Day 274

Saturday 19 December

Big news day today. It seems that every other day is at the moment. A press conference from Downing Street this afternoon, whilst we were at the football, announced that Christmas was pretty much cancelled.

The day began calmly enough. An easy start and then off to the fairly recently established vineyard, just in the village. They were having a local producers market, silly prices for nice things. I hate feeling ripped off, especially when you pay extra just because they wrap whateve it is in brown paper with some string ties round it. But it was a pleasent distraction and it supports local producers in tricky times. My perception of ‘making ends meet’ though is different to this. They may be trying to earn a living, but their definition of ‘living’ may be way off what the parents of most of the kids we teach is.

Then home and out with the dog for our local walk. Just me and Lisa and Mabel. As we stepped out onto the lane, we were faced by a really vibrant rainbow over the field opposite. It stayed there for no more than a minute, just long enough to take a photo and take it in.

It made me grateful. A minute or two earlier and we would have been walking with our back to it and probably not seen it. A minute or two later and it would already have been and gone. We stepped out just at the right time, and it made us smile.

Then carrying on with our walk, the route we did day-after-day in the summer, we walked headlong into the sunshine. Closing my eyes and having the brightness, warm my eyelids with translucent light. It was a reminder of what good sunshine does to my spirits, again stirring memories from the summer and the anticipation of spring.

Then, off to see Colchester United v Morecambe. Where we sit in our ‘bubble’ of four, with the other three in our normal group in another part of the stand. I really miss the way we used to watch footy.

Whilst there we hear the news that pretty much all of the south east of the UK has moved into Tier 3 and, the new, Tier 4. Including London and most of Essex. Somehow we stay in Tier 2 and football continues as do our walks. But Christmas, as limited as it was going to be, is even more restricted after today.