Bring kindness, bring love, bring friendship

A frosty start was followed by a clear, sunny day. I layered up and went off on the bus to meet Dave at a garden centre. Having established that the Dawn garden centre on the A46 did have Christmas trees, I then got off the bus too soon, and had to ring him to say that I was at a different garden centre! No matter, he drove up the road, chose a tree which was netted and loaded for him within minutes.

We went to a supermarket and got food to take back to his house, where we unloaded the tree. He had been very worried about not being able to carry it himself, so I put it outside his back door for him. I think he'll be able to take it inside next month. All was going well until the end of the meal when I was checking my diary to find a space for the next meeting. I happened to mention that I was booked for a zoom to discuss the formation of an online women's branch of the WEA. Dave immediately took this to mean that men (i.e. him) would be thrown off existing literature courses. He thought this would be a Very Bad Idea, and was still texting me about it hours later. I did point out that, were such a branch to be formed, it would have zero effect on him, and that there are already events/classes that are reserved for certain groups, but I could see that this concept rankles, and the conversation will run and run.
Sigh.

Nonetheless, I had a beautiful bus journey back in a near-
empty bus, and it was still daylight when I got back. The house smelled amazing, and I discovered that a book had been returned to me by a friend, who had also dropped off a home made lavender bag. A knock on the door revealed the presence of another friend, dropping off chocolates!

As for the 'rona, from next week we'll be able to go shopping again, and I hope my market stall will return. As we will be in Tier 2, we won't be able to meet with friends indoors, and only eat out in restaurants or pubs. More takeaway coffees on freezing cold benches, and our local pub will remain a corner shop for the time being. I know that the landlord will be disappointed.