Fingerless Gloves

My hands sometimes get cold in the afternoon if I've been online and sitting for too long.  For this who say my blip yesterday, this provides the answer!   Apologies for those blippers who would have done a much better job than me of making these - I just cut the fingertips off and kept snipping bits off till they felt right and then when I realised the lining came out when I took them off, simply cut the lining off!   However, they work and it's good to have them in use again.  When my friend Colleen lived in China, she sent me a great selection of gloves and this was one pair. I'm probably the only person in Barcelona who has eight pairs of gloves......and yet always forget to pack a pair when we go to Scotland! 

A productive day on all fronts.  I was online all morning 'live in Zurich' and then working on the laptop all afternoon into the evening, finishing up the written FB and double marking assignments.   

Bb had success when he went to hand in all the paperwork necessary to get the TIE card (International Card for Foreigners) and now just needs to make an appointment to pick it up in four weeks.  He also made progress in a bank, which has been on our to do list for a wee while to get info on an account which we aren't sure about! 

The restaurants and cafes all opened again today.  Yay!  What a difference it makes to the city.  Restrictions are still in place in terms of opening times  and capacity, but it was a joy to see people out and about when we went on our evening walk tonight.  We stopped to have a stand-up drink in a place near Plaza Concordia and then noticed that 'wee Irish Sarah', was standing at the next barrel table, sipping a glass of red wine to help with the nightmarish day she'd had, when she was trying to get young teachers onboard with hybrid teaching - half the class in the school and the other half on Zoom.  We've known each other for years (decades), mainly through doing the oral examining for the Cambridge suite of exams and although we never see each other socially except when it's work related,  it's incredibly comfortable and easy to spend time with her over a coffee and drink when we bump into each other - our Scottish and Irish roots definitely help!   I reminded Bb who she was and he asked her to unmask herself for a reminder, which she happily did, commenting, 'I haven't changed since I was five!'  We shared our standy-up barrel and company for a good hour, all masked up and socially distanced.  Sadly, she lost her mother to Covid in springtime and could only attend the funeral  digitally, but had only praise for the priest who performed the funeral, who made sure she and brother could see what was happening and using their names throughout the service.  Interestingly, she said that the teachers who are having more resistance to the new teaching environments in her school are the young millennials, who she said are used to being presented with everything on a plate.  The older ones like us, who have seen lots of changes over the years we've been here, some good and others awful, tend to adapt more easily and just get on with things.   Who'd have thought?   We sang each other's praises at what we've managed to learn and achieve this year in the online teaching world, while Bb's eyes glazed over and his glass got emptier!   We left each other's company all feeling the better of bumping into each other and realised how starved we've all been of company and socialising this year.  

Home to our Sunday roast chicken roasting away in the oven, as we couldn't be bothered doing it on Sunday as we'd both done some work and then had all the paperwork to get together for the TIE and then the problem with leaving Bb's card in an ATM.   We didn't do a full Sunday roast, but once again were tempted by the Turkish boys' chips (too close by for comfort!) and Bb had basted the chicken with garlic and orange zest and stuffed it with an orange instead of lemon!   It will go down as one of our memorable lockdown dinners.  Delicious and a good end to a productive day!