In my last blog, I was pessimistic about being able to take advantage of the new relaxations in Covid regulations, with April being renowned for frequent showers. How wrong I was! We have had some really lovely Spring weather, allowing us to take full advantage of the ability to entertain in our garden. Our daughter, Fiona, and family have visited several times. My sister, Kate, and husband Dave, came over for an alfresco lunch, as did Clare and Roger, our friends from Stamford. It is wonderful to see them all again, in the flesh rather than on a computer screen. And since then, we have taken another step nearer to normality with the continuing rollout of Covid vaccinations. Doreen has just had her second jab and I have a date for mine (5th May).
For those of you following our son, Adam’s, DIY journey in his new flat, I can report that he and his flatmate, Chris, have now replaced the flush handle of the toilet. But Chris, who is charged with replacing the broken cistern lid (because he broke it!), has still not managed to procure a replacement. Meanwhile, Adam has been saving up for a full bathroom refurbishment but, tempted by his surplus cash, he decided to buy himself a new guitar. To be fair, I think he spends more time playing his guitar than in the bathroom, but it could be some time before we see a new and fully functional bathroom!
A major innovation this month was my acquisition of the Dragon voice-to-text software, recommended by MNDA. I am currently using it to create this month’s blog. It is a remarkable piece of software but not infallible. I had to read some specific text out loud so the software could get used to my voice and accent. There were also some tutorials to complete to learn how to use the system. But despite that, sometimes it just can’t understand what I’m saying, leading to multiple attempts to correct a particular word or phrase. In the previous paragraph, for example, ‘cistern lid’ came out as ‘sister laid’! After several attempts trying to correct “sister” I eventually had to spell “cistern”, but I’m impressed that I have that option. I’m told the software has a learning capability which will improve its accuracy with time. In the meantime though, it is saving me a great deal of effort typing which is becoming harder and harder to do.
Another plan that came to fruition this month was elevation of our desk. While sitting in the wheelchair, my knees were too high fit under the desk well. Our OT recommended raising the desk some time ago but working out how to do it posed something of a problem. Eventually we commissioned our nephew, Paul, to make two wooden plinths to fit under the pedestals. Perfect!
Towards the end of the month, our garden pond had another visitation from a mallard duck, but this time only a single male. Was he part of the pair we’d seen earlier? If so, where was the female? Perhaps incubating eggs somewhere nearby? How exciting!
On the subject of the garden pond, Doreen announced about a week ago, that our last goldfish had finally gone, presumably taken by a heron. This, of course, is not the first time she had made such an announcement but she was definitely convinced. She even shared her grief, later that day, with a Yodel lady delivery driver (who was very sympathetic). Two days later, the fish suddenly reappeared (again!). Now, Doreen doesn’t have my lifetime’s experience of peering into lakes and rivers in search of a cruising trout to which I can cast a fly. But those lakes and rivers were considerably bigger than our garden pond, and the trout are naturally camouflaged, unlike our brightly-coloured goldfish. The inevitable conclusion is that Doreen is just not very good at spotting fish!!!