Old guys in lockdown week 5

These are my raggy tulips.

I had to save them from the child bride who left them literally to rot in the back yard following several weeks water logging. I must have missed out on the drainage holes.
So I took them down to the bottom deck to join the wild flowers, and they have thrived.
But, they are a bit raggy. Upright of stem, openly proud and beautiful yet shy and scalped round the edges.
A bit like me really.
And a bit like this week's coffee/pilates/thursday meet. I muddled the codes. Bob took 20 minutes to join us. He's bought a treadmill - I wonder how long he will take set it up. Derran and Greg had some concerns about my tulip thoughts - droopiness and dead-heads. Greg's limericks on the theme, 'There was a young man from Slawit', were hilarious. (publish later when I have them)

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Ann Treneman from the Times, April 18, has a recipe for gardening. (1) Sit on a step and talk to the cat/dog/robin. (2) Declare war on weeds and do one small patch a day. (3) Plant a few seeds and don't worry how to do it 'right'. (4) Sit and draw a flower or a plant. (5) Have a cup of tea and let your thoughts roam.
  Yes I get some of this. We weed once a year. After the spring offensive it's pointless as everything is so overgrown. I've never done 'right' gardening. My drawings are quick and stylised. It's beer and roaming.

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The childbride is into zoom pilates, except her ipad demands an OS upgrade before it will let her have the app. Having experienced all my programmes not working following an OS upgrade, I am loathe to help out with zoom. So she does her exercises from the imac.

Download your upgrade

Forward maybe, back likely

It ends in circles

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I've had a sheltered life. I always thought 'trannie' was someone who enjoyed wearing women's clothes. 

Stuart Maconie in Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, 2007, Ebury, informs me it refers to a George Harrison devotee who sits and empties his brain a lot. Come to think of it what about a Dracula nut?

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I'm going to stop complaining about younger people with their victimhood, bleating on about veg and dairy and slagging each other off on social media. They are the ones who have to sort all this lot out when it's over and then get the business and political will lined up to deal with climate change. David Attenborough said so. So it must be right. 

  The men are discussing just this. It's pretty clear they agree though they are concerned about my chippings and whether they take spin. The wheelbarrow is a great touch.

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Even in lockdown time still passes - where does it go?

On my pile of stones.

Radio4 this morning had a guy on talking about several different sorts of time. Clive H, a New Mill bass, will probably tell us more. The bloke did say the space created by the pandemic in our lives enables contemplation of our mortality. He described this as serene. So another moment of epiphany maybe. Or just an older person like the rest of us.

Andrew is home, not sure for how long. He enjoys darts, so we are in training. Watch out, 'importance of being an Alan' (a reference to Two Guvnors, the MD of New Mill Male Voice Choir and the Friday boules annual darts match), bandits about.

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Our boulesmaestro, Dave Talboys recently let his achievements in lockdown be known. Considerable they are. 

My small mammal real estate, wonky birdtable which is not squirrel proof and bug hotel make pallid comparisons, albeit utilising stuff lying about unused.