Day 500

Day 500...

Wow, 500 days of writing these diary entries. This started out as a way to document the first 'lockdown' back in March 2020 as it was something that we had never experienced before and I thought it would be interesting to record what happened and how we 'coped' with it.

At day 500, and despite England having experienced 'Freedom Day' on July 19th, I am still writing and posting. My entries are now more focused around my daily happenings but as we enter this new landscape of 'freedom' returning I thought I would carry on writing. We may have been granted our 'freedom' but life is still not back to where it once was.

But today was Saturday and the day started with a couple of jobs for Simon and me. I had the online grocery order to update as we are picking it up a day early this week (tomorrow) as we have plans for the coming week. Simon was out in the garage applying gesso to a couple of paintings that we had created years ago but no longer display. Simon is hoping over the next couple of weeks to create some new art physically which will be a change to the digital art that he usually does. We then also had our new door number to install which I think looks rather fetching...

...and really invokes a 'Disney's Tower of Terror' ride vibe.

And before we headed out for the afternoon the post arrived...it was a good post day as it was my delivery from Hotel Chocolat...

...about every 12 weeks or so I have what they call their 'High Cocoa Curated Selection'; a little treat that I indulge in and have done for a fair few years now going back to when it used to be called the 'Chocolate Tasting Club'. And although they no longer send a 'sleekster' box of different chocolates I still get to experience chocolates that I may not have otherwise chosen myself. 

Our afternoon was then spent in Nottingham having a wander around and enjoying a coffee or two. 

We even indulged a little by sharing a Panettone and some dark hazelnut chocolate!

It was great to be in the city and to be able to wander where we wanted without having to think about masks or 'checking-in'. It was also amazing to walk into one of our regular coffee shops and be greeted by the barista who remembered us and wanted to chat and find out how we were...it must be 18 months since we were last there, how amazing is that for customer service?!

We took some time to sit and watch the world go by and soak in the atmosphere of a bustling city centre...

And we did have a giggle at the way the city centre pigeons had positioned themselves on the sign for the now defunct Debenhams department store...

...such a lovely old building that is now left empty; it will be interesting to see what happens with the rather large space in the months to come. 

As we wandered the city it was lovely to see everywhere busy with people and a good percentage of people had chosen to ditch the face mask which was great to see. But it was also sad to see a lot of shops closed or units with 'for sale' and 'to let' signs...are these another knock-on effect of the last year and a half where businesses have not been able to re-open their doors or have perhaps had to adopt an online only presence? I guess only time will tell before we understand the real impact of the numerous lockdowns and discover just what the economic impact has been on these small and medium sized independent businesses, never mind those bigger names that are having to reduce the number of outlets they have up and running. 

On our way home we stopped by a DIY store as we needed some wood stain for the frame around the garage door that Simon had repaired last weekend. And then once home it was time to order an Indian take-away for our dinner - yum!

And that was our Saturday.

See you tomorrow.
xx