March 2020. A difficult month to write about. A month when, for a few mad days, I’d walk around pubs like this;
Actually, that pic is just to prove that despite having lived in the Fens for 45 years and only just escaping, I only have four fingers and a thumb.
March actually started as well as any month in retiredmartin history, with successful ticking raids into the Lakes, Galloway and Worcestershire.
Gloucester provided the Imperial, an imperious Bass pub. Along with the Grapes in Stranraer it was a pub of the month, any month.
I managed a rare City away game with James at Hillsborough,
and I finally gave Gloucester Cathedral the time and reverence it deserves.
But as I arrived in Worcester on the 15th, a week before pubs closed, life looked very different.
And then Lockdown happened and I was quoting Camus on the blog.
Within a week it was this or nothing;
And this was Tesco that week,
and the nation had fallen into a dystopian nightmare.
To be honest, that’s Wilburton. It always looks like that.
The isolation isn’t the worst thing. It’s Mrs RM continually asking;
“Are you going mad ?”
“I’m fine”
“I bet you’re not. I bet you’re going mad” etc etc.
I wasn’t, but it was a bit SCARY.
But I actually enjoyed some aspects of March. The (lack of) sound, the smells, the colours.
And I got to explore some of those bits of the Fens that folk who don’t have to live there rave about.
Oh, who am I kidding. It’s dreadful.
I spent hours catching up on Netflix, mainly this;
And at least there was music.
Maria McKee’s astonishing album, previewed late in 2019, finally appeared,
and prompted my post on melancholia that at one stage threatened to be my most-read of the year. And probably would have been, had pubs not returned. But not for a while.
retiredmartin 
Halcyon days!!!!
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Yes, March 2020 seems like years ago now. For me it was 26 hours in London, thirteen hours in Burton and then the end of civilisation as we knew it.
This lunchtime is thirty years since I met Mrs TSM but there’ll be no celebratory meal in the Bhurtpore this anniversary.
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😢
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Oh wouldn’t it be lovely to go to the Bhurtpore? One day perhaps…
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March was good for us -an excellent day around Exmouth market in London which culminated in us drinking cocktails with the young folk.Lockdown came which I enjoyed mainly because work closed & the building site next to our house fell silent.We fell into a happy routine of walks in the lovely weather & a drink in the conservatory or garden on Friday lunchtime.. As everything seems to be going pear shaped now,it is not fun anymore, I feel sad & want my old life back -I think everyone feels the same.At least ,being a bit of an old codger I will get the vaccine sooner than some folk & on that note I will wish you a Happy & safe Christmas !
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Hard to admit but some of us retired folk coped with Lockdown better than others. It was the young I felt for. Neither lad worked much all year.
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Yes, but most folk have four fingers and a thumb on each hand, not spread over both feet.
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“Actually, that pic is just to prove that despite having lived in the Fens for 45 years and only just escaping, I only have four fingers and a thumb.”
(slow golf clap)
“Gloucester provided the Imperial, ”
So why does pink bit show Worcestershire?
“And then Lockdown happened and I was quoting Camus on the blog.”
Good quote.
“Within a week it was this or nothing;”
Bugger.
“And this was Tesco that week,”
Double bugger!
“and the nation had fallen into a dystopian nightmare.”
Ah. You see, you used the word ‘nation’. Those are icky things that need to be replaced with the New World Order you see. 😉
“I wasn’t, but it was a bit SCARY.”
Mrs RM was gaslighting you. 🙂
“And I got to explore some of those bits of the Fens that folk who don’t have to live there rave about.”
In the photo below that looks a bit like the prototype for Noah’s Ark.
“I spent hours catching up on Netflix, mainly this;”
Loved Season 1 of Stranger Things. Season’s 2 and 3 weren’t quite as good in my opinion.
“and prompted my post on melancholia that at one stage threatened to be my most-read of the year”
I guess more people can relate to music as opposed to pubs. 😉
Cheers
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