Covid

Going gently

Socks are the Ready, Player One colourway from Must Stash Yarns

Socks are the Ready, Player One colourway from Must Stash Yarns

As I’m writing this it really does feel like the perfect spring day, cool but with beautiful bright sunshine and vivid green leaves starting to show on the trees. After being under Covid restrictions for such a long time it does feel as though we are more than ready for spring this year, and that stepping out into the bright spring sunshine is symbolic on more than one level.

But with this new-found freedom goes a plea for going gently. Not everyone is in the same place with this. Some people plan to change nothing and stay shielding for now. For some people, the restrictions of the past year are something that they live with on a permanent basis – for them, there is no ‘return to normal’. Some people are raring to go.

We are all navigating our way through this. But no matter how anxious/scared/nervous you are feeling please spare a thought for our shop owners and their staff. Not only are they navigating their own feelings but they are trying to stick to the guidelines as best they can and to keep both themselves and their customers safe.

A friend of mine, a local café owner was devastated today when a customer left a stinging Trip Advisor review – slating perceived shortcomings in their system. It was a misunderstanding that could have been easily sorted out with a short conversation. Instead they took to social media to vent their views and caused a lot of public upset instead.

There’s not much point having #BeKind in your social media profile if you are ‘that person’ haranguing a poor café owner about their napkins.

The next few weeks and months are going to be hard enough as it is. Please spare a thought for those business owners who are thankfully still in business and let’s try to keep them there.

Everyday Jaunts

A post about adventures - small ones.

I've been reading this fabulous book - Born to be Mild by @robtemple1001 documenting his recovery from a period of ill health (both physical and mental). It's both funny and bittersweet and brutally honest about his attempts to broaden his horizons by embarking on a series of mini adventures. Some go well, others not so well.

It made me realise quite how small my life has become recently. Granted we are in Covid times so not a lot is possible, but even with those limitations I feel as though I desperately need a bit of variety in my life right now.

So I have decided I need a program of little things I can do - we are talking tiny here - in my regular day.

I'm calling them #EverydayJaunts and I’m sharing them with this hashtag on Instagram - either on my grid or in my stories - and saving the latter to the highlights tab on my bio as a kind of record of activities. You are most welcome to join in and share your own jaunts too - if you need a little motivation or you'd like to share your ideas with others.

It could be as simple as taking your morning cup of coffee outside and listening to the birds, or stopping off, on a morning errand earlier to look at a church that I’ve driven past for years but never actually looked at, properly.

Small things, but hopefully ones that will rewire my brain a little and start to see the wonder and the variety in the everyday stuff.

Focusing on what’s different, rather than what is remaining the same.