My area was lucky to avoid the worst impact of Storm Eunice, and I was able to work at home - it would have been good to have that during bad weather in pre-Covid years. The main work programs went down in the middle of the day, but I could still do some useful things and chat to my colleagues via Teams. In the evening the wind died down and I ( Read more... )

This week I spent two days in the office printing letters and searching for old documents on the microfiche. My usual duties are still quite thin on the ground, so that made a good change, as well as seeing more people and different places. I have decided to keep up my routine of lunchtime walks when I'm in the office, rather than reading magazines ( Read more... )

This week has been quiet, but I've managed to find enough to fill the time. I nearly ran out of things to do at work (due to a combination of hard work and technical issues) until I resumed a task I used to do years ago to help a colleague with a huge backlog.

For the second weekend running, my regular groups had no activities, but I went out with ( Read more... )

Although it feels like ages since Christmas, I feel this January hasn't been as depressing as usual. That's a lot to do with the largely dry weather (though I worry there's a drought on the way) and the good books I've been reading - Dodie Smith's coming-of-age classic I Capture the Castle and Jean Sprackland's beachcombing essay collection Strands ( Read more... )

I've had a digital detox (apart from work) for the last week, as my laptop had to be repaired. That gave me extra time for things like guitar playing, mending clothes and reading books I haven't looked at in ages. I feel that I don't waste as much time online as I did in my student days, but the web does still eat up the hours.

I've been working ( Read more... )

This week has followed the usual pattern of seeming to pass quickly until I realised that it felt like ages since New Year. Being able to work at home made the return to work much easier, and I took things quite slowly. My long family break gave me enough good memories to keep my mood up, so I didn't have to keep smelling chocolate like last year ( Read more... )

After nearly four months of limbo and trudging through mud, sustained by comfort food, 2021 was a pretty good year for me. I was able to travel to lovely places both familiar and new, was reunited with friends, and resumed having evenings out. Yet I can't forget that several people I know died or lost loved ones.

The year ended quietly with a ( Read more... )

Last Thursday I made the journey to West Wales, using buses to avoid the high infection rates in London, and joined my parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephews for a long-awaited family Christmas. I received some nice gifts, but this time it was really about the presence rather than the presents. We played lots of games and went for fun outings ( Read more... )

After a week working at home, I've enjoyed seeing people over the last couple of days. Yesterday morning I went for a walk with the nature society along the river and up to the edge of the woods. In previous years this occasion has given us exciting bird sightings, but this time we didn't have much luck on that front.  However we found some fungi, ( Read more... )

This has been a very busy week. I validated a major application and then had two days in the office, the second one leading to a delicious festive dinner with present and former colleagues. Then my parents came over for the traditional pre-Christmas visit on Friday and we went to the next town to feast on salmon and an array of puddings.

Yesterday ( Read more... )