Lockdown from Bridport - Part 3 - Day 81

It may not seem like much. but I was overjoyed to see the first bud unfurling on one of my fruit trees this morning. It signifies that spring has finally arrived. It spells hope, it heralds warm days ahead, it signals that the long dark days of winter will soon be a distant memory. Halleluiah! Lets be frank, winter is not my season, and the sooner the back of the winter of 2021 is well and truly behind us the better we shall all begin to feel. This is what we are all hoping and praying for, is it not?

Horrid cold rain this morning which kept me snug and warm indoors. A bowl of porridge for breakfast (with honey) set me up nicely. I phone a cousin and we manage to chatter about doing nothing for at least 30 minutes. This mystifies 'The Undertaker', 'what do you find to talk about'? he says. 'It's the mystery of women' I reply, and indeed I sometimes wonder if we are an alien species from another planet... 

Well, Wales is open for staycations from today, but only to the Welsh it seems, is it any wonder we are all so confused? I guess it's in case any of us from over the border bring with us the 'English variant'. Is anyone else finding this term offensive? Why can't we all just refer to it as the 'Chinese disease' and be done with it, whether it varies or not? Why all this pussyfooting around with the truth?

To the shop then for more ironing and labelling. Halfway through, having being bombarded with enough steam to kid myself I've had an expensive facial treatment, I phone an old acquaintance in Berlin. I want to know how it is over there, but apart from being able to shop (by appointment only) in non essential shops it seems to be very much similar to over here. Although over in Paris, by all accounts, you can stand outside and drink at the bars, provided that you keep a sharp eye out for the gendarmes. We laugh and laugh about our escapades in a previous life. In so many ways it is good to catch up with friends of old and remind ourselves that there was a time when you could do anything anywhere...

Bored, I change my outfit as my eyes alight on an unusual designer shirt. Discarding my predictable and sensible tweed jacket I whip a soft leather number off one of the hangers too. Immediately I feel uplifted and can only hope that when I do re-open people will feel the urge to change their attire. I love clothes, you can't beat the pleasure to be had by running an iron over the finest of French silk. Some items are an art form in themselves. Mulling over our shared escapades my friend and I can't help but wish we had found a way to combine our passions into businesses a whole lot sooner in our lives. 'We've lived at least' we conclude and hoot with more laughter.

It's the weekend, I have no responsibility to anyone but myself, I have no business to run, no deadlines to meet, no pressing engagements to fulfil. How absolutely marvellous.