A few folks have asked what’s happening as I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog. So sorry, I can’t honestly say that I have too much to report, though I have been meaning to sit down and at least write something for the last ten days. I feel a bit like a broken record: stay-at-home order continues (though very slight opening set for mid-April) and we continue the apartment search, which takes a surprising amount of time. Sometimes it feels like one big blur, but I’ll try to pick out some short bits and bobs of color from recent weeks.
UK Happenings
The story of Sarah Everard, a young woman who was abducted and murdered while walking home from a friend’s house in London, has brought up a lot of renewed anger and concern about violence against women. The gates of a park near me have been turned into a vigil site for Sarah and so many other women, including those in Atlanta.
The UK continues to move forward with vaccines on a fast pace with over 29 million of its 66+ million population (43%) having gotten their first jabs so far. Their plan is to get as many people their first vaccines as possible and thus folks don’t get their second jab until 12 weeks after the first.
With England (and probably soon Scotland) putting into place a GBP5,000 (US$6,850) fine for anyone trying to travel abroad without good reason, I’m desperately hoping for my first jab and the removal of this penalty in time for my nephew’s wedding in late July. Fingers and toes crossed.
Apartment Hunting
We’ve now seen about 30 places, been outbid on a few and priced out of many. It’s crazy as with a relatively few number of properties on the market, the ones that do appear sell quickly for outrageous prices. We were very serious about a very interesting, well-located and uncharacteristically spacious place just in the last day. We left our second visit yesterday thinking we’d make an offer. I just was doing some final web research last night and found some unsavory stuff about the immediate area that probably explained why it hadn’t yet been snapped up. So, back to the search unfortunately.
It looks like someone dropped a massive vat of Pepto down the steps.
Food
Given the few external amusements, we are cooking a fair bit. I’ve been trying to follow the Mediterranean diet – mostly, however we thought we’d have a go at a popular Scottish soup recently called Cullen Skink. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s delish. We had an amazing bowl of it in small fishing town when I visited D. in November 2019 and just gave a try to making it at home last week. It’s kind of like a New England Clam Chowder, though with smoked haddock. Good for cold, windy March days.
Searching for Beauty in the Everyday
I still enjoy my walks as a way to break the “sameness” of everyday. One nearby square has a profusion of daffodils around its perimeter and I tell D. that I’m going out for “Daffodil Watch”. The brightness of the flowers somehow is contagious.
And we were greeted on some early evening walks with these light shows.
Hope that you’re finding light and beauty in your days – warm wishes to you all!
Dear Suzanne. Always good to hear from you.