April 2020 – Gone West

On the beach

No, we’re not breaking quarantine nor are we on the coastal path . . .the wee track down to the beach at the old mill is an allowed path – just the coastal path itself is verboten – they have even moved the sign (I reckon a sweet villager must have complained!). So here’s some pix and a short video of our beach at low tide . . .

Aha! The sign has been moved! Toby is now on the naughty bit!!

Using the full panorama lens of the phone camera (4000×1800) – makes our beach seem huge

Stepping carefully round to the right, leaving Toby on the beach

There’s an island – normally surrounded by water but at low spring tides . . .

It has a hole! All the way through . . . brings to mind a smugglers beach?

Four Weeks of Lockdown

Surviving and probably, thriving? Viv has switched from learning Cymraeg to español, thinking it may be of more use in the future ….as Plan A is still to leave this moronically stupid Kingdom for las islas canarias.

Meanwhile, we seem to be OK – better than most, free to walk our dog in the strangely quiet countryside, the shops are all fully stocked and the view . . . is great. I expect the llywodraeth Gymru (Welsh Government) to announce an easing of the lockdown soon – independently of the English gov, as they just seem keen to throw people under the bus – that big red one with 350million for the NHS on it?

Luckily, our area seems to have no cases of the virus, so far……

The same view across our fields . . .so strangely quiet

The Whisky Exchange came thru with my order – three whisky blends to try

Warm enough to put out the solar kettle – brews enough boiling water, in 3 hours, for two cups of tea.

UK politics remains the same, such a rich ground for satire! Get your copy now!!

A very strange site at the local Nisa store – a cold cabinet totally full of loo rolls . . . a photo to remember . . . bit like tins of Spam in WW2?

Quite a big store with wide aisles so eveyrone keeps apart – plastic screens for the staff . . .another photo for the album – 2020 – remember that year?

On the way back from the city, we find a small footpath to walk the dog – a magnificent display of gorse.

Viv buys her tea from the Kent & Sussex tea & coffee Co. – all good stuff. Lots of coffee beans to keep Steve going for months plus a selection of healthy teas – the chocolate orange tea was a free gift.

The highlight of my day is the morning coffee – freshly ground and made in a filter with a spoonful of condensed milk – after that, the day goes downhill . . .

back at the local walk to castell coch – this big dip of a field leads to a dodgy walk/climb down to the beach. There used to be a style here but that’s gone. Two guys were down there, stripped to the waist and making improvements to the track – kind of unofficial I guess but looking forward to the beach parties of the future . . . should there be one.

I know it’s a black blob in the sea – not a lobster pot but a grey seal! Honest, he bobbed around for quite a while.

the panorama shot – showing that precarious path down . . .one day I’ll venture down there . .

and one of the guys digging out the path . . .

so strange to walk down the centre of the roads – so little traffic

Poor old Toby – he is getting on now and hobbles about after a long walk but acts like a puppy once he’s out, chasing the ball and squirming on top of it.

Thanks to James Wong (aka @botanygeek) for his tip to produce candy stalks – these popping corn seeds were planted in the dark and watered for a week – the shoots really are quite sweet.

I was thinking of adding some music – Viv and I found an old recording of Muse at Glasto last year and spent 2+ hours dancing to them. What other music could we recommend? Another One Bites the Dust, by Queen – perhaps not. I do some of my exercises to old trance numbers and this one struck me as apt – Better Off Alone

More like the music wot I listen to . . . .

A modern version of this pathos song . . .

And perhaps the original . . .1932 . . .

Mid April – surviving

Difficult to know where to start. Friends have suggested that this is really a diary; an account of the times in which we live and also a personal reminder of how things were in 2020. We’re both very angry as well as sad at how the UK looks likely to be the worst hit in Europe. But the people did vote for this . . .10 years of austerity, blue passports and a 50p commemorative coin. Cut the police, cut the NHS, cut our ties with the biggest trading bloc in the world, cut everything . . . . and here we are. People, well, common people are expendable, it seems. Could things have been done better – of course. I’m no scientist – oh, wait, yes I am – still a Chartered Physicist but what do I know? The bleedin’ obvious? Look at how other countries behaved – what did they do? Lock down, test, test, test and trace all infected. Seems simple but we didn’t and are still not doing it.100’s still arriving by air and just walking in, no checks . . .I thought we were taking back control? Just like the Formula 1 in Oz – cancelled only hours before the start – Lewis Hamilton spoke out. .. “It’s cash first!” and so it’s the same here – economy first, sod the people, plenty more where they came from . . .only there aren’t, are there . . .

There’ll be a reckoning and we’ll be there with our pitchforks . . .

Meanwhile, back at our idyll. A cautious drive into St David’s felt like a scene from Mad Max – empty roads -both ways. Oh, I did see a tractor – the farmers are still working away, day & night and all thru Easter. The local Nisa was empty – just me and a nervous shopper plus 6 or so staff stacking shelves – shelves that were heaving. Little shortage here. OK so no bread flour and little pasta but plenty of everything else. Stacks of bread – sliced and fresh and in many shapes & forms; so why are so many buying bread flour? A bit of a puzzle. Just come in and buy the bread and leave us breadmakers our flour!! The butchers too was all stacked and smiling faces – glad to see a face.

Nice to see a bit of humour in town . . turn around . . .

