My photo shows the River Thames as it flows past St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. I have no photos of Buckingham Palace, or Windsor although I know both places quite well. This afternoon I had the chance to watch the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, the British Queen’s husband. It’s strange, but I was never a keen fan of the British royal family. They lived in their palace on one side of town and I lived in my back street on the other side. I heard the sounds of the TV from the living room at the beginning of the afternoon. We do not usually watch TV until early evening, but Mr. Swiss had switched it on to watch the funeral. I was in the kitchen with my computer and so I also decided to also watch. It seems that as I am getting older I am getting more sentimental and we both watched until the end. Actually I quite liked the Duke. He brought a little spirit into the Royal Family. Another icon is gone from my past, there are not many left. The Queen is now 95 and I felt a little sorry for her as she took some falteing steps on her own. 73 years with the same husband is an achievement. I am sure they agreed to disagree sometimes.
This is how it looks on my side of the world at the moment, sunny a few wafting clouds, but quite cold. Today is a little more settled. Yesterday I was completely thrown out of balance. When I got my confirmation yesterday morning of my week-end shopping on-line list there was an important item missing, meat. I contacted them but can only do that by computer and have to wait for an answer which I did not get. Eventually they called me by telephone (quite an honour) apologising and offering me a very good alternative. This all took time and threw me a little off balance. I am just too old for changes in my daily routine, especially as I am getting less mobile than I was.
This week I did not go anywhere, actually the last two weeks. I was so comfortable at home, but now I have decided to break out tomorrow on Sunday and will probably make a small tour locally of the surroundings including the castle. Taking photos of my feathered friends is OK, but sometimes my camera needs something different. I also intend to go into town on Monday. I have to collect cash to pay my cleaning lady, she does not operate with money transfers and Mr. Swiss needs his cigarettes.
I had quite some entertainment from my blue tit neignbours yesterday, even with a flight demonstration. This one seemed to be floating on air flying from one side to the other and not even using his wings. I think if it were not for the birds life would be quite dull.
Otherwise they were busy eating the food remains that I still have outside. I thought I would have to tidy the garden after the birds were finished, but they are doing it all theirselves. I bought my filled coconut shell during Winter, but they mostly ignored it. Now it is the No. 1 on their hit parade and fights often happen to be the first served.
Yesterday there was nothing really special happening. I do not even see my neighbours very often unless they happen to be tidying their garden outside. Even the TV does not interest me so much at the moment, and I only like to watch films if their subject appeals to me. I am a fan of magical mystery like Harry Potter and the Transformers, the machines that have quite human features. At the moment I have my nose more stuck into books, and am now on the third and currently last book of the Vivian Shaw series of Dr. Greta Helsing novels who is a doctor for supernatural beings such as vampires, mummies and ghouls – yes even they have their medical problems. Imagine being a mummy and losing a finger bone. Of course Greta Helsing is the daughter of the Dr. Van Helsing who was involved in the Dracula story. I know I have a strange taste, but I see enough reality in the present world and like to escape now and again.
And now it is time to move on. I do not have such a cookery session this morning as I have boiled beef and vegetables which simmers nicely on its own for a few hours, filling the kitchen with enticing aromas. I also intend to bake a bread in between. A woman’s work is never done. So I hope I have kept you entertained for a while and now I will entertain myself keeping myself busy. Take care everyone, play safe, keep your distance and the newest discovery of the Brits is to open the windows – let the hairy pins out to die and disperse. Perhaps we will one day be rid of this scourge.
Surprises everywhere at the moment, my rosemary has decided to show some flowers. It began last year after about 4 years sitting in my herb bed and now it seems that there will be flowers annually. What a lovely surprise.
The last time I registered for anything was my Covid jab, the vaccination that we were all waiting for. You have to be registered here, otherwise no registration, no vaccination. It was not so easy, as officially I was a year too young (at 74?) for a jab, but after a short call to my neurologist within a few minutes I hadthe necessary document to qualify. I registered with the authorities and then the waiting began. They did not have enough vaccinations available. In the meanwhile my Mr. Swiss, who is eight years older than I, also registered. Eventually I got a date for a jab, and so did he and his was a few days earlier than mine. I then realised that it was fashion to now be on the list, everyone was talking about it. If you were old and had no date you felt left out, ignored, not wanted. It was really depressing.
When I arrived at the vaccination center it all looked very official and, of course, you had to have your mask. Otherwise you did not belong. The desk above is the exit desk. After the jabs were done you had to wait 15 minutes before leaving and then you could only go if you told the guys you were leaving. They then struck your name from the list – until the next time for the second jab.
