Mid April at its best

Mid April at its best.

Ok, today was run morning again on the alternate bike/run pattern that we are following during plague lock-down season. Monday was a cold and very windy day and we did not see any deer at all that day, so if it were not for the glorious Bluebells on the second half of the run we would have felt a little cheated by Mother Nature but then I spotted a cluster of dainty little Archangel Flowers nestled on a bank. However the dear lady well and truly made up for the short fall this morning when before we even started running we were treated to a group of eight or nine who turned to stare at us as still as could be, as they do, before one, then all of then sprang through the trees. Then blow me down with a mallet; quite near to the same spot, one lone white deer stood stock still. Another big treat, an omen maybe. We saw three more whilst we ran our hilly route but not another soul until we had finished our third 10 km in seven days. Faster today, without the strong NE wind.

The deer that we see in our neck of the woods are hardly Monarch of the Glen stature but we always have to smile when we see the pretty little things dancing through the trees and that many was a rare sight. There are thousands of Pheasants all over the place in Angmering Park but we never bother to count them because we don’t consider them wild life, knowing that they are bred in captivity and because of that lack any of the skills. Caught in the sunlight they are colourful but we only count nature offerings, they are virtually farm creatures. This is a bit unfair of us because the whole park is managed, but mainly for the estate wood mill. We love to run there and collect sunrises as we go that is either an absolute marvel or not much to write home about on a dull day. It is so close for us and is in fact just across the main road from our business that like many others is closed for this period of time.

Home then still early enough compared to most of our neighbours. We had a coffee watching five minutes of news channels and then carried on with the You Tube classes that we have settled into. No stopping for breakfast; we don’t do breakfast, not in training and not before a race.

Getting up in the dark is not that hard because we go to bed very early, neither of us are night owls anyway. Like everybody we have been watching more TV than usual to think about something other than what I believe are the carefully managed daily numbers on the death reports connected to the Corona Virus. 

We have been working our way through Perpetual Grace starring Ben Kingsley as Pastor Byron Brown and his wife Lillian played by Jacki Weaver. Jimmi Simpson, Timothy Spall and Luis Guzman also feature. It has us both hooked. It isn’t nice but you can’t let it go. More than a little noir.  Ben Kingsley is superbly evil and I am hoping that I will not be able remember the little rhyme he repeats, or even remember there was one. You can’t believe he ever played Ghandi. We will be looking for season two for sure.

Yesterday I tried to work out how to use the Zoom account that my daughter had said that she had set up for me to use for my poetry group during the social distancing of these times. I put in the addresses of the usual suspects but I have no idea if it will work or not. I wouldn’t put money on it, my computer skills and not at all skillful. I think at least lesson two will be needed, though I did set a date and time for the first meeting. We will see in the fullness of time as the politicians like to say.

The good news for me today came in a call from the consultant at St Richards Hospital in Chichester. I had cancelled my appointment to return after having several biopsies taken from my face that I had been worried about. 

                                         Looking less than my best after the biopsy

Actually I had not been happy with the amount of time they took the clear up and my face was a little off putting for a while. However, the consultant told me this morning that he understood why I had cancelled the appointment and had decided to ring me with the results of the tests. 

                                                      Not quite so awful a week later

He said that two of the three samples were nothing more than simple sun damage. The third had returned after a procedure a number of years ago and is a weak rodent ulcer that can be treated with an ointment; it did not need surgery again. He also said that in these times he would write to my doctor to get the medication prescribed and sent to me to save me another drive the Chichester, not that it is far but I had said that didn’t want to go. 

                                                         Two months after the biopsies

So anyway very good news for me. Quite a relief.

Below is an email sent by s dear friend this morning.

Thinking of you and sending lots of love xxx

I don't know who this is written by but it is very poignant.

 We fell asleep in one world, and woke up in another.

Suddenly Disney is out of magic,

Paris is no longer romantic,

New York doesn't stand up anymore,

the Chinese wall in no longer a fortress, and Mecca is empty.

Hugs and kisses suddenly become weapons, and not visiting parents and friends becomes an act of love

Suddenly you realise that power, beauty and money are worthless, and can't get you the oxygen you're fighting for.

The world continues its life and it is beautiful.  It only puts humans in cages.  I think its's sending us a message:

"You are not necessary.  The air, earth, water and sky without you are fine.  When you come back, remember that you are my guests.  Not my masters"