Although our two weeks of impeccably observed quarantine came to an end on Monday, it already feels like forever ago.
Nonetheless we are making the most of our first weekend of freedom which judging by today’s media may be our last until 2021. Good riddance 2020 I’ll be saying when the last of its wretched days time’s out in just over 100 days.
Friday evening we had a great night out at our local curry house with a good friend. Excellent as the evening was it was sad to see our favourite Indian restaurant virtually empty at peak time on a Friday. Hopefully the take out trade is keeping them afloat.
Saturday reminded us that sometimes you don’t have to travel to have a good day. We spent a sunny morning walking around our village bumping into Firemean Sam, Sonic the Hedgehog, Thomas the Tank Engine, Peppa Pig and other children’s TV characters as part of our village’s second Scarecrow Festival.
We joined hundreds of people from the village and beyond, armed with our guidebook, aiming to tick off as many of the 67 creatively designed scarecrows as we could. Postponed from the May bank holiday, because of the dreaded Rona, it was great to see the event, which raises funds for local funds, taking place.
After that we wandered into town to watch ‘Sounds of Swing’, a free open air concert performed by a popular local singer in a town centre park.
There was a lovely understated feel to the event as couples and families sat on the grass enjoying popular classics from Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones.
There were even some gentle swaying and a bit of communal singing as the set reached its climax with the classics New York, New York and Sweet Caroline.
These socially distant times lend themselves to a more restrained but still joyous atmosphere. As Covid cases are on the rise again, it was brave of the council not to panic and cancel the event. Because of that I sensed that no one took this live music event for granted and appreciated it just that little bit more.
An hour or so later the same singer was performing much the same set live on a neighbour’s drive, I could hear his dulcet tones drift into our back garden, making my hour of weeding that little more bearable.
As I long as I live I will forever associate the sound of live swing music in my garden, and the melancholy emotions it brings, with this weird Covid summer of 2020.