Journal 2021
January
We entered the New
Year still under Covid restrictions.
That meant no indoor bowls for Roger, so we continued our sporting
endeavours by playing miniature golf in our neighbour’s garden. Despite the winter weather, we managed to get
in two or three games every week. Roger
also drove Juliet to Beckford once a week, mainly in order to keep the car in
running order, but also giving Juliet a break from driving herself.
Roger had his
first Covid vaccination on 9 January – an early morning
appointment: the centre, in Cheltenham,. was very quiet and he was
waved straight in, jabbed, and out again after the 15 minutes
observation. No after effects from the jab, but ten days later we
received a Parking Penalty Notice from the firm managing the near-by car park
we used. We had been particularly careful to take the right money
for the car park to avoid any possible delay in getting to this important
appointment – we rarely use car-parks these days and have been known to
struggle with card-payments. But foolishly we had thrown the ticket
out as soon as we returned home. Both Teresa and I wrote angry
letters to the firm – ParkingEye – and eventually they cancelled the penalty,
but without any attempt at explanation, still less apology. We since
discovered that this firm is notorious for its heavy-handed treatment of its
customers, and heard of other incidents from our small circle of acquaintances,
and also from cases reaching the national and local press. My first
reaction on opening the penalty notice letter had been to say –
SCAM! Nothing since has changed my mind.
We had a
snowfall before the end of the month, which interrupted our ‘golf’ for a few
days. Our routine was otherwise largely
unaffected – Christmas decorations cleared, tree sent off for recycling – and
we continued entertaining ourselves in the evening with a series of old films –
some reviewing of old favourites, but more often catching up on those
previously unseen.
February
Thanks to the
generally mild winter, our routine continued to include ‘golf’ in the morning
or a brisk walk around the village. But
also a couple of trips to
March
On Tuesday 2
Teresa’s first jab – at the chemist in Bishop’s Cleeve, so an excuse to bring
home fish and chips for lunch. Followed
on Thursday 25 by Roger’s second dose – again in
Finally, on the
last day of the month, we celebrated Teresa’s birthday. In the morning we looked round the large
garden centre in Moreton-on-Marsh, whose facilities and little café we had
often enjoyed in the past. But, as is
often the way with such places, they had made many ‘improvements’ and it didn’t
seem quite the same. But Teresa’s
beautifully prepared birthday meal made up for it all later on, not to mention
a glass or two of wine.
owever
April
Teresa had for
some time been planning, in consultation, of course, with Jay and Sam,
arrangements for their wedding.
Ceremonies were now permitted, with strict restrictions on numbers. Venues were
keen to get back into business again after months of strict
lock-down. So it was that we agreed a
deal for a May wedding at the Tewkesbury Park Hotel for a civil ceremony,
followed by wedding breakfast, for 30 guests.
This hotel had only recently been voted wedding venue of the year. It offered a brand new wedding suite in a
wing of the hotel, which is itself set in spectacular parkland just outside the
town. On Sunday 18 April the four of us
went out there for lunch, and were suitably impressed.
On the same
day, Roger’s bowls club opened its green.
With a number of safety protocols in place, and limited numbers,
inter-club matches were again allowed to take place. However, Roger could not immediately resume
bowling, as his second cataract operation had been scheduled for Wednesday 21
April at
May
Roger had again
undertaken the captaincy of the Mid-week
Friendly bowls matches (also known by some clubs as ‘Seniors’), though he did
not play in the first few games as a precaution after his eye operation. As it happened, the first three games were
lost or curtailed because of bad weather.
He resumed bowling himself towards the end of May, his first game being
in the men’s evening Triples League.
Before then,
however, was the much more important matter of the wedding of Juliet and Sam on
Saturday 2 May.
Link to Wedding Page
June – July - August
Good summer
weather enabled Roger to enjoy a full programme of bowls, in Men’s league
matches, in inter-club friendlies and in Club competitions, with somewhat mixed
results.
On 5 August
Roger had a thorough eye test at
Roger’s
birthday was celebrated on Monday 10, with scrumptious fare provided by Teresa,
and thoughtful presents from all the family, including a new set of bowling
woods – coloured, as is now the fashion, but also engraved with his name. We all went up to the Club to try them, but
briefly only, as the weather turned on us.
However, by the end of season he was using them regularly in friendly
matches.
The bowls Club
Finals day on Sunday 29 saw Roger make an appearance in the Veteran’s final for
the first time, but he was comfortably beaten on the day. The following day, Monday 30, saw Teresa come
away from the Winchcombe Show with much more success, with several cups and
places, repeating her successes of previous years – a high bar to set, I have
to say.
September
Sunday 26 saw
the Closing of the Green at the Bowling Club – a good turn-out for a fun day’s
play and the presentation of prizes.
In an
extraordinary incident, Roger happened to be looking out of the window for a
few minutes one day (from a room we use mostly as a music room nowadays) when,
in front of his eyes, a section of the
dry-stone wall at the front of the house gradually collapsed on to the
pavement. It was almost like watching
the pictures that are sometimes shown of tower blocks collapsing. Luckily the fall did not injure or
inconvenience any third parties and we were soon able to find a dry-stone
waller to re-erect it. The odds against
seeing it happen must have been astronomical.
October – November -
December
Indoor bowling
resumed again at
Roger had his
Covid booster jab on 13 October, followed by Teresa’s on 27 November.
Teresa’s
friend, Mike, called in on 6 November on his way back from a weekend up
north. Teresa prepared, as usual, a
stunning lunch, after we which we subsided into easy chairs with a glass of
wine to hear of his exploits.
Jay continued
to play in the Training Band section of the Tewkesbury Brass Band, and they
resumed public performance with a pre-Christmas concerts in the Methodist Hall
on 13 November and at the Roses Theatre on 4 December. They also performed in
Our Christmas
and New Year arrangements were more or less back to normal this year, though
some events were shifted in time. For
example, our Christmas lunches and presents ceremonies were duplicated to take
account of Helen’s availability – as a shift-working nurse, she was rostered to
work most of Christmas week itself – while joining the good people of