13.12 hrs 6, The Square, Buxton.
Who would have thought, this time last year, that today, it would be mandatory to wear face masks in public buildings, groups of more than six would be against the law, and that generally, pandemonium, panic, and pandemic would plague the planet…how’s that for alliteration! Life has become suddenly strange, it feels sudden, but in fact, ominous signs were quite apparent at the end of January. At the beginning of this year, I was expecting, right now to be completing an air/sea/rail circumnavigation of the World.
(Back home 16.46 hrs)
This, obviously couldn’t take place, now, or, as has been decided by Cunard, next year. I have transferred all deposits to a voyage to Australia in 2022. If this actually does come to pass, I shall be celebrating my 73rd birthday on the other side of the world. We shall see.
I have joined the millions of people who have signed up to the NHS Track and Trace scheme, which sounds impressive. But it can only really be effective if almost everybody eligible signs up.
I needed to go to Higher Buxton today. It still felt cool when I drove in at lunch time. After parking at the railway station, I then treated my self to a fairly light meal at “6 The Square”, a traditional tea house. Although doors and windows were open to reduce the risk of coronavirus, it did not feel too cold. After a combination deal of soup, coronation chicken sandwiches and mixed salad, with two pots of tea, I felt energetic and chose to walk around the Pavilion Gardens and enjoy the onset of autumn colours, taking photographs at every suitable opportunity, as shown earlier in this blog. It made an attractive change from my usual treks along one-time railway lines. Annoyingly, despite having had something to eat, I still started to feel slightly unsteady and wondered if again, I would have to get home as quickly as possible. I am fine now (17.53hrs). Its a nice evening and I shall set off again to achieve my modest target.
I never thought I would see the day, but at long last, after a litany of setbacks, The Crescent Hotel is set to open at 15.00hrs on Thursday 1st October. My room for that inaugural night is secured, and this will be the first time I will have set foot there since acting as D.J. in the final days of what was the St. Anne’s Hotel in the late 1980s. The interior pictures I have seen so far are hugely impressive, and I look forward to the time when the covid-19 crisis is no more, and this magnificent project can come into its own. Needless to say, I shall see as much of the hotel as I can on Thursday and Friday morning, hopefully, posting some early historic images.
It turned into a very nice day this afternoon and was warm enough to drive home with the roof down.
Thanks for reading, David 18.53. at home.
David's Cruise 