I thought that if I was going to write something this week, I should do it today and not wait until tomorrow – April Fools Day. I am sure that if we had been told that we would have to isolate ourselves in our homes on the 1st April we would all have thought it was an elaborate April Fool joke. Unfortunately, that is not the case and the true extent of the health crisis facing us is beginning to feel real. There is good news, the efforts put in by everyone do seem to be paying off but there is still a long way to go. However in among all of the bad news there is lots of good and although there still seem to be people who are not being considerate of others there are many more who are doing their best to make sure we do not become too despondent.
Not least amongst these are some of our own members and I am sure you will all join me in thanking Paul McCarthy for his extremely entertaining and informative quizzes which greet us every day. Personally, I have had mixed fortunes. I was very good on the first one – my general knowledge of animals served me in good stead, and quite good on the Liverpool questions, although to be honest I can’t remember ever noticing that Bessie Braddock was holding an egg, never mind knowing why. (That little gem is definitely being added to my visitor information pack). My space knowledge was rather more limited. There was quite a lot of ‘I’m sure I know the answer but ……’ Thank you Paul.
I also know you will all want to thank our Hon Treasurer, Martin, for his excellent work in keeping us all up to date with the financial position. Martin has been working tirelessly and I cannot aye how much I appreciate all his efforts.
This missive is not meant to be too serious though. I am lucky to live in Lydiate about 5 minutes walk from the fields and lanes of the Lancashire plain. Having two dogs I have been making the most of the opportunity to get out and enjoy my one daily walk with them. Last week the weather was beautiful and during one walk I heard a woodpecker, saw potatoes being harvested and then saw some oyster catchers enjoying the newly ploughed up earth. On another morning the sun was shining, the sky was blue and in one of the fields, still showing the signs of the heavy rain we had earlier in the year, there was an expanse of water which was the most beautiful shade of turquoise. One of my walks takes me past a market garden and in a field opposite their greenhouses there was a mound of earth which had been dumped with the remains of past plantings – a rather sad but beautiful array of abandoned flowers – pansies and primroses in every shade. In other fields the farmers have been working hard and showing that life carries on as normal and many of the fields are now ploughed and waiting for their new crops.
I hope that you are finding ways of keeping yourselves occupied but I thought I would end this one with a little challenge of my own.
Take a look at the cartoon below and see how many well-known phrases or figures of speech you can come up with. There are supposed to be 27 although quite a few more can be found. I will send out the 27 answers which the cartoonist used to design the picture tomorrow but see what you can do in the meantime.
One to start with:
The cat’s got his tongue
Very best wishes to you all
Gaynor
