Fetched the newspaper first thing.
Moira and I walked around Bathurst Basin this morning (grey
and overcast) before streamed church (which was very thought-provoking and
impressive and presented by the Resonate Team).
Still feeling frustrated about the lack of feedback from
facebook regarding my account and am coming to the conclusion that I’m going to
have to use my ‘new’ account from now on (hugely time-consuming in terms of
re-establishing ‘friends’ etc).
Snowed in the afternoon – but didn’t settle.
Spoke to Mikey on his 15th birthday… and to Jemima
and Alice (which was rather nice!)
Finished reading my excellent ‘Shuggie Bain’ book and writing
a review… five books in January and at least two of them might qualify to be my
‘book of the year’!
Evening telly (excitingly): ‘Grayson’s Art Club’ and ‘Pottery
Throw-Down’.
Image: another of my Rio sketches.
Something of a strange day… catch-up day on all sorts of
things (diary, blog, emails, trying to reclaim my facebook page, sketches etc).
As ever on things, for me, things that I think will take me three days to sort
out end up being sorted in a day (except, of course, my facebook account!)!
Moira was feeling somewhat ‘down’ after all the internet/vaccination adrenaline
stuff of yesterday… and feeling that she hasn’t got any ‘projects’ to get her
head into.
I ended up finishing my two Rio sketches during the course of
the day.
No morning walk, just down the road to fetch the newspaper.
Bristol Bears beat Bath last night 48-3! Apparently, the
first half performance was outstanding.
I read a bit more of my ‘Shuggie Bain’ book in the afternoon
(my back was hurting after bending over my laptop/sketch board).
Emailed Alan and CharlotteN and also sorted out arrangements
for another zoom chat with JennieH next Thursday.
Evening telly: yet another ‘Marple’.
Image: one of my Rio sketches.
Something of a red letter day (vaccination and
our internet technician!) – and yet, given the up-and-down week we’ve had, I
began the day feeling somewhat apprehensive!
A pretty grey windy and wet start to the day. I
went for my usual harbourside dawn walk – it was a high tide and even waves on
the Cut!
In the event, the day went as well as it could
have… Moira’s vaccination (at 12.20pm) went well and so did mine (at 5pm). We
were quite fortunate to get our appointment within walking distance (half hour
walk)(probably just at Moira’s limit, given her sciatica)… and the Virgin Media
technician duly arrived on time (4.30pm) and sorted out our internet (although
the cause of the problem was apparently something of a mystery – resolved by
twiddling wires etc!!). Anyway, it was good to get to the evening having got
everything ‘sorted out’!
I read more of my ‘Shuggie Bain’ book in the
afternoon.
Evening telly: just another ‘Marple’.
Image: Vaccination confirmation.
Woke up with toothache!
Began my day with a dawn walk around the harbour
Gaol Ferry Steps/Prince Street Bridge/Thekla/Ostrich pub/Bathurst Basin/home.
Very grey day… with drizzle in the air.
Decided to check out our vaccination surgery
location (don’t want to leave anything to chance!)… so Moira and I undertook
some reconnaissance (although, because of her sciatica, Moira only went half
way) – half hour walk from home to surgery.
Bacon sandwiches for lunch.
Spoke to CharlotteP on mobile (think they’ve been
struggling through lockdown – and, to make matters more difficult, their mother
has anal cancer.
Read some of my Shuggie Bain book in the
afternoon, together with a quick sketch of our studio steps.
Evening telly: ‘Portrait Artist’ and the second
part of ‘Miss Marple’ episode.
Image: Old General Hospital converted apartments.
Hugely frustrating day.
We had the Virgin Media technician due to come
first thing (scheduled for 8am-12noon), so no dawn walks and no Bloke’s Prayer
(obviously, due to no internet). Fingers firmly crossed etc. Predictably,
although one is geared to someone arriving at 8am, the technician didn’t actually
arrive... and I ended up phoning them (and that obviously meant going through a
hugely tedious waiting process). Turns out they cancelled the visit (*no
words*)… so it’s now been re-scheduled for Friday 4-7pm (we’ll be juggling
between vaccines). Massively frustrating and very annoying.
I spent most of the morning sorting out
images/pages in connection with my Blurb book (a process which I find both
frustrating and satisfying!).
Phoned Alan to cancel our planned zoom chat with
David (no internet!) and texted Ana asking her to get Jules to text me (need to
sort out the next ‘virtual’ sketching trip to Italy!)… and, thankfully, Jules
has agreed to sort out the Italy Event.
Had a phonecall from Lee in the afternoon… (which
was somewhat therapeutic!).
Evening telly: ‘Repair Shop’ and early to bed.
Image: Scissors scribble (for Drawing Group).
Another rough night sleep-wise… woke up at 2.30am
and eventually got up at 5.30am. Scribbled some notes regarding my hacked
facebook account (I’m just desperately hoping that I’ll be able to submit some
form of report to facebook and get them to investigate and restore my original
profile. I don’t feel very optimistic!).
I went for my dawn walk around Bathurst Basin/The
Ostrich/M-Shed (slightly shorter than usual – perhaps influenced by the murky
greyness of the weather?).
Moira was still asleep when I returned home… and
we eventually had our morning coffee at around 10.30am. Ru popped in to collect
some stuff from her studio – somewhat frustrated by her homeschool
responsibilities (and, in particular, Rosa not really doing her work properly –
getting it done as quickly as possible, possibly understanding what she’s being
asked and frequently not actually answering the question… poor thing)(meanwhile,
Iris has had to ‘sit’ some exams… which seemed to go ok?).
The big news of the day is that Moira and I have
now been offered our Covid jab dates (Friday afternoon)! I’ve also arranged an
online appointment with the health care assistant for my annual heart review (4
February).
I sketched some boats (from a photograph I took
this morning) before lunch and sorted out some more Blurb photographs. In the
afternoon, I finished my ‘Pope book’ (encouraging and thought-provoking).
Total of UK Covid deaths since the start of the
pandemic topped 100,000 today (pretty grim news, but not unexpected).
Evening telly: another ‘Marple’!
Image: ‘Spirit of Freedom’ boat sketch.
A stunningly beautiful, sunny day (but still very
cold, with overnight freezing) – a huge contrast with the snow of yesterday. My
usual harbourside walk and very aware of bright colours and still water.
Morning coffee with Moira as usual and we
compared notes on how we were coping with the lack of the internet etc
(actually, of course, she can still get an internet connection via her phone)…
essentially, I’m struggling! I’m very conscious of missing my regular early
morning routines (Guardian/BBC/facebook/blog etc) – my dawn walks are the only
things unaffected. I wrote a brief ‘Reflection’ note.
Sally Shorey’s burial today… and I’ve been
thinking of David a lot over recent days. It must be really hard for him; I
wonder what he will do in his hugely adjusted life?
Had a kind text from Ana enquiring how we were
coping with out the internet and saying that I’d been missed at yesterday’s USk
session (which was nice).
I drew (yet) another quick ‘house in lockdown’
sketch.
In the afternoon, I read more of my ‘Pope’ book
and also did some more work on my Blurb book (it’s a lengthy process!).
Evening telly: usual Monday evening stuff (‘Only Connect’
and ‘University Challenge’ – although I seem to be getting more and more
despondent watching them and feel somewhat ‘intellectually challenged’!
Read more of my ‘Shuggie Bain’ book before bed.
Image: Harbourside tree (same view as my Blurb
book’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’ cover, but on a bright sunny day).
