Boarding @ Home: Day 53/84: Work Again ..... Plan a Holiday

Catch Up Hancock. We've been calling for Work Again - Save the Economy - Plan a Holiday since Day 33/84. Seems Matt Hancock the worn out/ undoubtedly exhausted Secretary State for Heath and Social Care can't bring himself to agree. Forget about "lavish international holidays" he says. Actually that's not what we had in mind; just the act of planning a holiday. Judith Woods in the Daily Telegraph was incandescent this morning. Not to plan a holiday was a malversation, a wrong act. The cocqcigrues will come; Godot will arrive; Mañana es hoy! It's the psychology of it Mr. Hancock. Judith believes he's so 'lacking in the empathy gene, afflicted with degenerative officiousness, soulless and has tin ears such that his best suggestion would be authorised socially distanced self-care sanctuaries with such locations, holiday hotels/ chalets/ Iririki bures even, rebranded mental health retreats'. Touched a soft spot obviously. "We are not stupid. We understand that what we plan may have to be postponed and in that case we shall improvise". So let's improvise. Where will we plan to go? Frankly I'd rather go to France but let's be straightforward and cost effective even! Let's just settle for going to Weymouth which we rather love and plan a familiar sequence of no-longer mystery tours. Maybe find a real mystery too. There's the Earl of Sandwich's estate to visit …

Furleigh Vineyard of course but some old spots like the National Trust monument to Captain Hardy [later Baronet Sir Thomas] from whom Admiral Lord Nelson folklore suggests asked for a Kiss as he lay dying at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Or did he say Kismet Hardy which means Fate Hardy!? Hardy's monument is grand; Nelson went one better to stand forever atop his own column in his very own Trafalgar Square.

There was good news for donuts. Julian and Laura managed to find 5 of them and Avril and I were honoured with two. And for a packet of the same they were exceptionally good; best packet doughnuts ever tasted; and the jam was properly nondescript red. So National Week may have been cancelled for the year but celebrations went on ...
ZOOM came through with flying colours. Never tackled it before but after the techie set up provided by Kathryn and Mathew hosting was easy and we had the largest gathering ever of 1745 Battle Trustees, 10, for the 40 minute session. Obviously it's the novelty that appeals. I'd structured it to four topics derived from an earlier iterative email driven approach with plenty of briefing papers circulated so they all knew more or less what was being discussed. And now we've got a second session scheduled for 4pm Friday as follow up. It was nice to see all their faces of course but hey, it's not a proper meeting and there was no steak pie for Herbert or shared coke and wine for the rest of us as in our James Park Bistro. Not that Avril and I expect to be back in Scotland any time soon the way Nicola Sturgeon seems intent on locking down the nation - not even allowed to play golf! What would Willie and Mungo Park have to say about that I ask?

They never got to Vanuatu like we lucky ones of course, but golf courses have! And those Iririki bures are still magnificent - self care sanctuaries and cyclone resistant they say. [For the record Judith suggests: "we'll all agree nobody should be whisking their family off to Covid-free Kiribati" … but she didn't mention Vanuatu.]