Alliums

Dear goodness, I appear to have found my niche at last! It involves providing telephone support when helping older people install and access Zoom for the first time.

I spent the morning helping two such people get going, in preparation for a birthday party by Zoom this afternoon. I also blew up some balloons, wrapped a virtual present ( a jar of aubergine pickle) and made a cake out of two rice cakes sandwiched tother with cheese and chutney, with a chutney topping and a lighted cake candle. Later, after lunch (pasta and veg) I went to the corner shop to buy flour for a friend. Being muddled, I was early, so went for a walk in the rain-wet park, where I saw this seed head.

When I got back, I made tea for Steve and then got into my ridiculous party costume. Everyone manged to join the party apart from the birthday woman, whom I had assumed to have prior knowledge of Zoom...

Once she had got on board, we had a fine time with party jokes, costumes, a bottle stall game I had invented, and a general catch up. My connection dropped for a while, but everyone else stayed on. The upshot is that we've arranged for another for Sunday (another birthday) and a quieter one for Steve's sister's birthday on Saturday. That's in addition to the the Zooms we do already, with more sort-of-work Zooms creeping in. This is life in lockdown.

My colleague called round this evening, to collect a birthday card from a great distance. She is back at school, supporting one child, three days a week, wearing a mask and special clothing. Another colleague is also back. I had no idea. I have not been called upon (yet).

Dinner was pasta and veg (again). Steve hadn't had it for lunch. Now we're watching Blood (series 1) and Normal People