20th April

It is Easter Monday and I have put in a request so that I can go to the Cemetery and check on Dad.  I haven't been for a month and now that Sheila and Klaus have moved I know that the flowers will need looking after more regularly.

The pots were dry but still flowering so I dead-headed and gave them a soaking before taking a call from John who suggested it might be nice to do a video call with Mum so that she can see Dad - she would normally swing by on a Sunday before coming to us for lunch but of course that hasn't been possible for the last month.

It was a truly glorious day, I dread to think what Dad would have made of the situation we are currently in but latterly he was always quite happy to stay in just so long as he had a glass of red wine, some food, Mum and the cat to keep him company.

I managed to get hold of Mum and to turn the camera so she could see Dad - not easy when it is very sunny - I had no idea exactly what I was pointing at!!

I think Klaus and/or Sheila may have been at their old house - the car was on the drive and the gates open - I expect they are still moving the bits that weren't dealt with by Peter Morton.

Because of Lockdown so much of the countryside is untouched and so the spring flowers are stunning.  This photograph really doesn't do the field of poppies justice and this year the Lazarus Lilies have been left alone rather than cut down for Easter.  There are probably loads of beautiful orchids on the back road out of Kritou Tera.  I am half tempted to drive down to Polis that way next time we go shopping just so I can have a look.  We wont but these are the sorts of simple pleasures that we are really missing at the moment.

We were having a day doing nothing - John was aching after his block building yesterday.  It being Monday I was going to do some art.  The Lockdown Challenge this week is SPACE which can be interpreted in any way and in any medium - I realise now just how long the pastel pencil pictures I do take because I couldn't knock anything up decent in a week.  I am resorting to the scabby old watercolours I have most of which are rock hard and refuse to come out of their tubes - I think they are socially isolating.

After a lot of fiddle-arsing about this was the only attempt I thought worthy of entry and even then I thought that people might think it should go into the Younger Persons album!!

The art is a welcome relief from doing battle with Primetel because Mum is still waiting for her internet to be fixed.  I really don't know what to do for the best because now they inform me that the 'known fault' is down to CYTA ans Primtel piggy-backs off of CYTA lines.  They have 'promised' me that it is to be fixed tomorrow but I am not holding my breath.

We have started to watch a series called The Nest - a good story but as it is based in Glasgow the accents would make it impossible for Mum to understand - sometimes I struggle when the brogue is particularly strong.

Just a nice quiet day today - tomorrow John has earmarked either the cleaning of the woodburner external pipework or the clearing of the wood storage box temporarily stowed on the decking - my cup runneth over.

Extract from the Ration Book...
The campaign to save and re-use materials extended well beyond fabric and clothing. Here are a few of the things the government was keen to collect:
- Waste Paper
- Rags
- Bones
- Pots and Pans
You may wonder what on earth these could be used for, but they did make a difference to the war effort.  The paper and rags were reprocessed - 'recycled' we'd say today - while the bones were turned into glue for aircraft manufacture.
As for the pots and pans, their aluminium was to be used to make the Spitfires which played such a vital role against the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain.

20th April was Hitler's Birthday - not a lot of people know that.