Thursday photo #339

Here we go again, back to lockdown. Hasn’t 2020 been the strangest year? A couple of news reports yesterday suggested that there was a small chance a vaccine may be ready by Christmas. Realistically, that means that the vulnerable will be receiving it between Easter and Summer next year. Whilst that seems a long way off, we have to accept it as a positive sign. It’s amazing how quickly the vaccine development has progressed. At least it gives us hope that 2021 might not be such a washout.

Business as usual

I feel exceptionally lucky this time around that lockdown will change virtually nothing for me. I feel sorry for the children because all their activities will stop or go online. In particular, they’ll really miss swimming and horse riding. And perhaps it tells a rather sad tale about me that nothing I do has been banned. Once a week, I swim in the river with one friend and I run once a week with a different friend. I already work from home. We see my mum every week and she is in our bubble anyway.

My dad won’t be able to pop round for coffee, but he would have been isolating for an operation anyway. So all in all, not much has changed. In fact, this is my favourite time of year and I feel lucky to be able to make the most of it. The river is getting colder. Everywhere is beautiful with the leaves changing colour. In Autumn, all I ever want to do is swim, walk and run outdoors. And this year, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Things we can still do

Starting as we mean to go on, we spent the day walking at Croft Castle on Friday. It was indescribably beautiful. It’s a stunning place to visit at any time of year but if you’re able to make it there in autumn, I would highly recommend it.

Thankfully, National Trust properties are still able to open their outdoor areas during lockdown this time. The same goes for other outdoor areas such a the Malvern Hills. We won’t venture far but our plans do include a lot of walking.

Another thing we may do this time around is sign up to online classes via our gym. The girls will miss out a lot more on exercise during the winter. Libby in particular is trying to get a bit stronger for her swimming anyway, so it seems like a good opportunity to do something different. One day I’ll learn to appreciate home workouts. Perhaps that’s something positive that could come out of the next few weeks.

Thursday photo #339

Between lockdown and the US election, Halloween seems like a really long time ago. I’ve never taken the girls trick or treating before because I don’t like the idea of knocking on random people’s doors asking for things. But they were really keen to do it, so we went to see my sisters. It was a great opportunity to catch up for one last time before lockdown and the girls had a great time playing Halloween themed games and collecting sweets.