Quarantine is bad for health

Vancouver sunset

 

 

Here I am, in quarantine again.... as I am now returned from visiting my family in Vancouver. 

To say that this is hard would be an understatement.

Another 14 days of being confined to quarters, with nothing to do but talk to my other half (OH), weed the garden, and consider my navel.

The lack of anticipation of big hugs all round makes this second 14 days feel like a very different experience.

Quarantine is bad for my health.

 

Not to mention the health of the airlines. 

 

This is Calgary airport international terminal.

 

My flight to Gatwick was the only flight listed on the board.

 

 

Calgary airport in the time of Covid-19

 

Before I left England I wrote to my MP asking why I had to quarantine on my return when there is much less Covid-19 in Canada than in the UK. 

 

He replied saying that he is too busy to reply. 

I think it is something to do with Brexit.....

Meanwhile I am quietly losing my marbles and the airlines are quietly going bankrupt.

Here is the arrivals area at Gatwick.

Anyway, apart from being just a tiny bit miffed, I am well and had a wonderful time in Vancouver with my family. 

All activities were outdoors, and on some days we could almost forget about the pandemic.

 

 

We walked the seawall. 

We cycled the seawall.

We swam in the sea, in mountain lakes and walked in the forest. 

All were cool and refreshing.

 

There are a lot of pine trees in Canada. 

 

 

 

 

 

And bears...... 

This is classic bear country.

 

Not to mention cougars......

 

Canada is a dangerous country.......

Or so my inner voice tells me whenever I try to walk alone in the forest.

Best to walk in a group. 

Which makes contemplative landscape photography almost impossible for one who is easily spooked.

Playing with a snow shovel on the beach and making pirate ships out of driftwood was much more appealing.

In Harrison Hot Springs I found the Sasquatch less of a threat.....

The Sasquatch is a much revered creature with a conveniently sized 2 metre arm span.

The hot springs were closed...... not so convenient. 

As were the kayaks and bicycle hire.

But my son and I did find ourselves on the set for a new movie 'Solitary'.

On asking, we were initially told that they were filming 'a movie' . 

But we were persistent. 

We dug deeper... and were told that it is about ' a man who has been in solitary confinement for 7 years and is then released into the world in the grip of a covid-19 pandemic  and social isolation'. 

I for one can't wait. Who needs 007?

Social distancing advice from the Sasquatch

When walking alone I decided to 'notice what I notice'.

I am known for noticing traffic cones and small things.

I cannot be the only person to think that the cones of Vancouver have been renamed for the pandemic.

The other thing that I notice in Canada is deciduous trees; mainly because there are so few of them.

I miss them when away from England. They are mostly found only in parks and gardens.

I enjoy the changes of autumn. The beauty of a single leaf left on the tip of a branch.

Mountain, tree, leaf.

Sources of great pleasure.

Enough.  Time to stop writing.

I am in quarantine and have lots to do.....

OH has gone out to do real things like sailing and walk on the beach.

He has left me with some potatoes. I will feast later.

For now I have just had a delivery from the postman; a new book.

'Japanese book binding' by Kojiro Ikegami.

I shall spend the rest of the day learning some different types of Japanese and Chinese bindings.

I will leave you with my video '14 days'..... from my first quarantine.

They really weren't so bad!

here I am again..... back in blighty......lost for words but feeling lucky

wild bluebell and anemone

Spring has sprung.

I am back in the UK, and I have nothing to say.

I am trying to settle back into noisy, litter strewn suburbia. And I don't find it easy.

I do like my own bed though.

And being reunited with my friends.

And weeding the garden.

wild garlic

 As for a blog though, I am stuck.

So I thought I would try tying the numbers 123 as a search into my vast collection of photos on my hard drive as a way to find images randomly. Images containing these numbers consecutively pop into view.

And what you see here today, are the results of this random search.

I find spring flowers.

And some water.

A Finnish tit.

bird on a boot

A Scottish mountain.

Ben Eighe

An Applecross blackbird in a tree

who can resist the song of the blackbird?

A Norwegian camp fire

fire was here

Some Camber cones.

the cones of Camber

Some South island sand

sand patterns

A highland grit pile with a cannister on top

grit installation

A French fountain in Trelex

fountain, Trelex

Some random beach matter from New Zealand

random beach material

A hiking sign from Geneva

this way please

Some New Zealand coffee

refresfments, Kiwi style

A Yorkshire snail with cone

refreshments, Yorkshire style

A dry stone wall

dry stone wall

What do these say about me?


I like trees, water, cones, stones, birds, mountains, beaches, hiking and travel.

That just about sums me up.

I certainly should have smiling eyes today.

I have travelled the world and lived to tell some tales.

I have been lucky.

And you get to see some of the very strange images lurking on my hard drive.

You may feel that I am luckier than you.

Japanese t-shirt