Jottings - 8th November weather

As of Thursday we're now back into a second lockdown, but with care and planning it doesn't really affect me on a day to day basis. I had one last chat with my elderly neighbour in her garden, I've got the click and collect shopping sorted - though I still tend to accidentally buy too much - and I can still go out walking. I prefer walking at places where visitor numbers are limited by timed entry, National Trust parkland, and Chatsworth's huge garden have become my favourite places to go this year. After a slight panic-booking of a trip to Chatsworth it turned out that gardens and parks will be allowed to stay open for exercise (but not presumably for anything frivolous), so I needn't have rushed. 

I've realised these jottings seem to be acquiring a personality of their own; this week has to be about the weather. From glorious sunshine, to rain, fog and frost, with an added rainbow or two, we've had quite a range of it. 

Monday morning started with a rainbow, which seems like a good omen, and it seems to have been a good week. After an early supermarket dash, Monday was a quiet day spent at home, with a little pottering in the garden, though there's not much that needs to be done right now.

Our visit to Calke on Tuesday started in rain, but that cleared away to sunshine, with another rainbow.

On Wednesday at Chatsworth the sun shone constantly, and the garden there is perfectly situated for late afternoon sun. I'm trying to build up the distance I can comfortably walk, and this week proved that I still have some way to go. Two days out left me exhausted with aching muscles, so I need to find ways of finding more time to walk near home.

Clear evening skies mean dipping temperatures and sparkling frost next morning - the first of this autumn. 

By weekend the weather was beginning to warm up slightly with early fog, but this blackbird came along to cheer me up.

There's less fresh produce from the allotment now (though still plenty stored in various ways) but I still found enough for a salad of cabbage, red onion, apple, and chioggia beetroot. Much is said about the desirability of eating seasonally and growing our own vegetables means this is something we do without really considering it, though there'll be tomatoes and runner beans  from the freezer to bring a touch of summer throughout the winter months.

This week's new recipe was from Pinch of Nom again. A tuna pasta bake made without the usual cheese sauce, but a lighter version with low fat soft cheese and stock. I wasn't impressed, as I definitely missed the cheesiness of the familiar dish. 

It's been a week of listening to new music; first two guys that I know. Gecko released a new album last week, with a launch on Attila the Stockbroker's Facebook page, and an appearance on Life and Rhymes, a spoken word programme fronted by Benjamin Zephaniah on Sky Arts, but his song about Laika, the dog sent into space by the Russians, made me too sad to listen to the whole album in one go. Then Tim OT, a guy I first saw playing in front of a pub dartboard (very brave), decided to take up the government's call for creatives to retrain in other occupations, by re-training as 'a musician who actually releases music', so his new band Morning Crush have a single out and hopefully there'll be more from him before long. And on Friday I spotted on Twitter that a band I follow there -  Tom Lumley and the Brave Liasion - also had a new track out. I've not got as far as seeing these guys live, but one day, maybe next year (fingers crossed) I will.

I've also caught up with last week's video from North Cornwall Book Festival. This time gardener Anna Pavord talking about landscape - its influence on us, our influence on it. 

And evenings have found me glued to Netflix series, The Queen's Gambit, based on a novel by Walter Tevis about an orphaned girl who becomes a chess prodigy. I never realised the game could be so fascinating. 

So far, lockdown2 hasn't been bad. I just hope it's all over in time for Christmas.

Lockdown - Week 1 - busy, busy, busy

How did your first week of lockdown go? Mine, to be honest, felt rather like a normal week, but with less shape to it than normal.


We'd been staying home for a while already, but obviously not enough people were, so last Tuesday advice became orders, and everyone apart from essential workers was supposed to stay in. Strange then to wake up the first morning of lockdown and hear normal traffic on the nearby main road through our estate; if anything, throughout the day, it got heavier. And so many people were out walking, taking their allowed hour of exercise.

The first few days were warm, and I've thrown myself back into vegetable gardening (I'd somewhat let it slip at home over the past few years though my husband had kept the allotment going). I've sown quick growing salad leaves, pumpkins and cabbages in the greenhouse, turnips in one of the small garden beds, with more to follow. With the weather being fine and sunny, I also made time to just sit outside, listen to the birds, watch the buzzards high above, see if I could spot the grass growing and flowers opening.








