Roadmap outlined, so life is starting to return to normal. Or is it?

 

A light at the end of the tunnel, Faint, flickering but gradually getting stronger – following the Prime Minister’s announcement at the start of this week, there is a definite light at the end of what has been a long and dark tunnel

So the PM has leaked the new roadmap to unlocking COVID, with children returning to School from the 8th March. And our golfing friends will have a smile on their faces this morning as they will be able to return to the green on the 29th.

For us in Scotland, we have to wait a little longer before we receive our timetable from Nicola Sturgeon. 

Meanwhile the weather seems to continue to beat us into submission. The snow has nearly gone, replaced with winds and rain.

Climate change normally associated with roasting heat, could be causing the freezing temperatures across the southern US states that has left millions without electricity, many dead and the need to boil drinking water. Scientists say there is evidence that the rapid heating of the Arctic can help push cold air from the north pole much further south. 

Doom and gloom. 

Nevertheless l have faith in the youth of today to bring us back in line, or at least find a way to evacuate our earth and colonise Mars or another sustainable planet. After all, we have the expedition gene inbuilt into our DNA. Men like Captain James T Kirk, played by William Shatner. “To go on where no man has gone before” in Star Trek.

This week we watched as an unmanned rover landed successfully on Mars. NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance was seen landing on the surface on Mars and the first photos were seen on screens around the world. What a remarkable achievement.

Poison dwarf sets out our road map today Tuesday 23rd February 

As per usual the poison dwarf has made her tweaks to show that she is different to England. But Nicola Sturgeon as other things to worry about as she faces a grilling over the Alex Salmon case. Two witnesses BACK Alex Salmond's version of events and say meeting she 'forgot' WAS about sex claims - so she has to start wriggling to get out of this.

Have continued to sell off various items that have been excess to requirements. One such item was the flame burner that l purchased a couple of years ago to initially burn the larch cladding. Giving it the black charred look that waterproofs and protects. A treatment developed in Japan called shou - Sugi - ban. 

In fact it proved more of a hazard than an asset. It’s a beast of a machine and the first attempt nearly burnt the house down. Opening the tap before it had completely warmed up produced 12 feet of roaring flames, igniting the insulation in store. Raced around like a chicken with two heads, trying to pat down the flames engulfing the ground floor. Visions of a new house turned to ashes rushing through my panicked brain.

The completed house is testament to my firefighting skills. The cladding was protected by stain instead of flame, and the burner ended up in storage.

Yesterday it was photographed ready for uploading onto the local google selling site. Yet being me, l couldn’t just sell it without trying it out once more. This time on open waste ground, in the pouring rain, away from all combustible materials. 

It worked fantastically well, so it’s staying on weed duties. The trick is to let the coils really heat up. It roars when it’s ready, then it’s the gas that ignites, not a 12 foot stream of paraffin. Although fire blankets and water hoses will be close at hand.

Continue to spend time refurbishing old bits of furniture with the help of Annie Sloans chalk paint and wax. The pink brightens up an old piece of French furniture. Now considering if l should do a contrasting stencilled rose on the side.

 

Dunoon is heading towards rekindling it’s soft drinks heritage. Bringing more enterprise into a very deprived commercial area. It’s wanting to start the worlds first sustainable soft drink business.

From the late 1800s right through to the 1970s, the town was a leader in this market, but due to the rise of the supermarkets and plastic bottles it died a death.

 A new creative partnership secured funding to launch a soft drink brand called Dunoon Goes Pop, supported by the Place Makers: Micro-cluster Networks Fund ( catchy name) run by Culture Heritage and Arts Argyll and Isles (Charts), in partnership with the Innovation School at The Glasgow School of Art. Let’s hope it comes to fruition. Dunoon died when all 4000 Americans returned home when the collaboration at the nuclear submarine base ended.

The benefits of a wobble board. Judith first used one whilst recuperating from her smashed ankle. But as we get older we still use it to help and assist our balance. As you would expect, l made one for Judith, but you can buy them, and they are a great addition to your keep fit and healthy routine. 

I have taken photos and added measurements for any of our friends who feel the urge to make their own.

