Sorry I haven’t been writing any new material for some months now . . . .I was diagnosed with advanced but localised prostate cancer and this has somewhat taken up my time and thoughts. I shan’t be mentioning that on here, as I want to keep this a Trefin blog and not everyone wants to read all the gory details – as I’m not going to hold back on my experiences. Hopefully the blog will help other men who may be travelling down the same road:
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It’s Viv’s Birthday!
Another year goes by and so fast – obviously we must be having too much fun! We enjoyed a lovely and impromptu birthday breakfast at our local cafe (Caffi y Ragna) together with our good friends & neighbours, Lynne & David. The major celebration was later at the Golden Lion in Newport . . .smashing meal and home for some XP Brandy.
A Pembrokeshire Garden
What do you do if you’re given a T3b .. . .make a soothing video of your garden . . . .
……
Easter
What day is it? What season? Will the wind ever stop blowing? How have 1 in 400 people been allowed to die in the UK? Are you all basking in the glory that is Brexit? Meanwhile….try to be upbeat Steven . . .reading Failures of State – good book. Watching films, playing games, getting jabbed, keeping our heads down, barely going out, definitely not meeting people . . .the usual.
It’s March – a lost year
Yes, another year goes by . . .it seems a long time ago that we were sat in the bar of the Square and Compass, listening to the phone ringing and hearing people after people cancelling their Mother’s Day meal . .. Covid was coming. So what news? Spring is here – hordes of daffodils everywhere, which is nice. The greenhouse has gone back up – but will it stay up? Viv’s cross-stitch is coming along nicely. Grayson Perry’s Art Club is back on – which is really great and uplifting. The bird camera has been redeployed to record our night visitors – badgers!!
Life Goes On
I suppose you have to be positive. UK deaths now, due to Covid, over 120,000. People are getting their jabs but schools look set to return soon and you know what happened last time . . .
Life in Trefin creeps on – Spring flowers are blossoming. It’s slowly warming up – just getting to double figures now. The new batch of beer (Willl’s Olde English Ale) is done and bottled. We’re just wishing that the wind would stop (more 50 mph gales today) and gallons of rain . . .still, last Feb was far worse…..
Toby seems to be OK – getting older – he keeps us awake at night – always moving around, panting and then going out at 0400.
Seven Swans a Swimming
A trip to Pwllcrochan to check on our friend James, saw us visiting the pond to see some new arrivals – seven swans. Looks like mute swans – two adults and their offspring – Mum, Dad and the kids!
Toby has a new toy – the Chuck-It device, to er, chuck a ball. He really loves it. I can throw the ball so much further and also pick it up – not using my hands! But the after effects mean one very tired doggie . . .
Did you come here to die?
Well, time for a blog post. I keep putting it off as, tbh, I fear that putting pen to paper will only cause an big outpouring of grief and venom but . . . it needs to be done. And one reason for this blog and the previous narrowboat blog, was to provide a visual diary for when we are (more) gaga and need a reminder of what we got up to. But in this blog, it’s more of a time capsule for those survive the virus and dig this up when we’re gone . . .any day now, if this government (UK) has it’s way.
We feel we are just sitting at home waiting for the virus to come to us. Every news story seems to be bleak. We look at other countries and are amazed at how things are back to normal – my nephew in Perth . . .back down the pub*. Only 25 dead in New Zealand. Only 909 dead in the whole of Australia. . . .here, the UK has 106,000 dead, so far . . .to us, it seems so simple, close the borders but no, it looks like they are putting the economy ahead of the people, again. I came across the Swiss Cheese model for damage control – originally for disaster analysis in health, aviation etc but much more significant for this current virus:
I think that this an easily to understand analogy – the trouble is we haven’t had that many layers and people need to understand that no single layer (like getting a vaccine) will be 100% successful. To be really safe you need more layers – such as CLOSE THE BORDER. The virus has no legs, IT doesn’t move – people move it! In fact today (02/02/21) we hear that 20,000 people/day are entering this country, bringing in different variants of the virus . . .thus making your recent jab less effective . . .maybe only 50-60%. But then, the main reason we are one of the worst countries in the world (more deaths per million) is that we have this chap in charge:
*more about the recent Perth lockdown – one person (yes, just one person) tested positive and Wham! The Oz gov shutdown the border instantly, tracked all his contacts – published them. When I say, shut down, I mean a hard border with barriers and police . .not a vague Tier 4… leaving it up to the populace to lockdown https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-02/this-is-perth-in-lockdown/13108940
But no one seems culpable – no one accepts the blame – no one resigns . . .this New Statesman article is brilliant at describing Boris . . .
Meanwhile, life, for the time being, goes on . . .Steve is making his 4th batch of beer and has bought a bottle washer and a bottle stacker plus some bottle caps – although unsure of the name (imported from Italy, lucky to get them but Corona?). There is some sign of Spring as we have daffodils coming up along with crocus, snowdrops and tulips . . .
Sunday Stroll
With the police on patrol to enforce the illegal gatherings of the populace at car parks and lay-bys . . .we went for a Sunday afternoon stroll from the house . . .out along the Abercastle road, turning off to Pwll Long, across the fields to the coastal path and round to Abercastle but turning up to Carreg Samson and then home on the road.
How time flies when you’re having fun . . .
Thought I would add a few photos out of the 100’s taken over the last three months….a lot has happened. We’re now in Lockdown 3.0 – the worst sequel ever! They said that if we had “got away” with just 20,000 deaths from Covid we’d be lucky….well, as I write it’s 100,000 – bing! Another world beater, eh? Could we have done better – I think so . . .some countries are surprised to get one death . . (China) and many others have almost returned to normal . . .Oz, NZ . . .. Facebook post below is interesting . . .
https://www.facebook.com/NoActuallyThatsBollocks/posts/204702981290782
There are lots of photos but I’ll leave you with this one – a lucky piece of timing, from our garden and maybe an optimistic view for the future . . . .it’s life, Jim but not as we know it!