08:00 Lois and I drink our tea in bed. Lois is reading her novel from the 1960's, Alison Lurie's "The War Between the Tates", all about Erica, the wife of a college lecturer Brian Tate, who has made Wendy, one of his young students pregnant. Erica has now thrown Brian out of the house and is looking after their two adolescent children on her own.
young student Wendy with her college professor married lover, Brian
Lois is now two thirds of the way through the book, and we speculate on how the book will end. Will both Erica and Brian succeed in forming new relationships?
Brian seems to have persuaded his young girlfriend Wendy to have an abortion, so babies are off the agenda for the moment. And Brian is now wearing younger, cooler clothes, which Erica finds annoying.
Erica has been invited to a party, but she can't afford to get a new set of clothes, and so she's getting ready to go with only some faded and/or low-cut dresses to choose from. She eventually chooses a high-neck sweater to hide her deteriorating skin texture and elasticity - poor Erica! And low-cut anyway isn't an option in her present situation, she feels: it's ok for a wife, because it enhances her husband's standing haha, but for a single woman it sends out the wrong signals, she suspects.
She is already having to fend off the local married men, who are eager to help out with jobs in house and garden, e.g. mowing the lawn, but afterwards they seem to expect to be able to go to bed with her as a reward - what a crazy world we live in!
Nevertheless our money is on Erica meeting some man at this party tonight - but we'll have to see!
American author Alison Lurie in the 1960's when the novel was written
09:00 Eventually Lois and I roll out of bed - today we've got our second astrazeneca vaccination jab at one of the county's fire stations (Cheltenham East): the appointment is for 11:50 am .
The first big worry is the snow that we had woken up to - yikes! That was something we didn't expect for an appointment date almost halfway through April. What a crazy country we live in !!!!!
our back garden when we wake up this morning - yikes, brrr!!!!
cold outside, but our two daughters' and our grandchildren's cuddly toys
are snug'n' warm by the radiator - how cute!
The vaccination itself should go smoothly - we had our first jab at the fire station on January 30th.
The big uncertainty, though, as before, is how to pay for parking at the nearby Lido.
I review our 3-pronged strategy: (1) use the PayByPhone app on my phone or (2) use a credit card, or (3) use cash. Suddenly I remember that our bank issued us with a new credit card last month, so I have to update the card info on the PayByPhone website - damn!
11:30 We drive off to the Fire Station and pay without difficulty for parking at the Lido using the PayByPhone app on my phone - that will teach me to worry about trivialities haha!
We're surprised to find that it's actually a "drive-in" vaccination day today, but that the NHS had some vaccine shots over so they invited some "walk-in" customers, including us, so the shots can be of some use, which is nice.
we wait to be done...
this is us after we've been done - spot the difference haha!
We must be at the end of the morning session, because after our appointments we see the NHS volunteer helpers getting ready to go off for lunch. How kind and friendly and helpful they are - I can't praise them highly enough. Hail to you, ye volunteer jabbers: you kept us out of war haha!
the NHS volunteers get ready to go off for lunch.
12:30 We come home, expecting to take it easy for the rest of the day, which suits me. Last time we both had some after-effects the following day or two: feverishness, aches and pains, tiredness. So we'll have to see - we've heard that the second jab is usually easier.
we get home and relax with a cup of coffee, which gives
Lois a chance to check her phone
14:00 Off to bed for a couple of hours, and then back on the sofa with a cup of tea and some bread and jam at 4 pm.
Our daughter Alison, who lives in Headley, Hampshire, with Ed and their three children, has been to the animal hospital this morning to collect the family's Danish springer spaniel, Sika. He fractured his leg at the end of last week, poor little chap, and he has had a pin put in it over the weekend. He's got to wear a collar for a couple of weeks, which should slow him down a bit - my god!!!!
Sika after his operation
Poor Sika !!!!!
18:00 We are both feeling a bit under par, so we settle for a Parsley Box meal tonight, lamb hotpot with added vegetables.
19:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's weekly Bible Seminar on zoom. I settle down on the couch to watch some TV, the two latest episodes in the amusing series "Pls Like", which gives an ageing Generation-X "take" on Millennials' love of social media.
I hadn't realised that the best angle to take Instagram pictures of a meal that you're having is not from a sitting position like Lois and I do, but from directly over the meal - ninety degree angle - at a distance of about 1-3 feet: not exactly a "birds-eye view" - that would be absurdly high obviously) but maybe a horse's eye-view.
This effect can be achieved by climbing onto the table and squatting, with camera pointed downwards obviously.
Instagram expert and photographer Declan (left) gives presenter Liam an
idea of the best way to photograph your food for social media
Presenter Liam (right) dines out with his influencer friends Millipede and
Honeydew (left), but he finds the other customers are already busy
taking Insta pictures of their food - oh dear!
then Liam's inlfuencer friends, Millipede and Honeydew
start taking their own Insta pictures at their table - what madness!
At the end of the meal, when the bill comes, there is a nasty surprise unfortunately: the waitress checks how many followers Liam and his fellow-diners have on YouTube, Instagram etc, and adjusts the amounts accordingly. The two women only have to pay £3 or so, but Liam is presented with a bill for £816.36 . Luckily he can charge this to the BBC film budget that he has been given for shooting the documentary.
But what a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Later in the year, when presenter Liam starts a social media campaign to boost footfall at a failing restaurant in his neighbourhood, he has the bright idea of providing guests with mini-stepladders, which is a nice touch.
Another nice touch is the idea of having iPads for plates.
We also get some hints on making the actual food look as delicious as possible:
1. Don't use real peas - put green paint on a collection of ball-bearings
2. Don't use real milk - use Tippex
3. Don't use real sweet corn - try old dogs' teeth.
I must remember to discuss these ideas with Lois when she's got a free moment, that's for sure!
21:00 Lois emerges from her seminar and we watch a documentary on wildlife in British gardens.
One of the creatures in British back gardens is the bush cricket. By a piece of good fortune the programme's cameras are in time to catch a pair of bush-crickets mating.
The male moves beneath the female and clings on to a hook at the end of her abdomen. He places a small package of sperm inside an opening in the female's body. But the sperm is packed with nutrients and the female is likely to be tempted to just eat it. Did somebody say "Just Eat" haha? So to prevent this, the male cricket covers the sperm with a large blob of protein-rich jelly.
The female takes a long time to eat the jelly, by which time the sperm itself has time to get in where it needs to go.
Presenter Chris Packham thinks this is taking the idea of a romantic meal a bit far - but at least we don't see the crickets taking Instagram pictures of it, which is probably all to the good!
But what a crazy planet we live on !!!!
[Go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!
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