Practise makes perfect ….so they say

For people like me an awful lot of practise is required to get anywhere near “perfect” – I remember when I was revising for my final physiotherapy exams, I went to the library every night for three hours, probably eight weeks before the exam. I would read through the subject then write down all I had learned – not being enough , I would read again and write again ( I should point out, there were no computers in those days – all writing was done by hand with pen on paper!). Did it pay off I hear you ask – it did indeed, I passed my exams – but my room mate also passed her exams just reading through each subject a couple of weeks beforehand!! See my point?

Whilst I have plenty to say on my blog – I am struggling with getting to grips with “Word” on this iPad . I managed to lose the keyboard yesterday – it vanished completely – and I still don’t know how I got it back. I know how my adoptive mother- in-law feels ( don’t ask – I mean how do you adopt a mother- in -law? All I can say, is that unlike adopting a gorilla in Africa or elephant in Thailand, the Dearly Beloved is very pleased with this particular adoption….note to self – remember to explain about this lovely lady at a later date) – anyway when we last saw her she had a problem with her iPad but was explaining she hesitates to use it much because she is so worried she will press the wrong button and everything will disappear. I know how she feels – what is more worrying for me though , is that she was born twenty four years before me !!! So I need to practise…….

At this point the DB will be saying “ for goodness sake get on with what you wanted to say – no wonder your battery ran down so quickly yesterday ….”

Certainly my creative writing left me during Covid but it didn’t mean I was inactive or bored – part of my routine was baking cakes for those neighbours working under difficult circumstances ie in the NHS or in schools and I also started to crochet ! Not blankets or anything thing straightforward- not I . Jump straight in at the deep end and crochet animals ! My very good friend ( and neighbour as it happens) had started this hobby and persuaded me to start, and so I did – and what a challenge ! I asked friends and family what their children’s (and of those, 7 were my grandchildren) favourite animal was! Well if I’d hoped for a dog or a cat ( simple things to make) – I certainly didn’t get them ! A giraffe, a wolf, a unicorn, a dinosaur …….. as I said just jump in the deep end- take a risk- that’s how I learnt !

So I have been far from idle, despite it all feeling very strange! So finally I’d like to share some of my reflections of the past two years with you ….

A time when Corona became much more than a Mexican beer , Zoom became more than a child’s ice lolly, and a positive result became anything but positive!

WFH or Working From Home became the norm -people were even banned from entering their places of work. I don’t know about you but how difficult was it to WFH BC ( by that I mean Before Covid not Before Christ!) – fair nigh impossible!

Our language became full of abbreviations- PCR tests and LFT’s became part of everyday language – so much so that “ Lateral Flow” has been added to the Oxford Dictionary , and the Collins dictionary has declared “ lockdown”as the word of the year!

For even those of us without an elite education – letters of the Greek alphabet became part of every day language . Whoever knew Omicron was a letter in the Greek alphabet – I always thought Omega was the “O” but there you go!

We even washed our shopping can you believe! – and let the post sit for two or three days without opening it in case we caught Covid from touching it! Paying by cash became a thing of the past and whereas BC a lady’s handbag essentials were a lipstick and a vanity mirror, suddenly every handbag contained a mask and small bottle of hand gel – who needed lipstick?

Now though, as in 1869 after the famine , although Covid is still very much around, the danger has passed and we have all joined together again thank goodness. So enjoy the freedoms we have , the friends and family we have and the lives we have …….and I leave you with this ….