Cheeky Birthday Picnic

Today (Tuesday) I saw my sister for the first time since before Christmas. We don’t live that far away from each other (45 min drive) but the ‘stay local’ rule of lockdown has meant we couldn’t see each other even for the permitted ‘exercise’. Now this week in England we are allowed to meet one other person for socialising (a coffee/picnic) as well as exercise. The stay local rule is still in place, but after many months we both finally needed some essential food items from Costco in Reading (half way between both of us). And wouldn’t you know, we both needed to go on the same day! How convenient was that??

My sister was actually on her way back from Oxford where she had been to have her vaccine - an hour away from where she lives! We each did our own shopping and when we were done we got our lunch from their ‘restaurant’. They are only doing takeaway of course. Then we had a picnic in the car park! I had brought Alfie the Campervan. It was such a beautiful warm sunny day that we sat inside with the sliding door and other doors wide open.

As you can see we turned it into a Birthday celebration. My Birthday is tomorrow (Wednesday the 10th - posting this late!). My sister even decorated the back of her car with flowers, balloons, a banner, pictures and presents. Very creative. I felt very spoiled! It was so good to see her! We kept apart - no hugs. I’ve not ‘bubbled’ with anyone and I’ve not worked for over 2 months. I haven’t even met anyone for the permitted walk in this lockdown, so it was a very welcome time with another human being. Even nicer for it to be my sister! What a treat!