Brand New Day

  In more normal times your cough, sneeze or runny nose would accompany you out the door and on with your day.  Life goes on after all. Different story in a time of Covid.  To break the transmission of the virus we’ve been asked to be more conscious of our health than many of us are used to.  Heaven forbid the dreaded cough which grounds the whole house as tests are awaited!  As we’ve made our way through life with Covid we’ve had to teach our bodies new tricks.  Catching coughs and sneezes.  Washing or sanitising hands more often.  Guiding our feet around one way systems in shops.  Our elbows have come into the limelight as our handshakes and hi-fives have taken a back seat.  Finding our happy place as someone has inserted a swab far enough up your nose to touch the back of your head (so it feels, anyway!) When our bodies are healthy and well we don’t tend to think of them very often.  Maybe it’s just then they decide they deserve ...

  The joy of reconnecting is upon us .  Precious reunions with family and friends are here.  We’ve been distanced too long.  So, we say an unfond farewell to the loss of company and the isolation of Covid’s prolonged restrictions and harsh lockdowns.  None of us do too well on our own for too long.     The time of distancing from friends and family was, however, accompanied by a moving towards neighbours.  As many were at home more and exercising close to their house there was a chance to connect more with those beside us.  For our own house it was a real encouragement in a tough time to be with families around us and to know the freshness of getting to know people more. Social distancing was a familiar and well founded reality in our lives before the phrase emerged with Covid .  We are divided from our closest neighbours- living separate lives fenced in our own gardens, closed behind our own doors, locked to our own screens.  ...