Saturday, March 20th, 2021
A glorious spring day for practice in the park.
After the warm-ups the gloves came off and a few minutes into practice we could even shed the coats. It was a funny practice as our instructor had lost his voice and Uke spoke for him. I cannot wait to see the video clips.
From practice I made my way to the pool, sadly my slot was for 12:45 and there was no opening at 12:15, which is when I arrived. I hung around for bit and then decided to head home to be in time for the IE Madrid call EM had set up for me.
I am rather impressed with the university. They provided a lot of very useful information. Class sizes appear to be small, enabling access to the faculty at all times. If I had not been partial to the university before, now I am. It is a tight line to walk now as I really want it to be EM’s choice, after all it is her future and her life. How do I guide her?
During the call and for a little while after I played lizard in the sun. That is to say I lay on my garden love seat with as little clothing as possible so as to soak up the rays, until EM texted to ask if a) there was lunch and b) could the BF join. Yes, there was food and I ran into the house to ensure I was appropriately attired.
The BF had never had Halloumi before but was open to trying and enjoyed it. Credit to him for being open to new food items. I think the lunch went well. It is the second time we have shared a meal. It may be a precursor to the walk I have requested.
The two left to wherever teens go and I did the grocery run before setting up outside to have my girlfriends over.
It was a great lady’s night. We talked about our lives, men, and everything else for four or so hours huddling around the fire pit before everyone headed home.
H. and B. had a great idea to support J. They suggested I organize an informal “Go Fund Me” to help J. settle her credit card debt. I think that is a brilliant idea and I have send an email to people she has worked for over the years. I have also reached out to colleagues in the Philippines in the hope of getting her a job there.
Tomorrow a repeat, just two hours earlier, with the Aikidoka. Very much looking forward, though I will need to step up on the food part. I am planning to make a truffled Bree in puff pastry and cheese as well as Thyme sticks. If I am up for it, I can join H and her family for sausages in her garden afterwards. I shall need to check with EM how she feels about it. I am so grateful to have all these caring and intelligent people in my life.
I have of course not heard back from my vaccine pre-registration, anxious to get my shot so I can go back onto the mat. I realize, I am privileged. I can work from home and other than being unable to hug friends the virus is but a minor inconvenience to my life.
The USA has added 56k new infections to bring the total tally to 30.4 million reported cases. Amidst the pandemic there has been research into happiness. The world happiness survey finds that happiness is local. Despite all the stress and anxiety brought on by COVID people were generally happy in 2020.