Page 123 - Through a glass brightly

From Jenny at 17.34
Reading recently the emails from Ann, Janet and Glenda I have the sense that we are all getting slightly fed up with the status quo, particularly those of us who live alone. Lockdown was all very well in the beginning and we were all prepared to make all sorts of sacrifices but umpteen weeks on, it is beginning to pall. I have always been a pretty positive and optimistic person and never really given much thought to 'mental health problems' (they were things that other people
had) so I was concerned recently to find myself, on occasions, close to tears just thinking about what I couldn't do and who I couldn't see.
The e-mails and the Zooms have obviously been a great help - what would we have done in the 50s or 60s in a situation like this? While the sun shone and one could have the occasional visitor at a social distance in the garden it was just about bearable but with the inclement weather of late that became a problem and one began to wonder what on earth we were going to do when it gets to October and November. Ho hum!
Well in my case, our esteemed Government (whom I must admit don't seem to know from one day to the next what on earth they are doing) has provided me with a way to improve things somewhat with the creation of a 'Support Bubble'. My daughter in Yorkshire is not an option, nor is my daughter in
Hitchin with a husband undergoing cancer treatment who must be shielded, but my hitherto 'part-time partner' Peter was only too keen to become my 'bubble buddy' in the absence of invitations from any of his family! After some long conversations about 'house rules' we shall, from next weekend resume our regime of weekend visits in my house - with of course a lot of handwashing and other procedures! To facilitate catering for this my daughter Kate has managed to get me a 'Click and Collect' slot at Sainsbury so I can deal with an extra mouth to feed and do not have to rely on other people to do shopping for me and A N Other. Daughter Gail is trying to reactivate my Ocado account (which I only ever used at Christmas) to make shopping even easier - what bliss! Suddenly life seems just a little less gloomy.
Perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel - fingers crossed.🤞 Keep safe and well everyone
From Val M. at 17.56
I’ve seen those phone boxes turned into book exchanges - such a clever use of them. Yes, I think one of those nearby would be fatal. What I have found fatal is having a kindle. Bought initially to accommodate heavy oversized books such as Wolf Hall and the wonderful Robert Harris books without breaking my book rest (the sort that look like deck chairs.) Every time someone recommends something I end up downloading it to my kindle - if it was another book taking up shelf space it would seem more tangible as an object - well it would be - and I would think twice before buying it. So now I have a huge backlog of books on my kindle, most of which I have no idea why they are there, and no hope of ever reading them all. And of course did I download the one you mentioned set on Lindisfarne? Yes of course I did as Glenda and I are still hoping to walk to Lindisfarne in September so it will be a great read for that trip. My reading during lockdown has just taken a nosedive. When it started I had just begun to read the Mirror and the Light, but somehow I couldn’t cope with it or only in small bites. Largely
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