Nellie Knows : 16 April 2020

With the lack of routine and a few Bank Holidays thrown into the equation is it any wonder we don’t know where we are and are constantly wondering if it’s Marble Arch or Tuesday?

However I have now got a new routine and it is working well. I’m a naturally early riser and so am up and out with the dogs before 630am, crossing the road like an undecided pavement dodger so much that my Strava journeys look like I am sewing zig zag and walking not unlike Julie Walters in Acorn Antiques in an effort to dodge anyone coming out of their house or daring to walk down the road doing exactly the same.

When all this is over, a phrase I dislike but nothing screams in such exasperated tones as 'when all this is over' but I digress, I wonder how we will be when it comes to it? I have spoken to lots of people and they have got bucket lists and plans which is all very organised, I don’t have a list because quite simply what I am most looking forward to doing is staying inside until everyone has got 'being back to normal' and 'back in the thick of it' out of their system. That’s possibly the weirdest thing I have ever written but it is indeed true. Who knows when 'it' will be but as the time passes between then, now and whenever I have come to realise that whilst I could never be a full on sloth I have settled into this newness quite well.

Telly and reading have been a great distraction and I am now scratching around for things to watch. Liar S2 was disappointing, The Stranger was painful, Penance was ridiculous. I hugely enjoyed The Nest, Flesh & Blood, Gold Digger, The Trouble with Maggie Cole, Bang, London Kills and I will readily admit I devoured Tiger King in 2 sittings and loved it. I have listened to Clover Stroud’s My Wild and Sleepless Nights on Audible and loved it, Clover writes so beautifully and her descriptions are so vivid you can imagine you are a bystander and can see everything that is happening (I can also recommend The Wild Other). Matthew Hall, the creator of Keeping Faith, has written a crowdfunder short story 'Faith and the Midsummer Madness Keeping' a story set 5 years before the start of the TV series Keeping Faith - naturally I devoured it. He has also written The Black Art of Killing which I am starting as soon as I have finished Katie Fforde’s Highland Fling.

This is a very strange time and the way in which people have coped and adapted is quite brilliant. In an effort to keep in touch with people and not just drop a text, a number of us have been writing letters and sending hard to find provisions like yeast and seeds. I was sent some Sweet Peas from Wargrave that are also going to take up residence in Wokingham and Calne, meanwhile I have Terry Walton on speed dial and have some seeds for him. This is the kind of community I like and it involves no shopping, so it’s a win win.

I don’t wish to go entirely back to the 70s and The Good Life, but right now it’s how it seems to be and as much as I miss my travels I am safe, well and at home.