I now have it all behind me, Mr. Swiss as well, until the next time. Today I heard that the Brits are considering a third jab to be sure. I think we will be jabbing for the next ten years.
A sunny morning outside. I am a little short of time this morning so will keep this one very short. I am just letting you know that I am here, so no worries. I will have to go on a shopping trip after lunch to pick up a few things that my online deliveries are not able to bring. Sometimes things do not work as they should unfortunately.
I love this perrenial plant. I remember my sister-in-law gave it to me and said they like to spread, and they certainly did in my garden, but are no problem. I have had them for at least ten years and they return every year. Their roots survive the frost througout the winter. It is a wonderful splash of blue in the garden.
It is a sunny day today it seems. I was almost blinded by the light when I opend the blinds after hugging the bed. I left my comfortable bed this morning just a little earlier as it is again time to change the bed linen. How I dislike that job. the first work is to strip the covers from the duvet and cushion, but just my bed. Mr. Swiss is still relaxing and I can do his later. He no longer has the strength to manage it all. I have now moved onto the kitchen for breakfast and will do the rest later. I needed a cup of tea and my breakfast before proceding any further with physical work. I no longer feed the birds in the morning. There are stil a few things hanging around and they must now fend for themselves, although they seem to be doing quite well. It is time to bring up the kids anyhow I wonder if the crows and magpies are busy cracking open the walnuts and peanuts for their babies.
I had been meaning to show this photo for some time, but lost it somewhere in my photo storage. Yesterday I found it. It was taken on 1st April and so I almost thought it was an April joke when this blue tit arrived at my kitchen window. I heard the noise and there he was: so close I never get to my birds, although I used a little zoom on this to get the feathery details. I was pleasantly surprised to see him hanging on the window frame.
There was quite a flutter outside yesterday when two of the sparrows decided to do a ballet act outside.
There was quite a lot of action outside yesterday and the sparrows were fighting for a good place on the wall having quite loud conversations.
Otherwise I was baking bread again. I was going to defrost a bread, but realised I did not really have a lot for the daily need so decided to bake a loaf. I have plenty of various flour types so decided on a brown bread. I also have enough yeast which I really want to use. I was a bit late on baking yesterday, so it was a stiil slightly warm bread when we had it at the evening cold cut meal. What could be better. Today it will be a bread from the freezer. On Friday I never really bake a bread, and on Saturday we will be having a chilli con carne for the evening meal. We like to eat bread with it, especially if it is freshly baked which it will be.
I heard this morning that Denmark has completely stopped the rollout of the British Astrazeneca Vaccine for Covid. I have been observing the situation and it seems to me that the Brits are really having a problem with their vaccinations. At the beginning it was bright enthusiasm for their vaccine and the idea was, after a few blunders, to get the complete british population vaccinated. They then discovered that they did not have anough at their disposal for the two vaccinations on a four week basis, and so it was altered to twelve weeks. Now it has been discovered that blood clots can be caused by this vaccine, although a rare (but dangerous) occurrence. The new British idea is now to mix the Astrazeneca vaccine with the others as they do not seem to have enough. I am not sure if this is a good idea and it seems the Brits are also not so convinced and are now making tests to see how it would work. Sorry Mr. Johnson and your team, but this all seems to me to be a little handcraft under the motto “let’s see if it will work”.
All countries are a little overcome with managing the problems of the pandemic. I have been very lucky that I have my vaccinations behind me. In Switzerland it is handled on a Kantonal basis and some Kantons are jabbing quicker than others. Our Kanton has made progress with us golden oldies. My son’s Kanton even more so, and he is now on the list for his jab at the end of the month. Our younger generations are still waiting. Reflecting on it all I am glad that I did not have the Astrazeneca vaccine.
And now to continue to the current day. I still have the bed assembly to complete and a lunch to cook, but I am not planning on going anywhere today. I have now rediscovered my reading again and no longer watch so much TV, although they had a Harry Potter season of all the films since Easter and I watched them all (twice actually). I am now determined to read the books again, although the last two I had never read. I am now reading the last of the Genevieve Cogman Books concerning the Invisible Library, another one of those fantasy subjects, but I like to read them and have read all of them up to now. It is a mystery world where the library ensures that they get the books they want, although mainly through devious means. It is a mixture of Human, Dragon and so-called Fae influences.
And now I will move on with the daily chores Have a good day everyone.
I have an insect hotel in the garden, actually two. Sometimes the rooms are occupied and I do not even know by who. They do not ask if there is a room free, that just move in. In this case it seems the fire bugs were on the search for comfortable living quarters. There were still some rooms free, but it seems this must have been the penthouse suite as they were all aiming for it.
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