annanotbob2's Diaryland Diary
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Still windy af
Here I am, sitting by the last of the fire, listening to that fucking wind still howling round the place. It could be worse. I live in a really solidly built house and have no fears on that score.
Bloke's mate has made it through another day, though all his nearest and dearest are currently up in arms about the prevailing situation In Germany regarding visitors to cancer units. One visitor a day for one hour. It sounds harsh, especially for a man in the last hours, or days at most, of his life but we don't know what the situation is there with Covid. We're ruled by the unspeakable idiot, who is removing all Covid restrictions, including the requirement to self isolate when you test positive, so anything else seems harsh but it may turn out to just be sensible. My aunt died in hospital on her own but that was in 2020 at the height of the first wave.
The mate, Chris, might as well name him, remained on good terms with his ex-wife, the mother of his sons. The sons are adults and one of them flew out to Germany yesterday on his own. He freaked out at the awfulness of everything, not helped by not speaking German, I imagine, so his mum decided to join him today. The other son dropped her off at Heathrow, drove home, opened a bottle of wine, had a couple of big glasses, then received a call from Mum saying all flights have been cancelled due to the fucking wind. He's now pissed and can't drive so didn't know what to do. Phoned Bloke who could offer no help. Has another call from his mum - the wind's dropped, they're on the plane. Another call - they've lost the whole lot of luggage for this flight but will have to take off in fifteen minutes as the storm is heading for Germany and the airport there plans on closing. Mum is not a calm person at the best of times and these aren't the best of times. Final call - the phone charging set-up on this plane is not working and she's almost out of charge SO SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO KEEP IN TOUCH ANY MORE FOR FUCKING FUCK'S SAKE. And that was the end of this evening's installments. Unbearable for them all.
This afternoon I went to the last day of an exhibition about starlings that I'd been attempting to get to since it opened last month, but plans kept falling through as they sometimes will. 
This was my fave exhibit - a starling's nest, with all kids of aromatic flowers woven in. Apparently scientists have recently discovered that these flowers keep the nests free of pests and that birds raised in these nests weigh more and are healthier than birds raised herb-free. Awesome. There was loads of stuff about how they navigate in murmurations but I couldn't begin to understand it. Amazing birds.
Then home for yoga. I do quite like my Sunday session with yoga bloke C, though he's not a great teacher. I'm OK because I've been doing yin for a couple of years now, but he only gives the instruction once and when he's doing it himself he's dressed in black against a dark background so all you can really see is his bald head and his bare feet. This is fine if you're familiar with it all but rubbish if you're not. Also he doesn't offer alternative postures for those who can't do the first ones due to injury or whatever, which is annoying, but he is a great timekeeper. When I press the 'leave meeting' button and the time comes up on my tablet it's always bang on 19.00, not a minute over. I do really like the class but I think these things about him quite often so I hope that now I've written them down I can forget them.
I've just bought a book called Knitting for Anarchists, but the print is so small I can hardly see it. Couldn't resist it once I'd seen the title and those bastards at Amazon had it delivered onto my doormat in less than 24 hours.
And now the fire is almost out, the dog is snoring and rain has started lashing away at the window, wind still roaring.
I don't know why links don't upload properly - I used the right code yesterday but it didn't work, did it? So I'm not putting code tonight , just the link to "No matter how hard it rains this year, I ain't gonna wear no hat." You're welcome
https://thehedgerowcrawlers.bandcamp.com/track/no-matter-how-hard-it-rains
Today I am grateful for having a warm house with a fire and a wee dog.
Night night. Keep safe.
12:38 a.m. - 21.02.22
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