Talk of eagles

Goodness, that was such a dreich day! Perhaps it was the grey rain outside the window, the gloom at a time when I was thinking I should get up, but more probably it was the words* of Nicola sounding in my head that had our thoughts turning, in a move at once realistic and frivolous, to holidays. In fact, it was the first thing my conscious mind formed into a thought: the need to move the Italian holiday booked for May to another date when it might not involve a quarantine in a dreary hotel room. This is a holiday that was originally planned for May 2020, then moved to September, then to May 2021. A phone call to HF later, we're now hoping to walk in Northern Italy in September - and I've just looked at my passport, which might just make it... While we were at it, I confirmed that a reservation that was originally paid for in toto for last June is still in place for this summer - and we booked the ferry for that too. And apart from a FaceTime chat over coffee, that was the morning.

Because I became engrossed in my book over lunch, it was well after 3pm before we made a move to go out, the upside being that it wasn't actually raining. By the time we reached the turning point in our walk, it was beginning to grow dark, and we marched back down the long road between the fields in the gloaming, with the warm scent of silage surrounding us as we left the exposed, wind-blown part of our itinerary. I've blipped my favourite view of Knockdow's grounds - even in this light you can make out the variety of trees in the distance and the carefully-kept gardens that reflect the money that its current owners have poured into the estate.

As for the pandemic, the social distancing? We met one cyclist. One brief exchange with a live human being and that was it. And still no word of our vaccination ...

Oh, and those eagles. I found it joyous to find myself and Munroist discussing the reasons behind the symbolism of eagles as used in churches to decorate lecterns. (Of course, in some churches you find the odd-looking eagle is in fact a pelican, which is equally interesting). This pandemic throws up some intriguing conversations.

*Don't be booking summer holidays