It’s only when watching pre-pandemic TV programmes that I fully realise how much we’ve all changed since 2020. Welcoming handshakes are now very scarce, and we stand just that little further apart from each other. Some other changes, like my appearance, became more obvious, and in February, sixteen weeks after last seeing my hairdresser (due to Covid restrictions) I invested in a pair of hair clippers and persuaded Geraldine to have a go at cutting my hair. After two attempts, the clippers have now been re-homed, which tells you all you need to know about the success of this venture. But gradually, things do seem to be returning to normal.
When the Covid restrictions were relaxed in the spring, I began thinking about bike trips again, although thoughts of international bike travel were postponed for at least a year. I couldn’t be doing with all the faff of Covid tests and I really didn’t fancy sitting for 3 hours in close proximity to 200 strangers in a tin can with wings. Instead of a (cancelled) Italian holiday, six of us hired a cottage in Durham in July and spent a few days in the North Pennines which felt just like old times.
An anticipated highlight of the trip was to be a ride through the Tyne cycle tunnel, and so it proved to be. I descended to the tunnel by lift and had to wear a mask, and spectacle-wearers will understand how I accidentally pressed the emergency call button on the lift going back up. I only intended to hold the doors open for a fellow cyclist, but my glasses were so misted up that I pressed the wrong button in error. I spent the duration of the upward journey explaining to security that the only issue was that I couldn’t see the buttons properly! He never saw the funny side.
I’ve also enjoyed a few short bike tours including to Derbyshire, Essex, Shrewsbury and Cumbria. Before attempting the Derbyshire trip, I tested out some cycle-mapping software, using it to plot a route to Hazel Grove. The route took full advantage of disused railway tracks, canals and riverside trails, and it allowed me to navigate through the centre of Manchester without ever feeling endangered by traffic. Dog walkers and inattentive pedestrians, yes, trucks, no.
This trip also highlighted a problem with my Garmin navigation device that I didn’t manage to solve until weeks later. Every now and then the Garmin simply refused to tell me the route to take, and more annoyingly, it beeped to say that it had lost the satellites and that I was off course. (The first message was fair enough, but if it had no satellite signal, how did it know I was off course?). Anyway, long story short, it turned out that my birthday present of a handlebar-mounted video camera was set too close to the Garmin and was affecting the signal. I moved them further apart and peace was restored in time for my trip to Essex in August. This tour was to fulfil a desire for me to have cycled a continuous route from Switzerland to the northern tip of the Outer Hebrides. Sadly, I can’t claim a continuous route to the top of the Scottish mainland since I’m missing a five mile stretch between Kyle of Lochalsh and Auchertyre. However, this’ll have to wait until I’m back in that region, since I can’t justify the 720 mile round trip to complete it.
We invested in a few house improvements this year after discovering leaks in various locations. After some debate, we decided to get quotes for a new roof. Thankfully, the local builder we chose did a good job and he managed to complete it during a dry bit of the summer so we are now watertight once more. We also said a silent prayer that he found no bats which was the unfortunate fate of one of our neighbours whose similar project was delayed for months while they sorted that out. We endured a few delays, mainly when the wrong flashing kits arrived for the Velux windows. No-one admitted culpability, but we had scaffolding at the back of the house for much longer than we expected. Whilst it made a nice loggia screen, we couldn’t open the doors to the garden for several weeks.
Geraldine went away to Kent with a friend in September. She spent most of the time shopping and visiting gardens and had a great week. She had initially planned to take a trip to France through the tunnel, but travel restrictions didn’t allow it. It was then she remembered that Kent is known as the Garden of England, and that every garden has an untidy area, usually beside the compost heap which is rather an embarrassment – you know, the place where you park the wheelbarrow and store bits of wood that may come in handy. It was then she realised that the equivalent area in the Garden of England is Ashford, and that if you aren’t planning a trip to France, you really shouldn’t book an hotel there. There’s nothing to see but a rail terminus.
Whilst Gee and I have both enjoyed separate holidays this year, we did have a shared holiday in October. We booked an hotel in the village of Goathland in the North York Moors: Heartbeat country for those old enough to remember the 1990s TV series. We’d never seen Heartbeat, so we borrowed some DVDs to familiarise ourselves. The village itself is very pretty and looks like a film set, which is what it was for 18 years. Everything is Heartbeat-themed which was strange, but very quaint.
