These are our coronavirus days. We will remember them for the rest of our lives. Days when the calendar and the clock did not seem to matter very much. Days of Zoom and long phone conversations with loved ones. Lazy days with time to think, to read, to remember, to bake bread and plant seeds.
And yet, and yet...it is always there in the background isn't it? The Thing. Regular TV and radio are filled with it. Word after word. "Epidemic...testing...waves of infection...deaths...sobering...social distancing...health systems...PPE..." So many words that they wash over you. And there's The Orange sneering at journalists, petulant, awkwardly reading other people's words, caring only about re-election. Narcissus reborn.
Word after word. Number after number. Image after image. Plastic visors and coffins. Photographs of the living before they became the dead. Smiling. Unaware. As a Yorkshire centenarian pushes his rollator up and down his driveway. Wearing his medals.
Yes. These are our coronavirus days. Like a long holiday but with persistent tension in the air. Like the top E string on a guitar. Over-tightened and taut as though it might snap.
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| Cowslip |
On Wednesday, I walked in Graves Park. Not graves as in a huge burial ground but Graves as in John George Graves the Sheffield philanthropist who gave that splendid 227 acre park to the city.
There's a lot of variety. Ancient woodland, sports pitches, streams, an animal farm, a nursery, a cafe, meandering paths. By a meadow arrayed with cowslips I sat upon a sunny bench to read for half an hour. Nobody else wandered by that secluded spot.
Then I ambled to the fields where over the years generations of highland cattle have grazed with their unwieldy horns and their Beatles fringes. On Wednesday afternoon there were just two adolescents - one black and one ginger. They play-fought or perhaps they were just scratching each other's heads. You wouldn't want to mess around with horns like that. Fortunately, theirs is a very gentle breed.
I made a short diversion to the churchyard of Norton St James. Within nicely painted blue railings there is the grave of England's foremost Regency period sculptor - Sir Francis Chantrey (1781-1841). He created lasting portrait sculptures of both King George III and George IV as well as James Watt and William Pitt the Younger. Our American cousins may be interested to learn that he also created a classical sculpture of George Washington that can still be seen in the Massachusetts State House.
I thought that looked like George Washington when I saw your post. Your mention of Sir Francis Chantrey sent me on an adventure of checking out his other work. It proved to be an interesting side trip so thank you for mentioning him!
ReplyDeleteAt that time there was no sculptor in America who could match Chantrey's proven skill. The sculpture was commissioned after Washington's death and Chantrey was loaned an important painting of the first president to achieve a likeness. You probably read all that Bonnie.
DeleteYou are up early! I forgot to tell you - I enjoyed the cattle photos!
DeleteAnd you are up late Bonnie! Time for bed young lady!
DeleteWhat perfect timing in that first shot! The cattle are beautiful in their shagginess.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the cloud over life now. My routine has not changed much but that grey cloud is always in the background.
Yes that first picture was fortunate. The tongue came out just as I was about to snap.
DeleteI meant to say serendipitous but I wrote my first reply at 5am when my brain was half asleep.
DeleteThis type of cattle is one that I like particularly, for their ancient look and gentle temperament.
ReplyDeleteBut my favourite here is clearly the cowslip! Inwardly, I skip for joy whenever I see cowslip on a meadow or in someone's garden. If I had a garden, I'd definitely have cowslip there, and forgetmenots.
Like jenny_o says, my routine has not changed much but "all this" is still present. I am glad it is the weekend; work was once again rather busy this week.
I have never seen so many cowslips in one place. On previous occasions there has only been grass there. I wonder how long cowslips last. Have a nice weekend Meike.
DeleteDays by Kirsty McColl started to playing in my mental jukebox YP. Love the Highland cattle photos.
ReplyDeleteI just went over to YouTube Dave. What a great version of the song! Thanks.
DeleteThe days are quite relaxing and pleasant, our routine at home carries on as normal. But you are right, in the background there is that constant anxiety and awareness that things are not okay in the world and that something unprecedented in our lifetime is happening. Love the photos of the coos.
ReplyDeleteAye hen, Heeland coos!
DeleteThe cattle photo is lovely. Reminds me that I badly need a haircut.
ReplyDeleteMe too. My head is like a mop.
DeleteA holiday for many. A time of nail biting for the self-employed. A time of hell for those on the frontline.
ReplyDeleteThanks. The differentiation is important ADDY. I hope your Kay is coping and keeping safe at the frontline where thank God - most of us will never go.
DeleteIt must be a totally different life near a town than it is in a small village. The quietness must be double the size of quietness a village feels, if that makes sense. My friend on the other side of the church has told me the mistle thrush is building a nest in the trellising but the sparrows are stealing the feathers. So and so has asked after me and I fill her in with my news. She might walk round the grave yard later on and talk, but she is deaf and it is difficult. That is life today, no coffees on the settee!
ReplyDeleteSpilling coffee on your settee can indeed by very concerning.
DeleteI looked up highland cattle and I'm surprised we don't have more here as they do well in cold weather. I love their shaggy heads.
ReplyDeleteLife hasn't changed much here except the chronic tension in my shoulders and the poor sleeps I've been getting. At least the sun has come out today and we'll take a walk in the country.
I wonder if there are Highland cattle in the east of Canada. Perhaps your winters are a little too harsh. Enjoy the walk with your bodyguard Lily.
DeleteAccording to Google, there are a number of farms now raising Highland cattle (for meat, horrors, I hadn't connected the dots) in Nova Scotia. So the answer is yes. Now I feel sorry for them. Still, it's probably better than commercial beef production ...
DeleteYou nailed it, Mr. P. The shadow hanging over all of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the statue of George Washington I thought that perhaps it was a local one for you and thought, "Whoa! George had a twin!"
What beautiful cattle.
I doubt that George Washington would have ever dressed in that classical garb. I wonder what he might say to the 45th president if they met in the District of Columbia.
DeleteCovid-19 is like a holiday but we can't go anyplace. I think covid will be remembered for a very long time simply because the media we have, will find it to easy to retell.
ReplyDeleteIt won't just be the media. It will be the ordinary people too. It's like our World War III.
DeleteSomehow I think George Washington would find that statue ridiculous. But who knows. Maybe he was into classical garb.
ReplyDeleteThese are very weird times, no doubt. I often wonder how we'll look back on this period in the future.
At that time (1826) there was a fashion in portrait sculpture to hark back to the classical age. Regarding the second point, let us hope that this is very much a one off - not to be repeated in our lifetimes.
DeleteI've tried, but can't make those words fit Ray Davies' tune at all. How about:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the days
Those endless days coronavirus brought us
I'm thinking of the days
Remembering what social distancing taught us
That when outside
To keep at least six feet away from others
To only make
Essential trips and not visit our mothers
To wash our hands
To wash them well and never touch our faces
To keep at least
Six feet away from all, no social graces
To exercise
Just once a day: a bike ride, run or walking
And don't go far
For if you do you'll have the police a-stalking
So stay inside
Except for health or work or food procuring
Because it's grim
So grim that if you catch it there's no curing
Days I'll remember all my life ...
On the edge of genius Mr Dunham. Well done!
DeleteThe poor small cowslip, with the great orange hovering over it. Sort of like it hovering behind Hillary Clinton in the debates. Well, this too will end.
ReplyDeleteYour photographs have such fine detail. Every hair of those cattle.
I believe that the orange bush is called berberis darwinii. I have observed Hillary Clinton in several British chat shows and she comes across as a thoroughly decent human being with both intelligence and compassion - two qualities that the 45th president appears to have missed out on.
Delete