A bottle garden

A quiet Sunday and so Lorraine and I 'did the dungeon' which means going into the basement and moving things about in there to create more space. Beth called by for a cup of coffee and a lengthy chat about the game My Time In Portia with Lorraine. I read a bit more of the book I mainly read on Sunday, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, almost finished. The elevator pitch is simple: examine race through the lens of caste, but it is an excellent book. Lorraine wandering inside My Time In Portia, where her name is Linda, which makes Beth laugh lots, for some hours. Linda is constantly having to run around doing bizarre things like collecting mucus from snails, and animal faeces and rocks so she can manufacture things. Sometimes she gets into sword fights with giant ladybirds and so on. I leave Lorraine/Linda to her own devices.    

Spoke to Mum and to Toby. Mum and I decided to bump the trip up to London to see mum later in the week. Meanwhile Toby and Romy in lockdown doldrums. Two more weeks before things loosen up in Toronto. Meanwhile here the next stage begins tomorrow, timed to coincide with the contagious Indian variant taking off so there is a slightly nervous undercurrent to things suddenly. The government are saying that outbreaks of the new variant in places like Bolton creating hospitalisations are down to people in South Asian communities not getting vaccinated, which may be true but has a victim blaming ring to me. 

Hot on the heels of the Men's FA Cup defeat yesterday, Chelsea women's team played the European cup final but rapidly went four goals down to Barcelona and lost 4-0. 

Chicken stew tonight, and a bit of TV. Sam maintaining a low profile during the day, but seeming to liven up at night. 

Took a photo into my bottle garden today. It looks like this. It always has a bit of condensation on the glass and I am not sure what to do about this. But I like it very much. It is a bit like an aquarium in some ways, a lovely little biosphere.