Pinpricks of brightness (38/365)

[white_hart]

It may be close to freezing with a bitter east wind making it feel much colder, but as I was sitting in my car waiting for my friend to go swimming today I spotted that the daffodils are up along the edge of the (currently flooded) park.



Also, my dad has now had his first vaccination, which is good news, though somehow I don't feel the huge surge of relief a lot of people have described feeling as their vulnerable people were vaccinated. Maybe because it's not COVID that is really curtailing his life, it's his general health? But it's still good news. My mother hasn't been vaccinated yet as she's not 70 until May.

And tomorrow our new sofa is arriving, as after about two years of saying "we really should get a new sofa" we finally gave in and ordered one. (Our old sofa is 18 years old, and has partly collapsed at one end; for the last couple of years we've been sitting in the even-older armchairs that we were given secondhand when we moved in together in 1999 but the armrests of both are now pretty much destroyed and have nails sticking out of them, so a new sofa really isn't just wanton extravagance.)

Comments

[nineveh_uk]

My local park also has fields underwater. We could really do with a couple of dry, and not frozen weeks!

Enjoy the new sofa, having a good one really makes a difference.

[white_hart]

Everywhere is underwater. L was saying to me on Friday that she's never seen Port Meadow so flooded, though I haven't been there to check what it's like. Both sides of the A34 are certainly looking very wet.

[jinty]

A friend of mine keeps a sailing boat at Port Meadow and has been known to sail in the meadow itself when it’s flooded. I bet it’s the best way to see the meadow at the moment!

[white_hart]

I suspect it is! Though my friend V (who is a much stronger swimmer than I am) braved the Wolvercote Mill Stream yesterday. I am sticking to Hinksey until the flow goes down a lot!

[sir_guinglain]

My mum's vaccination has led to delirium and unsteadiness on her feet, and insomnia; she's not slept in over 36 hours. I hope your dad doesn't suffer the same.

[white_hart]

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. My dad is feeling grotty and a bit feverish, but that's basically what other people I know have had with it so I'm not overly concerned right now.

I hope your mother is over the side-effects soon.

[mountainkiss]

I'm pretty sure you don't need to wait eighteen years before a new sofa ceases to be wanton extravagance.

[perennialanna]

It has only just occurred to me that my own sofa is coming up to 18 now. As is the toaster (wedding presents...).

Unfortunately, the mattress comes higher than the sofa on the replacement list, funds being what they are and the mattress being even more woefully uncomfortable. Arranging myself around the poking springs every night is almost a yoga practice.

[white_hart]

Our mattress (and indeed bed) was also a wedding present but we replaced that a few years ago.

Being able to afford a new sofa is the one good thing to have come out of basically not being able to go anywhere for the last 11 months.

[perennialanna]

My bed frame was bought by me before the wedding, so I have decided that I can live with it. The mattress is ten years old this year, and has felt weird ever since he left - but mattresses are so very expensive. I do feel rather proud of having saved enough money to replace it though.

[white_hart]

That is an impressive achievement, and I'm glad you will be able to have a mattress with no memories of the fuckweasel attached to it.

[white_hart]

I kind of feel that a big bit of furniture like that ought to be for life...

[mountainkiss]

I don’t think they live as long as we do.

[caulkhead]

I found out yesterday that M is utterly convinced this is the third sofa we've had, but when challenged was completely unable to describe the other two. I can understand not noticing the furniture, but how do you think it has changed when it hasn't?

[mountainkiss]

Did you move it?

[caulkhead]

No! I put a throw over the old one (we have in fact had two) when it got really badly faded, which subsequently moved on to the 'new ' one, maybe that's sufficient?

[mountainkiss]

That would do it.

[perennialanna]

I can't picture either of your sofas at all. Perhaps you accidentally chose the ones with a chameleon circuit (not guaranteed against turmeric stains).

[sfred]

Happy new sofa!

[white_hart]

:-)

[mountainkiss]

I've seen snowdrops and crocuses on my walks in the last week.

[white_hart]

I've seen snowdrops and spotted some emerging crocuses in the snow this morning, but I think we are probably a bit behind you. (Also, Actual Countryside is a bit more hit and miss for these things than parks.)