One of the attractions of the area is the NYM Railway which operates steam trains between Pickering and the coast. The trouble was, the timetable had so many exceptions and caveats that I was unable to understand it and so I gave up. A couple whom we later met in the hotel had persevered, and whilst they managed to get to and from Whitby (at a cost of £70 for the 20 mile return journey), it took them all day. The first train was delayed due to leaves on the line (in this case, it was excusable since the leaves were still attached to the tree). Then the train missed its time slot to join the mainline at Grosmont, and was thus delayed again. Their return journey was fraught with similar difficulties, so I reckon we had a narrow escape there. We had a lovely stay, spending time walking round Whitby, Robin Hood’s Bay and in the moors around Goathland. We were lucky with the weather too, since it only rained at night, but this did cause a river to flood meaning that we couldn’t get to see a famous waterfall. It was a small price to pay to keep our feet dry, though.
I’m forever trying to keep one step ahead of obsolete technology, and it’s for this reason that I began transferring all my old photos and home videos (remember those?) into albums in Google Photos last winter. The videos in particular have enjoyed an interesting life. I used to have a video camera (about the size of a shoe box) which recorded onto small Hi8 video tapes. I then edited these to an interesting and watchable length, added music and recorded them onto VHS tapes. When VHS tape players became scarce, I transferred them to DVD, and subsequently onto a passport drive to save clogging up the limited memory on my rather old PC. Recently, I’ve had cause to believe that the external drive is having a wobble and may fail which prompted me to begin storing the photos and videos in the cloud. OK, I admit that I haven’t a scooby what that is, or whether it’s future-proof, but it offers me the illusion that I’m down with the kids, which is good. It also keeps me busy during the cold and wet winter days when I can’t get out on the bike.
We shared our home with two cats until the summer, when sadly, the older one died. It surprised us that he was indeed the older one, because, since he was a stray, we’d no idea when he was born. We thought that he may have been about 12 when we took him to the vet in June but after an examination, the vet told us that he’d been lying about his age, and that he was probably late teens. We were also told that he had terminal cancer, so very sadly, he never saw July. We still have one cat, who is over 16 now, but we’ll let her live out her retirement peacefully before considering any replacement kittens.
Emily and Laurence are both fine (thanks for asking) and are still working in the same jobs. In November Emily qualified as a yoga teacher after a very intensive 14-day course in Portugal. She doesn’t intend to give up her day job to teach yoga, but the qualification will give her additional skills in helping some of her clients improve their mobility. The course was initially planned for 2020, but was postponed three times before she finally managed to get there.
Laurence is still working from home after being furloughed throughout last summer. He is enjoying the freedom WFH gives, and has been using what might have been commuting time to get out on his bike or running. He has cycled 50% further than me this year (over 7,500 miles), and managed to work full time for most of it. He also surprised everyone by running the Manchester marathon (in 3h 18m) with almost no training. Youngsters, eh?
Geraldine is still working as a wedding celebrant, which has become far more intense since weddings were allowed once more in April. In eight months, she has performed almost 180 ceremonies! Putting that into perspective, during the previous 10 years, she performed 435 weddings in total. She enjoys it (clearly), but a new time recording system introduced by the council this month nearly caused her to quit after she spent a whole afternoon trying to submit just one month’s claims. As ever, the system was introduced with no training and a 48 hour deadline to submit claims or not get paid that month. Geraldine returns home from each wedding with such interesting tales to tell, but we haven’t been writing them down. There’s certainly a book in there – one of these ‘names have been changed to protect the innocent’ type of things. In future, I might start jotting down the stories she tells and get a job as her ghost writer. Watch out James Herriot!
Live music is slowly returning to our lives. I am still wary of being in enclosed spaces with crowds, but being double- (soon to be triple-) vaccinated, I’m trying to overcome my anxiety.
The first concert we attended was in September in a village hall near Blackpool. A friend had organised it, and we could sit at widely-spaced tables arranged cabaret-style. It felt really safe, so I was encouraged to book a couple more shows at our favourite venue, Settle Victoria Hall, for October and November. We also recently saw Les Glover (who played at my 60th) and we have a postponed concert to see Amy Wadge in December. The latter is at Gorilla in Manchester and will probably be crowded, so I’m still unsure whether I really want to go.
Here’s Amy singing ‘Thinking Out Loud‘, a track she co-wrote with Ed Sheeran. Also (trying to) sing ‘Faith’s Song‘ from the TV series ‘Keeping Faith’.
It has become a tradition to end this missive with a moan (it’s my age; I’m entitled), and this year my gripe is with BBC news. On their reports, they will show the location of the interviewee throughout the interview but apart from a few seconds at the start, they fail to indicate the more important information of who the interviewee is or what his or her role is. I believe that the role of the interviewee is of far more relevance than his or her location, but what do I know? (OK, rant over. I’m not going to be writing to Newswatch about this)
Have a lovely holiday season. Keep safe, keep happy and remember that the secret is to want what you get, not to get what you want.