Page 122 - Through a glass brightly

From Maggie R. at 03.36
Hello to everyone in England and Scotland and the US, I am still enjoying your emails and I thank you for them. I do feel for you all so much, especially if the weather is a bit miserable, and especially so, if you have construction workers at the bottom of the garden!
We are further down the track to normality but most of our age group are cautious and it is a question of “wait and see”! Younger people are more adventurous. We must accept that Covid19 will be with us for a long time and just do the best we can to minimise infection. The economic issues are important too and there are just no easy answers. I long to do all the same things that you all
do. The fun parts of being older and to be able to enjoy such pastimes!!
It is also so sad to see all the unrest in the world.
I am enclosing a nice little video and I hope that it makes you all laugh!! (The one about the lawyer and the cigars – brilliant! Ed.)
From Val M. at 12.24
I know I emailed recently, but I had to say that Ann’s email absolutely hit the spot with me. I too am restless and also realising that easing of lockdown is not going to lead to life as we knew it any time soon. It’s going to be queueing for every shop and booking for so many things once free to turn up to - national trust gardens and open gardens. And how can theatres and cinemas open even if the distancing does go down to one metre? I miss lots of the things that Ann misses and also know just what Glenda means about imagining the pleasure of meeting friends in a restaurant and choosing off a menu and sigh.... wouldn’t that be loverly? And then I feel guilty that I am not more grateful for being healthy and having family nearby who are also well. But unlike Glenda I haven’t done anything I intended to do (like sorting out 18000+ photos on my laptop) although there have been unintended consequences such as a vegetable patch with courgettes flowering and beans and peas climbing. They have really enjoyed the cooler wetter weather even if I haven’t. There’s a definite loosening going on in terms of social contact down here. I think part of it is the schools opening up partially. Once the children are mixing all day I think people are thinking they are already socialising and relax a bit. I fear a spike in infection too. But other people are incredibly careful and we’ve just had all the summer ramblers’ activities cancelled, summer barbecue etc, even through August, with the suggestion we meet in small groups, which we are starting to do but if people without cars don’t want to take lifts, reasonably enough, then we have to walk from home and it’s very restricting. So I’m off now, on my own, to Berry Head to see the guillemot cliffs. I know I’m lucky I can go to places like that, but when this is over I feel like getting in my car and just going...
Janet, I don’t think somehow they’ll kill off lovely Montalbano on the television. But it does make me very wary of reading these latest books.... And I love the young Montalbano too... I’ve stopped feeding the birds too because the jackdaws and even rooks descend on mass and at this time with nesting birds and fledglings and plenty of food around, I think on balance it’s best to keep them away. We get rats too and what with them and keeping the pigeons off the vegetables it’s an endless battle. The only thing we don’t get round here is foxes, a change from Hertfordshire and London.
I absolutely don’t feel up to tackling the news this morning about the violent demonstrations in London yesterday. It’s just unbelievable. I hate thinking that there is this hopefully small group of right wing louts who are just bursting with all that pent up aggression.
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