Thursday 8th May
Funny the things that you unexpectedly miss. On a fine late spring morning I realise that I miss cycling to work. I might not miss it so much if I wasn’t the proud owner of an electric bike.
Chantal has the challenge of her first shower with a diagnosed broken ankle, opting to remove the orthopaedic boot and sit on a large plastic chair, kindly lent to us, which is placed on a towel in the in our (thankfully large) bath. I assist in placing the towel and chair in the bath, but despite offering to do so, I am not allowed to assist further.
At lunchtime I organise a Zoom get together with work colleagues, sending a link to personal e-mail addresses since corporate IT do not approve of Zoom. It was nice to catch up over a beer or cup of tea as preferred, noting the untidy hair styles, with banter much as in the office. We agreed that we will not be meeting in the office again anytime soon. I am “on call” following the Zoom get together, a quiet shift with a just a handful of new complaints, and few calls. I receive two letters from an irate resident, who had received a letter from me about her alleged loud music. She is grumpy because she first wrote over three weeks ago, got no reply, and wrote again two weeks ago. Since post is sorted, opened, scanned, e-mailed to the Team, and then forwarded to the recipient, there is a lot of potential for delays, and I receive both letters today. With no contact number or e-mail address, I write a reply, which is e-mailed to a colleague, who will print it, and take it to the post room on Tuesday. It will be another week before my letter is delivered. Arrangements are being made for central printing and posting, which will help.
Tonight’s clapping (and other noises) on the Lane turns distinctly social. Friend and neighbour Richard has
retrieved a saxophone from the loft, and, despite never having played sax before, spent a while learning the tune to ”Over The Rainbow” (well, the first couple of lines) which has become the theme song during lock-down, a song of hope. After the clapping/pan-banging/saxophone Richard was happy to perform an encore, walking along the Lane to applause. Thanks to this and discussion about arrangements for VE Day celebrations tomorrow, we and our neighbours chat in a socially distanced manner into the dusk.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
