Briefly, summer

Earlier this week I was cursing the fate that had led me to arrange my first hair appointment for 5 months to be on the only really warm day in weeks, but in the event the more summery aspects of today were crowded into a space of about 5 hours before a cold front moved in, heralded by the wonderful sky that made me post this photo as my main for today. I've not touched the colours - the field was that crazy green after all the rain, the yellow flowers along the shore road shone like lights, the cloud was livid and menacing (we didn't have raincoats) and totally wonderful. The air was warm, and all the people we might have expected to see here a couple of hours earlier seemed all to have gone home for their tea.

My extra is of me at the hairdresser, waiting for the colour to take. The salon was much changed from my previous visits; Michael had spent a great deal on posh, moveable screens between stations as well as one or two cheaper ones for emergency segregation if needed. There was sanitiser everywhere, from the dispenser (hands-free) that I was asked to use just inside the door, to the big bottle in front of me that Michael used and I used when I felt the need, to the bottles of soap, sanitiser and spray cleaner in the toilet. There were no magazines (the hairdresser is the only place I read them) and no coffee. But it was great to have someone even out the rough places where I'd run over the limit with the clippers, neatly snip all the ends and slightly tufty bits that I'd got away with on zoom - and the colour is much more exciting than the one I dared to apply at home.

There was a horrid moment this morning when I thought I wasn't going to make it (I ate unwisely yesterday) but there are some miraculous pills out there and all was well. And there were the merely bizarre moments involving my mask, hair washing, and red dye on the earpieces - to say nothing of the floating plastic capes and paper towels. And I have to say that for a few ignominious moments I had thought how fed up I'd be if a localised lockdown in Greenock had prevented me at the last minute ...

The wonderful sky over the shore was the reward when we got home again.