Yes, I’m still here.

It’s been a week now of cocooning where essentially nothing has changed. It has just been a normal week with two subtle differences. One is that I still haven’t received my grocery delivery which I ordered about two weeks ago, and all the shops I really need are shut.

The grocery thing isn’t much of a problem as I have a well stocked pair of freezers where I had been accumulating stuff for a while. The problem is that Herself is getting sick of frozen cod and chips [which, I hasten to add, I do heat up and cook first]. She keeps demanding something different, and serving up frozen chips and cod didn’t do the trick. She’s a hard woman to please.

The shop I really need is the tyre shop. The grass is rapidly reaching the stage where I will need a scythe rather than a mower and I am on the verge of seeing if scythe shops are open, which they probably aren’t.

Daughter called up yesterday with Granddaughter the Younger. The two of them were stir crazy and Daughter wanted to have a treasure hunt in the garden. So the two of them happily played outside while I sat indoors and watched. They had a ball. Long grass or not, the Manor is a brilliant place for kids with its trees and bushes and hidden nooks and corners. Granddaughter the Younger was under strict instructions not to come into the house which confused her.

When they were leaving I stepped out for a chat. Granddaughter the Younger saw me, screeched “Grandad! I love you” and ran at me with her arms outstretched for a hug. Daughter tried to stop her but I didn’t.

A hug from a five year old happy child is well worth the risk.