It has definitely been an odd few weeks, of recent. Spending much of them time isolated from friends and colleagues, I, like many others in the UK, am spending a lot of time close to home. That said, it has not prevented me from some occasional outings, usually spent on my bicycle. During that same time, for a period of some six weeks, my sister Jennifer came over to stay, from Sheffield – accompanied by her increasingly adventurous, if fussy cat, Stevie. Continually getting over the garden fence, exploring flowerbeds and facing down a ginger cat in a hissing contest, the frolicsome feline was able to keep many things more interesting, around here.
Taking advantage of the generally sunny weather and less busy roads, I have been to assorted places on my bicycle, including Woodhouse Eaves, most recently, here in Leicestershire, and other, somewhat further flung locations, including Whittick and Cademan’s Wood, Walton on the Roads, and Diseworth and East Midlands Airport – now home to a family of rabbits, near the main carpark. I have also gone on walks in the nearby area, including Garendon Park, Loughborough, and Burleigh Woods, near Hollywell and Napantan. Food has been adequately provided for by Sainsburys and a local Waitrose, whilst Dominos has effected a very nice delivery service for the family as a whole, on two occasions.
In staying in touch with colleagues, I have made decent use of both Discord and Discord video, with one brief experiment with Zoom – used mainly for extended family discussions. A streaming of Resident Evil 7 on Discord provided some thrills and chills, plus some rib tickling via the new indie game, Her’s Majesty’s Spiffing – a puzzle adventure starring a spacefaring Brit with the moniker of Frank Lee English. Taking advantage of my sister’s X-Box One, I have finally been able to play Halo 5 Guardians, after a very long wait – and whilst the plot did not really blow me away, I was able to have a lot of fun with the weapons, levels and vehicles, plus on multiplayer modes, such as the free for all smorgasboard known as Warzone. That said, it is very easy to get wrecked quickly on the latter mode – even when requisitioning powerful tools like speedy Ghosts, aircraft, or SAW machine guns. In single player, the Warden Eternal was sufficiently dispatched via removable turrets, but some of the audio logs did end eluding me. Repaying the favour, I also aided Jen on some of the trickier stages of the Spyro the Dragon: The Reignited Saga, locking up tips and walkthroughs.
In the outside world, authorities continue to face major difficulties, whilst politicians continue to try to stay relevant. Boris Johnson continues to dance between approving or critiquing parts of the lockdown, and the closure of pubs and other major institutions. Across the pond, Donald Trump leaps onto various comments and schemes, and rides them as long as he can – first, in all seriousness, advocating bleach be injected, as it ‘kills all known germs’ – and elsewhere advocating anti malarial drugs (a version his own family has shares in, from what I understand).
In the meantime, here is a collage of photgraphs from my time during this period, beginning with Burleigh Woods, Nanpantan, and continuing to Walton on the Wolds, with it’s lovely pink blossom, in one particular garden. Following up comes Cademan’s Woods, and we close out with a sample of Stevie the cat’s misadventures – which culminated, prior to his departure for home (alas) with his climbing into the garage loft for some peace and quiet – presumably using the car as a step! Sadly, his live in ‘brother’ Benji was taken from us due to a run in by a Sheffield car, last August, but he seems to be adapting well, since then.
...A Bit More Obvious 