Unclear

The village film club remains Covid-ravaged. The format is a sit-down hot meal, followed by a feature film, always sub-titled, in the ageing village hall (built as a memorial, post WWI). Before the pandemic, audiences of 60 were normal, sometimes 80, the  meal was prepared at home by teams of volunteers. Since the caesura (he he), the numbers have halved and tonight's meal was prepared by a commercial caterer. The evening will have run at a loss

I think this is not an isolated example. It's hard to pin down exactly why. Maybe there were things that at least some people did just because they always have done. When a break is enforced, that continuity is lost. I do wonder if there is more to it than that, though. An awareness of the risks of indoor gatherings in the virus season with a health service itself on life support, perhaps. Sometimes I think there might be an even more fundamental shift, a loss of cohesion, an ennui. I don't know; maybe I just didn't get much from the movie, all 2.5 hours of it

An anniversary: my third marmalade-making day on blip. Of course, I have pictures of cut oranges and the product on toast. But this early morning image demanded priority, even if the view is familiar. The combination of low bright sun and swirling below-zero mist was etherial