Lovely to read Shona’s report yesterday and it was not the least bit boring, but full of anecdotes. I liked the idea of the virtual pub quiz and The Cards Against Humanity.
Great to see you all on ZOOM last night and to see people I have never met. It was a feel good evening for me because ZOOM came after a solitary walk on Saunton Beach. I sat on a rock up under the sand hills and gazed out over Lundy, standing high against the sunset. A magical moment that I was only able to share with the whooshing of the foreshore.
Tips from facebook : Jenny is cutting up her old gardening magazines to do decollage for Easter cards. Katie tells us that Gratton’s are selling meat boxes. I telephoned Reed’s in Braunton to put in an order and Russell informed me that they have never been so busy. It appears that coronavirus has reconnected shoppers with their local outlets. Alison Sterret at Slee’s is so rushed off her feet that you cannot order anything until next week. Check the Slee’s facebook page and you can view Alison talking you through making an apple crumble. Sharon has been posting videos on facebook; the ‘video’ always amuses me because for those of us of a certain age a video is a large tape that went into a VHS video recorder.
The National Archive is due to release the British army medal index cards 1914-1920 and The British Army Diaries 1914-1922 free of charge. Once it starts I plan on investigating the service of my father and grandfather.
My grandchildren are slowly accustomising themselves to a slower pace of life. Tobin has been out practising his putting and trying to teach his mother to play golf and Eleanor spends hours down in the orchard with the archery kit. There are tantrums when mobiles and gadgets are removed but the timetabling of their use is beginning to kick in. Bridget has never been fitter having signed up for a walking challenge with her brother and Dan spends time giving the camper van a pamper.
A challenge for you all!! How about all of usl trying to write a Haiku poem (ask your children they all seem to know what they are). It is a traditional form of Japanese poetry perfected by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) and here is one of his most famous.
An old silent pond. . .
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! silence again.
The format is three lines of poetry with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in the final one. A bit like Japanese bonsai but poetry instead. My offering to start the ball rolling is below:
The silence of fear.
Contagion, pray, mend then clear.
Beauty in silence.
From my beloved Times. “Morale means fun, jokes, even dark humour, trivia, games and shared joys. Broadcasters should be devising ingenious ways to get celebrities singing on Zoom, contests or quizzes between locked-down families. Re-form Ensa. We need to laugh.” I like to feel that we are achieving that in our Observation Diaries.
Sarah
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