Thursday 21 October:

It’s been two months since I wrote my last reflection. It’s been a busy time settling into our new home (a constant matter of two steps forward and one back), but we’re gradually ‘getting there’. We’re constantly aware that we haven’t actually downsized enough to fit into number17! We probably still need to get rid of some books; we have far too many empty plastic boxes left over; the kitchen is too small (and not as well designed storage-wise; lots of framed pictures and not enough wallspace to hang them…
We’re about to have a few days away in Lancashire (2 days in Lytham, followed by 2 days with Alice+Dave in Buckshaw). It’ll obviously involve several train journeys and, given our recent experiences of high proportions of people on public transport NOT wearing face masks, it’s something that really concerns us. Yes, we’ve been double-vaccinated and boostered but, nevertheless, with weekly Covid cases and deaths beginning to rise again in quite high numbers, it makes both of us feel very uneasy (and vulnerable). In some ways, it would be easy to take the cautious option and cancel our plans, but (significantly) we haven’t seen our Lancashire grandchildren for TWO whole years and we haven’t had a holiday since our time in Skipton – again, just over two years ago. 
So, we’ll go… and just be as careful as possible.
Image: our new balcony home.