death by the local youth and the S. Of France where I had to fight my way out of a police station were I had gone in to ask the way! Oh the EastBerlin and the Hungarian border guards were not friendly. One dented our bonnet with his fist (‘cheap western tin’ was his response with a shrug!) and another buckled our strut that keep the boot up so it would no longer close. Both times helpful Aussies (different ones) who saw our plight did the required straitening out. What it was to be young!
My older sister lived in London too. She says the same as you regarding travelling at a young age on her own. This song brings back those memories for her:
My sister hitch-hiked from Aberdeen to London. She was chased round the lorry by the driver and after telling him not to be silly, arrived in London safely. She often laughed about it and never gave it another thought. My friend and I hitched from Inverness to Aberdeen and after some time the driver drove into some woods and parked the car. We pretended to be asleep, and eventually he gave up and drove back to the road again. We laughed about that too. Having two daughters my blood runs cold at the thought of them ever doing what I did, I never told them!
Well, I'm blowed Irene and there was me thinking I was the only one taking risks! It's unbelievable what we all laughed at back then! I once hitched in Spain on my own, the driver put his hand on my leg and I made it obvious he wasn't to do that! It didn't frighten me, just made me cross. Wouldn't dream of getting into a strange persons car now, but am so glad that I've never lead a boring life.
"Hilly I just won my own bet that you would the first to respond. Love and peace.xxx" Well then I must be first in the continental US. What does that mean? Seriously though, when one adds politics, human suffering, calamities like tornadoes and earthquakes, and human kindness/love into the mix, it becomes quite impossible to define us... I think Bob, you underestimate yourself. In this time of self-isolation, you should be writing more not just when the whimsy strikes you. I believe you are poet!
I was once told that if you do a presentation only about 5-10% of what you says sticks.
I, like you, predict that not all good resolutions will stick but we have to take the best out of this and hope that at least 5-10% of good intent continues.
Great observations BobD! Yesterday I managed to snap a pic of a coyote grabbing an unsuspecting baby rabbit, while our horse layed in the sun, not concerned at all that a coyote was maybe 20 ft away. Made me think of the hierarchy in the animal world, survival of the fittest. Seems like in our human socialized world, it is survival of the one with the most $$, power, access to healthcare, fresh water, food...
But in the end, I believe our Creator holds the key to our current and future, we just need to be reminded from time to time.
I've had the luxury of nearly 5 weeks self isolation now and as you Bob I've been reminded how much joy there is in just sitting in the garden enjoying the quiet, the start of another spring and the birdsongs. We don't appreciate it enough as we're usually so busy worrying about what's not important. I hope this is the start of a lovely retirement and my AF behaving well enough to allow me many more years of enjoying the simple pleasures in life, good health mate 🙂
Just discovered my local garden is doing telephone order deliveries. I am making my list forthwith. It is quite amusing to see my neighbours attempting to clear their garages. Next door but one has a Hillman imp. "What's that " his wife said. " Hillman imp". "No" she said. "Behind the imp . It looks like the motor bike you told me you had sold to buy the imp"".
You cannot fail to see the difference in nature in a space of 4 weeks. What a difference a day makes! The birds are singing, and you can actually hear them individually. It reminds me of my childhood, when things were slower, and quieter. I feel that mankind has had a big slap. We have spoilt a wonderful, and beautiful creation, given to us with love, to care and maintain. I always say God is 3D. This plague will do so many things. For a start it will make you realise how small we are, and that we don't own, or control anything. It will make families spend more time together, and even stop extra-marital affairs! The list is endless. Hence the saying "good comes from bad" I just feel something had to give, for the world, and for us to see our great Creator. It is sad for us to witness this virus, and so tragic for all those who have lost loved ones. We don't understand, because God's ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts higher than ours, but if/when we get to Heaven we will know the answer. Take care everyone, and keep safe.
As my Grandma used to say "I'm in my 99th year " or whatever. Trouble was she forgot how manay times she had said that and aged about nine years by the time she died at a genuine 100 1/2
Yes it's so nice that there is peace from the aeroplanes and noise of cars, etc. We were only saying yesterday that there seem to be more birds coming into the garden. Nature carrying on.... and not so much dust!
You were all making me think about my youth and the freedom we had. When I was very young well under 12 mum and dad let us trail off to the bluebell woods without a worry of being attacked, raped, or whatever.
Then the nice parties at our house with friends (nowadays they seem to collect on the street corners with nothing to do except maybe cause mischief or even harm).
I remember the days when I used to go out with Adam Faith (my grandchildren say "who"???) and go up to Top of the Pops and jive in front of the camera. In those days we had to move round the camera, rather than now when the camera moves round the people, which was a bit annoying when we had to keep stopping dancing to move over when they changed direction. Very happy times.
Then, of course, meeting our husbands/wives, children, love and home, fun, friends.
Then brain tumours, atrial fibrillation/tachycardia......but forget about that at the moment and I hope you all stay safe and well.
Bob I think many of us will learn from this. Many will not take things for granted. Many will be mindful of one's personal space. We will be full of admiration and respect for frontline workers including cashiers, janitors and "would you like fries with that" employees. Many of us will be slower to judge. I hope this time brings us closer to God as we see him. Love is the most important lesson of all. The words you wrote are all woven together with love and wonderful to read thank you.
Lucky you. Anyone heard a cuckoo? We have not had one for a couple of years? Where are our swallows? Starlings? We have the odd hedge sparrow but where are our flocks of cheeky housesparrows of yesteryear?
Yup. We live in the Welsh Marches. My husband and I both self employed and running a small business. Around 1/3 of our projected income down the drain this year. Yet we are content. It is quiet, quieter than usual; our local community is caring for those in need and keeping us informed and even our spirits up with ideas of how to entertain ourselves at home; I am enjoying being able to nurture my seedlings for the first time in years (no travelling!); It has made us both think about what we truly value in life. I do think this is s massive collective wake-up call and I only hope that collectively we can take responsibility for answering it.
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Any one been pinged by the Covid app?
Thought for the day.........
Ablation & Moving Home
Brother had AFIB Stroke and his wife did not call 911. 
