It all started in the early days of lockdown when we were allowed out for just one form of exercise per day. I decided to set off on daily walks with my camera and bring some words and pictures via a blog to, hopefully, brighten the weary days for people unable to get out.
I got some lovely messages and also requests of where to walk (I would say where to go but that might be misconstrued) and what to take photographs of. Many of the walks were round the fields around Hethersett as we weren't allowed outside out immediate area.
I walked to Wymondham a few times and even ventured into Norwich amidst the debate of how far does the term local area extend to.
Looking back I enjoyed the peace and tranquility of these walks, although everyone kept their distance and there was no chatting with friends etc on them. I guess there was a feeling of fear and the unknown about those times. I enjoyed them in a perverse kind of way, but equally I'm glad they are now over and we are learning to live with COVID.
I think the feeling has gone from "Oh my God he's got COVID" to "It's only COVID. Just get on with it."
I had COVID in the fairly early days and isolated for 12 days without really feeling ill. My walks and blog actually started on March 8th, 2020, so I'm approaching the second birthday. Initially I was aiming to keep them going for a year but they have now become ingrained into my daily routine and I no longer have to write the following which is the opening to that first blog:
"I know that there is nothing worse than broken promises. I promised to write a daily blog and almost immediately broke that promise. So let's give it another go and rather than promise that I will religiously post every day I will just say that I will post on a regular basis."
That regular basis did become daily.
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I know I criticise Boris Johnson and the Government (and I feel quite rightly) but I do think they handled the roll out of the vaccine well and I was rather dismayed to hear Keir Starmer having another go at them yesterday for dropping the restrictions. There are times when the opposition parties should quite rightly criticise the Government, but this wasn't one of them and Starmer needs to learn that if he is going to be a series alternative to Johnson he needs to grow up a bit and not become his own caricature. I am sure that in the same position Labour would have also relaxed the restrictions (and yes they would have been criticised by the Conservative opposition).
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Years ago I reviewed goods from companies who sent them to me through Amazon. I still get requests for reviews although I stopped doing them quite some time ago. At one point I got my world ranking up to 439 based on the number of reviews and the number of likes. I think my ranking now is something like 45,000 the last time I looked.
Yesterday I received an e-mail with an interesting question. I was asked the following.
Are you troubled about the aesthetic surface of your parts?
I have to say I have never been troubled about the aesthetic surface of my parts!
I also got one promising that they could "make my meat tree mighty and strong." I really didn't know where to go with that one.
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As I was driving around on Sunday there was an advert on Greatest Hits Radio for bus drivers - apparently there's a national shortage.
The advert said something along the lines of "are you a people person, do you love travelling?"
"Hello," I thought. "I like to think that I'm a people person and I certainly like travelling - so this is for me."
But no it was trying to attract more bus drivers. Now let's have a look at this. Most of the drivers we have in Norfolk occasionally mutter at you and that's about it and I wouldn't consider driving a bus back and forth between two points as my idea of travelling.
I hate rude people and on the number 15 bus from Norwich to Wymondham at 11.45 am yesterday morning we had a driver who was quite plainly not a people person and quite plainly didn't like travelling. He was rude to one elderly woman, waved me through in a very dismissive manner, used his horn twice and threw his arms in the air at other motorists. He also had to stop to pick up a bollard that had been blown into the road. He got back in his driving cab and slammed the door. And his driving left a lot to be considered as well. Whys is it bus drivers have a habit of jerking you forward when they approach a bus stop.
That rather spoiled a nice visit to Norwich where we had a cup of coffee in a cafe where the lady was obviously a people person although I can't comment on whether she likes to travel. We also had a riverside walk. I will bring you some of the photographs I took of that in tomorrow's blog.