25% more duty on alcohol raised by the treasury as more alcohol is consumed over lockdown. So pleased l am supporting the countries effort to reduce the national debt. Unfortunately, the whole country will need to become seasoned alcoholics before we could even scratch the surface of the deficit. 

Long term side effects such as cirrhosis of the liver could also have a negative cost implication.

During the second, or is it third lockdown , day, weeks and months all roll into one. A blur of endless routines, punctuated by the weather. And this winter has been the coldest most disruptive in a decade. With our part of the world suffering some of the most extreme conditions since the big freeze back in the year dot. Well perhaps not as bad as the last ice age. But that was due to a very large meteorite hitting earth and causing so much dust that it obliterated the sun. Now it’s just the effect of overpopulation and the ineptitude of the human race to control global warming. 

So life goes on, and the Saturday routine kicks in around 7.30, when l quickly don my Michael Kors joggers and race into the kitchen to make tea. Quickly returning back under the covers to watch Click and the morning news. 20 minutes later, it’s Judith’s turn to escape the duvet, returning with my daily allowance of Tesco’s finest organic porridge, laced with honey and topped with two heaped spoons of Greek Yoghurt. In my defence it is 0% fat free. Along with a glorious aromatic coffee. The first and best of the day.

9am and it’s out of bed and Tai Chi. A warmup routine taught to us by Elizabeth on the QM2, followed by a set routine. Finishing of with an immune boosting Qigong routine, led by master Liu Hee on YouTube. Gets the lungs working and ensures my body stays relatively supple. 

10am and it’s down to the village shop for an armful of weekend news and a visit to the bottle bank with my rattling rucksack full of evidence of overindulgence during the past week. On our return it’s toast loaded with butter and lemon curd and a deep, dark aromatic coffee, whilst reading the TV and Horoscope section in the papers. The latter to determine my mood for the week and the former to see if there is anything mind bogglingly good on the tv to alleviate the tedium of lockdown.

11am l spend time pottering around in my office or in the workshop listening to music and whiling away the time before heading up for lunch at Midday. Two hard boiled eggs, bag of quavers and an apple. Creature of habit. 

1pm, waterproofs back on, and l head up into the hills. In fact the cloud is so low, within a very short amount of time l am cocooned in a eerie bubble of mist and tranquility. The only sounds being my squelching boots as l trample through the mud and the occasional thumpity thump of the unseen Isle of Bute ferry traversing the Firth of Clyde between Wemyss Bay on the mainland and Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. That is until l reach a wetland area and the incessant croaking of hundreds if not thousands of unseen mating frogs. I know they are frogs due to the amount of frogspawn floating in all the shallow ponds and gullies.  After three hours of walking, getting slightly lost on a new path and coming face to face with a young buck, l head home. 

4pm Give up on the rugby at the halfway point, totally disillusioned by the quality of England’s performance and bury my grumpiness into the newspapers. 

5.30pm tea of battered cod, gourmet chips and mushy peas. Judith knows how to enlighten my spirit, washed down with half a bottle of Argentinian Malbec, smooth and fruity.  

7pm we curl up in front of the log fire and TV. Recently we have been watching a lot of Scandinavia Noir crime dramas. Saturday we started a new German detective story. Nordic Murders, which is thrilling.

10.30 it’s back into bed to read. Although occasionally l will jump between the various social media channels, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. Talk about being waylaid, shooting off at tangents and getting bogged down in verbal diarrhoea. But that’s social media for you. And so to sleep!

Low cloud as l head into the hills

Due to the regional Larch disease, forests are being cut and cleared. Replaced by fir trees.

Masses of frog spawn

You need to look closely. There is a young buck with fur still on hid new antlers in the centre of the photo.

March 1st, and officially it’s the start of meteorological and climatological spring. For once the weather is matching the prediction.

It’s cool, but the sun is trying to burn off the sea mist. 

The sun has also encouraged Judith to have a re jig of the art around the house. So pieces have been brought out of the loft and others have been moved into the new garden room.

A new broom sweeps clean.

Ending up with a few funnies, courtesy of a friend out in France who keeps emailing them out to me.