[perennialanna]

Snowdrops on the sheltered bank of the sheltered park (former station goods yard, surrounded by embankment), but that is about it. Norfolk is further north than it feels like it ought to be though.

[white_hart]

Also always chilled by the wind off the North Sea. Given how bitter the East wind was here this morning, I do feel for you at the moment!

[perennialanna]

Horizontal blizzard most of the day. The children's school are very sad about probably being closed tomorrow too, "despite our best efforts". I would quite like to know exactly what efforts they made. Did they talk to the clouds particularly sternly? Is the wind in Restart for the rest of the week?

My own place set work for the children today. "Use all your senses to investigate the snow thoroughly. Send us some pictures of your snowmen!". I was able to report to the Head that tiny H next door had worked her way through that and was up to the extension tasks of stuffing snow down her mother's back and rescuing the cat from the horrifying weather by 9am.

[white_hart]

Your school always sounds like such a sensible school.

[perennialanna]

I can see the temptation to carry on with the usual remote learning on snow days, but giving them the chance to live in the moment and snatch at joy when it comes is also important - the more we can do for their mental health now, the better they will catch up with the academic side once they can all be in school again.

[serriadh]

Most of my Brownies said they had had "too much homeschool" to be out in the snow yesterday, which does seem a bit sad for them. We spent a long time being Chinese New Year fireworks over Zoom to make up for it.

[perennialanna]

It is very sad. My children reported a normal amount of schoolwork yesterday, and as they had to share a laptop (being at their father's) it took them most of the day to complete it. When they are at mine I can give them a device each and we generally finish the bulk of our work in time for a long lunchtime walk and a minimum of afternoon fiddling.

There was quite a lot of debate about snow days during remote learning on educational Twitter a few weeks ago, and most of the primary Heads were in favour of snow days being for snow - but I think that is a reflection of the kind of primary Heads I follow as congenial souls.

[callmemadam]

My sofa is Victorian!

[white_hart]

Wow!

[cmcmck]

The Severn has stayed within bounds so far this time.

[white_hart]

That is good. The Thames really hasn't!

[antisoppist]

I bought a new sofa last spring because I was finally able to afford one of my own not the one a friend gave me that he refurbished from a skip. The latter was a lovely 1950s refurbishment project but it is small with wooden arms so now I have two sofas and one of them you can lie down on and is a cheering turquoise colour. It has been a great comfort this year.

[white_hart]

That sounds like a very cheering sofa. And one sofa probably isn't really enough for a household with up to four people in it.

[antisoppist]

Also eldest had commandeered the prime telly-watching position as her official place on the old sofa and once we had moved it, she came back from university and we all told her that that corner position was her place on the old sofa, she had no set place on the new sofa and her official place on the sofa had now moved over to the other side of the room near the fireplace. We are much more flexible about seating now. :-)

[girlyswot]

My Facebook memories post this morning was of my new sofa arriving this time last year! My previous one lasted only 9 years. Part of the problem is that there isn't really any alternative comfortable seating here, and for a lot of that time I was also working from home, so it really does get a lot of use. I hope your new sofa lasts a long time and makes you as happy as mine still does!

[white_hart]

I probably spend more time sitting in the kitchen or upstairs in my office chair or folding armchair than I do in the living room, even now I'm not out at work most of the time, but it is nice to have a comfy sofa again!

[mrs_redboots]

We rather urgently need both new beds and new sofas - the last sofas we bought have not proved a good investment, although they are comfortable, but the seat cushions have gone funny. However, I expect they could be replaced if we knew where to go to get quotes. I had been going to buy new beds last summer, but it didn't happen. Maybe after lockdown?

Meanwhile, I hope the vaccination has gone well. My mother felt wiped out the day after she had hers, and I felt both sick and wiped out the day after I had mine - and my arm was sore for a week - but my husband only had a sore arm for a day or so and felt slightly "off" the evening of his vaccination. No other side-effects. There are times I hate him!

[white_hart]

He said he was feeling more normal again when I emailed him yesterday, thanks.