Slowly getting through the frozen meat order from the Perennial Cafe and their meat from Rhosgadw farm – 1.2 kg of lamb – should last us the week.

We have the old fridge from our lock up – it still works, we have the homebrew in bottles as well as the Bluestone, Stone Cold . . .

The homebrew is a bit disappointing, not clearing and not a great taste, although it seems to improve by the second half . . . nearly 8%!!

At first, an unwelcome and strange visitor but on doing some research, it turns out to be a rare-ish, black oil beetle – strange life cycle but huge!

Two photos taken with the new phone camera – bottom one on the wide angle setting

Viv opens all the gates – as the glove wearing one. We look forward to the day when the gloves are off!

We usually walk round to almost the end and then sit for a bit before bimbling back. We like a rest and so does Toby nowadays.

It was cold but otherwise, a gorgeous day. The sky has been so clear, so blue.

Looking towards Abercastle and the coastal path . . . deserted . . .

On the way back, the horse throws a shoe! Viv’s boots come apart and the front sole flaps all the way home . . .new boots please!

Our City . . . St David’s – deserted . . .

Another of our permitted walks – down to Appletree cottage, along the wooden lane and into the sheep field. Odd this as we used to hire Hafan (seen top left) every year for our holidays, watching the sheep move around in mysterious ways, from the house. Now it’s our back yard. And very nice it is too. As I’ve said, we are very lucky.

Pasg hapus – happy Easter!

Perhaps not so happy for a lot of people. A statistic that some jolly fellow tweeted was that more people have died in the last 48hrs than in any of the deadliest 48hrs during the Blitz . . . and there’s worse to come. Still, we carry on.

Our walks are a bit limited – haven’t used the car in weeks. Some of the coastal path remains shut but there’s a circular walk in the village. It passes over a stream and here, there appears to be a black troll guarding the bridge!!

Did we pay the troll? He does love a swim or just a dip to cool off – so much for being the old dog of 12 years? 84 in our years??

On the way back we pass under a giant rookery – such a din . . .

This is at the start/finish of the walk – from Apple tree cottage

Finishing off what’s left in the cupboard – triple sec & tequila = margaritas!!

A bit lazy but we can sit up in bed with our morning tea & coffee, watching the birds on the feeders. Today we had goldfinches – 3 at one time. Beautiful creatures.

And we still count our blessings that we have this view from our garden . . . .

And where were we last year? Easter 2019? See http://vivatek.co.uk/2019/04

It’s Life Jim, but not as we know it

At the moment it’s more like Life-Lite. We keep thinking there’s another me, in another dimension, where all is well; normal and everyone is just doing the normal stuff. Whereas, here…. people are getting sick and dying. What is it at the moment? 1.2 people dying in the UK every minute? That brings it home. And now we face selfish people driving 100s miles to their 2nd home/holiday home/holiday cottage. They probably think that it’s a getaway place, somewhere to hide out but it’s illegal to travel here! They could bring the plague with them and if not, they may get ill here and then take up the very few resources that we have in rural Pembrokeshire. Still, enough levity. I did say we’d keep things light – so we do count ourselves lucky. After all we did come here to be isolated – just didn’t hink it would be so literal and enforced.

I’ve found quite a few YouTube videos in my idle browsing . .some old and some new . . . to help… meanwhile, local pix n vids . .

Our local walk – that beach is apparently accesible!

The new phone camera has a great wide angle lens – there is a path down to that beach . . .one day

Looking back towards our house and on to the South

Round as far as we’re allowed to go – the promentory is Castell Coch – not sure why.

And a rest for Toby – looking good but getting a bit old – he was wrecked later on from this walk

The start of a few days of fantastic weather – the floods and gales of Dec/Jan/Feb seem a long way off

Back in the garden – more tulips – my resident plant expert tells me this is “tulip fire” where the colouring is caused by a virus . . hmm, nice though.

. . where the blog gets done – our wee dining room plus second bed chamber for Toby

Trying out bread machine recipes – today – Chelsea Buns!

What’s that bird? What’s the lovely song it’s making . . ? It’s a Robin. Always atop of the big tree.

Chilli peppers doing well – time to take in some rays . . .

Viv inspects her tomatoes – a tumbling variety plus a trough of herbs (oregano, thyme, sage and parsley). Viv impressed the locals today – she was passing an old couple sitting in their front garden who said Bore Da – but Viv looked at her watch and said Prynhawn Da (meaning good afternoon) – smug, eh?

doing our bit for posties and delivery men – getting them to put anything delivered in the garage

And on to our 2nd case of Stone Cold – from Bluestone Brewery! Bless em, they’re still working and taking online orders – all post free! Look em up.

short video of Castell Coch – and some outdoor views if you’re stuck inside

And now for those amusing YouTube videos . . .

Fun but educational . .

Slightly more “off the wall” but still very funny and the tune stays in your head! Next day, if anyone says Thank You, bet you’ll reply, Captain Dinosaur!!

Frog & the Scorpion – serious….. could replace scorpion with anyone really . . . .

A Classic – and one day, I’ll get round get to doing my own version of this . . . just need to source the costume??

April – lockdown continues . . .

Things starting to hit home about the devastating effects of this virus. Ten years of austerity & cuts, NHS sell offs plus losing 10% of NHS staff through Brexit (remember that?) . . . it’s looking dire but we count ourselves lucky and soldier on…