Monday, 12th October (Day 198) saw the start of what is now a routine week, with lots of bright sunshine encouraging photography in nice autumnal countryside, trounced frequently by uninviting drenching showers “turbo-charged from leadened skies”. Actually, it’s quite good weather for a decent railtour!
From what I gather, the pandemic has returned (as I knew it would) every bit as bad as when I had returned from South America, although the death toll, albeit disastrous, is not yet as catastrophic as it was last spring. I just knew that the lifting of many restrictions in the run-up to summer would create the serious situation we have now. I don’t need to comment further, just Google any reports from which to gain your own opinion.
Right now, I am at Hordern’s Motor House in Chapel-en-le-Frith. Two things are happening here; my ultra low mileage Peugeot 508SW is being MOT’d, and monsieur Coley is encouraging me to replace said car, now seven years old with still less than 22,000 miles on the clock.
It seems that most new style Peugeot 508s are automatic rather than manual transmission – one reason not to be tempted. There is, however, a rather nice 4WD Suzuki 5SZ in the socially taped-off showroom, with opening glass sun roof, seemingly top of the range, and slightly higher up than my rather low-to-the-ground present vehicle. The trouble is that I drive far less than I used to. And I still like my car. But, at seven years old, it would not be the stupidest thing to change it. We’ll see!
I am back home now, my vehicle having glided through its M.O.T. presumably with flying colours. It’s not a bad afternoon although the threat of rain from nearby grey clouds is ever-present. I might just take a routine walk around the estate to see how the new houses are coming along.
Yesterday, the man from Sky Television kept his appointment to upgrade my equipment to accommodate “Sky Q” a development of “Sky Plus” whereby e.g. a programme can be paused to e.g. go to the loo, or answer the door. Sky Q allows me to watch YouTube on my existing 42″ telly rather than just on my mobile phone, and at a further £4/ month, access Netflix, as well as do all sorts of other stuff. I have to pay tribute to the Sky Engineer who was able to get his head around the jumble of wires behind my set-up, which the late Bernard Hulley had installed in 2009! However, he had to take much more than his allotted (I think) 80 minutes to complete the installation with not even a hint of irritation.
Don’t tell me I need a new telly as well as a new car – I need a new brain to keep up with it all! Now, I can command my T.V. remote to tune to whatever channel I instruct it to; this is incredible, but probably these days, not unusual. There is much to get my head around, although most things are reasonably straightforward. However, I’m sure I will be in touch with Customer Services a couple of times with “simple” issues. But, so far, so good.
Last summer, I became acquainted with the miracle of YouTube whereby at my command, I can watch any subject, or listen to any music of my choice whenever I so desire. And those expensive headphones I bought at the Airport outside Singapore started to earn their keep. Tonight, I am exploring all this technology on my T.V. and having great fun navigating the infinite choice of music, documentaries and movies etc.
So, today is the 200th day since arriving back from my travels at the end of March, my first day of lock-down. It seems longer than that. I have attempted to keep a brief but frequent log of these weird times. This time last year, I never imagined that I would be joining my neighbours in a Thursday night round of applause for NHS and Key Workers. For a few, me included, there have been positive things which might not otherwise have occurred. I, with my neighbour and other friends, have got to explore large swathes of the surrounding countryside, hills, forests, redeveloped former railway lines, some of which I had travelled over in various “previous lives”. Sure, some of this might have happened anyway. And, at long last, The Crescent came back to life, probably in a better state than at any time during its entire existence.
The neighbours at the end of our lane are planning to organise special socially distanced events, particularly for their children, to celebrate events such as Hallowe’en, Bonfire Night, Advent and Christmas. We are all encouraged to “join in” which I welcome. This is a fascinating episode of the history of the Lane where I have lived since August 1975. We had a few fun times then, particularly for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and one or two events since. I look forward to the firework display next month!
Now to read that car brochure – the seed has been well and truly planted!
Thanks for reading, David, 20.03 hrs.
David's Cruise 