A couple of evenings I went out to catch the sunset, generally it's quiet then

but there were still dog walkers around, and I don't feel confident that if a dog ran over to say Hi that its accompanying child wouldn't. One afternoon I went as far as the wood to find anemones, but although the walk there wasn't bad (beside playing fields so lots of space to pass people), everyone seemed to have the same destination in mind, and once in the wood the footpaths seemed too busy for my comfort. I don't think I'll be doing that again.

There are other ways of 'getting out' though.

I've attended an online book launch for Sarah Jasmon's You Never Told Me (if all had been well, I'd have visited my Manchester daughter and gone along to the actual launch, but that wasn't to be). Over on Facebook, Sarah's now set up a page, Books From the Boat, where she'll be reading a chapter from the book each evening.

And I can even 'go out' to gigs.
A lot of touring musicians have effectively lost their jobs due to music venues closing and tours being cancelled, so they've gone online instead; no tickets required, but drop them a few quid, the money you'd have spent on drinks maybe, by Paypal if you've enjoyed the show. So I've seen Grace Petrie, Fast Car To Florence, and a new single launch from Gecko. I caught part of a Frank Turner 'gig' - each Thursday evening he'll be streaming live through his Facebook page to raise money for a different music venue's employees as obviously they've been affected too. I've listened to various living-room sessions from folk singers on The Covid Musical Collective, and a variety of artists through Isolate Live. (both of these can be found on Facebook, if you're curious)

Oh, and I've seen all those photos of goats taking over Llandudno.





I've done less helpful things too - spent too much time checking social media for updates, and too long counting tins in the food cupboard, or checking what actually IS in the freezer (it's always full but I can never find anything for dinner) - it's like a never-ending stock take. Social media is hard to kick, but I'm trying to limit my time on it. And, to stop me counting tins and packets every day, I've made lists. I love lists, they give me a feeling of control. Now I know how much I have of whatever, and can tick items off as they're used.



Not that many days in, and I found I was losing all track of the days. This seems really odd as the only fixed events in our lives are dustbin day (Thursday), and Friday when we see elder daughter and grandson, and OH goes out running with a club in the evening. I'm beginning to see why some people like to shop the same day every week. To add some 'shape' to the days, I'm making an effort to pick fresh flowers from the garden on Fridays, ready for the weekend, and I've re-introduced Sunday roast which we don't normally bother with.(chicken this week thanks to home delivery groceries, to be followed by the pork and gammon that have been in the freezer since Christmas).


I definitely haven't had time to be bored this first week. In the last few days I've seen several arts organisations putting content online - from virtual tours of museums, to National Theatre and RSC putting shows online, and Hay Book Festival intending to go 'digital'. I could be busier than usual.

Not ONE but TWO gigs at Nottingham's Chameleon Arts Cafe

Gecko

It's a while since I've been to Nottingham's Chameleon Arts Cafe - back in December, I think, for one of the gigs promoted by my teen - then, last week, I went twice!

Lewis Bootle

The first time was to see a guy from London who goes by the name of Gecko, on tour with Lewis Bootle - and if you'd been at Glastonbury over last weekend you could have found them playing there.

The second gig was a slimmed down version of the first gig promoted by my teen - John Allen and Patrick Craig. Folk/punk singer-songwriter John may not be well known here, but in his native Germany he's opened for Frank Turner and played for thousands! 

Patrick Craig

Both were shows that I'd have thought would bring folk in - but they didn't. Both turned out to be intimate, friendly gigs, and all the musicians put on as good a show as if the room had been packed. I enjoyed both evenings perhaps better than if the room had been packed to capacity - but it doesn't pay the musicians' travel costs, nor cover the venue's overheads.

John Allen

Now, The Chameleon is a shy, secretive sort of place - down an alleyway off Angel Row, and then up a flight of stairs to the bar, and another to the performance area. Once you're settled in the bar, with its cafe-style tables and flickering tea-lights, there's a fabulous view over Market Square. Upstairs, the gig venue is more basic but has a great sound system and the biggest speaker-stacks I've ever seen (far taller than I am!)  But the snag about a venue that's so very secret is that people rarely seem to find their way there by accident. I just hope people DO find it, because I'd hate to see it close down, but also, if they're playing to empty space, musicians won't be coming back to Nottingham.