Mum's birthday

Mum's eightieth birthday today, so I felt sad not to be able to see her in person to celebrate. However with the pandemic raging away, there is no option. We chatted for an hour this morning, and during the day she received flowers from Toby and Romy, and more flowers from Lorraine and I, and had lots of messages and phone calls and presents, so I suppose it could have been a far worse. 

Lorraine went in to work to let a workman in, as her premises manager had broken her wrist some time before Christmas. Lorraine enjoyed the peace of a quiet school to do filing and other tasks uninterrupted. She also wait to hear the Government's health secretary's latest tightening of pandemic restrictions. Secondary schools are having their opening delayed, but not primary schools at present. I fervently wish they would.

I went for a long walk partially retracing my steps from yesterday's jaunt, and had a healthy walk around Wild Park. I had made noodles with miso soup before I went, and stupidly didn't take any water with me. Half way around wild park, scrambling in uphill in the woods, I was desperately parched. Back over Holingbury Hillfort as usual, spotted this dramatic plume of smoke, which for a moment wandered if it were coming from the area of our house, but it was nowhere near it, and it seemed to die away quite soon though I heard no fire engines.

Once home, Lorraine made a nut roast, which was rather nice having chestnuts, hazelnuts, mashed parsnip, mushroom, onion, breadcrumbs, egg and quite a bit of stilton cheese plus freshly picked sage from the back garden. It was quite delicious.