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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 Tewkesbury for some dental work for Teresa – never a pleasant experience.

 

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 Cheltenham.  This time, we arrived in time to grab a near-by free on-street parking space.

 

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.

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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 Tewkesbury Hospital, preceded by a Covid test on Monday 19 in Gloucester.

 

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 Cheltenham General Hospital, followed by a blood test the following week.  No immediate problems, and Roger found himself free of the need to wear glasses for most purposes, other that a marginal improvement in distant vision using his old prescription with one lens removed.

 

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 Littleton, where Roger enters a rink in both the Morning and Afternoon leagues.   Wins are hard to come by, but they had opened their account by the end of October.  Meanwhile, Overbury Bowling Club held its AGM on 28 November.

 

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 Tewkesbury High Street on Christmas Shopping Saturday, and received quite a bit of attention.

 

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 Athens to see in the New Year was much kinder to our ageing body clocks.

 

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