Sunday, August 23rd, 2020
I thought it might be a good idea for us to get away for a bit before school starts again. Recharge, unwind and do something fun without having to worry about online meetings, deliverables or school projects. Initially I was reluctant to “waste” vacation days on the US, but now am realizing how badly we needed a break and just have a change of scenery at a minimum.
I booked a little townhouse in Lewis. Of course the deciding criteria was the community pool. Turns out that is closed. What a disappointment as otherwise I would have booked a little house a block from the beach with a hot tub in the garden. Instead we are sitting on a golf course, though none of us play golf! I had looked at lake side options, but places are really booked up and it is hard to find anything. The pool issue only turned up earlier this week. The owner was nice enough to offer a full refund and allow me to cancel, but at this point in time it was of course impossible to find anything else that was half way reasonably priced; so open water swimming it is for the remainder of the week.
The house is lovely, so we have no regrets. Three floors, a bedroom on each floor. EM has the master suite on the top floor as I had offered her BF could come. Sadly his grandmother pssed away today, so he will not be joining. It would have been a nice way to get to know him better.
I have moved onto the main floor where the kitchen and dining area are also located. Our social pod family will join on Wednesday and get the ground floor bedroom, which comes with its own sitting area and each floor has a balcony, the ground floor one features the BBQ. Not ideal as one needs to carry the food upstairs to the larger outdoor table, but doable. The previous guests checked out yesterday and I had asked that all window be left open to air the place. The owner says they did, but when we got here the air-conditioning was on and it was freezing (22C) in the house. Because the previous guests had left the night before we could check ourselves in upon arrival in Lewes, unpack and then head to the beach.
We briefly stopped in Lewes old town for a nibble. The salad I order could have fed at least two if not three people but was delicious and the swim afterwards very much needed. The water is refreshing, or as EM put it, cold. That is for the first five minutes; once one has submerged oneself it is lovely. Seeing we only had a few hours, we went to Lewes main beach, which normally I tend to avoid for the crowds. Given we only got there at 14:30 it wasn’t so bad.
The sun drifting in and out of clouds was treacherous as not too hot, but still strong and I fear I burned my nose. Sunscreen may be called for tomorrow, when we plan to go to Cape Henloppen Statepark, one of my favorite beaches (just after Cape May, but far less regulated as there are lifeguards). I also found my bikini top rather eroded. As a result, EM and I tried to find some shops selling swim wear.
We ended up going down to Roboth for that, as all the outlet malls close at 18:00. Shops in Roboth stay open untill 20:00. However, we only found two or three shops selling swim wear, which was surprising seeing it is a beach town and lives of summer guests. There was no shortage of shovels, sand toys, floating devices, t-shirts, flipflops, sweaters or towels though. None the less, it was a fun walk through town and everyone (almost) was masked as per state requirements. Bars and restaurants were not terribly full either. enerally, it feels as if people are being cautious.
Now we are back in our lovely rental house and EM is working on her CAS project. It is the first time I have seen the website and I suggested to include actual universities as that was the main purpose of the research exercise. That may still require a bit of work, though I gather it is mainly inserting links.
There is not much news today. The center of attention is the upcoming National Convention of the Republican Party, to be partially held in person in Charlottesville and partially virtual. Pretty much everyone in the Trump family is on the speaker list, the remainder of speakers are fielded from the administration and some supporters of dubious fame, like a couple who threatened protestors on their way to a majors house with guns, even though those people were simply passing by. It will make for thoroughly partisan and boring event.
The moron in chief is misusing his office and the Federal building he resides in for his political campaign as he is planning to give his acceptance speech from the South Lawn. In the meantime, Twitter is on fire over his wife’s so called “improvements” to the famous rose garden. All trees planted by Jackie Kennedy have been removed as has all color. It is a sore sight now. Also, there are concerns that the orange agent will announce some for of a vaccine being available just in time for elections. I’ll be dammned if it is not 200 million doses of the Russian vaccine. So much for election muddling!
More on a side note today, globally infections have reached 23.3 million with the USA accounting for 5.87 million.