COVID-19 UPDATE FROM SOLIHULL, 30TH MAY 2020...

COVID-19 UPDATE FROM SOLIHULL: 30TH MAY 2020...

So, another week has passed by and more traffic has been seen on roads around here, more folks have been seen in groups, sitting about, playing with balls and frisbees, cycling both on pavements and on narrow lanes, and of course joggers have been out a-wheezing, a-sneezing, a-nodding, a-plodding and a-sweating…

I was amazed to spot a long line of people, some two metres apart, waiting in direct, hot sunlight to get into, er, Notcutts’ Garden Centre. We seem to like queues here in England… Then there was also the queue of drivers waiting to dump their own trash at the Bickenhill refuse site… A long queue had formed when I was driven past the access road earlier in the week but warnings further back along the Coventry Road made it clear that from certain points, there were 3 hour waiting times, then 2, then 1… Some people must have been desperate to get away from lockdown conditions to spend their time perspiring in a vehicle with only the waste disposal scenery to enjoy…

I walked along Tanworth Lane one morning this week and approaching from the Stratford Road end were two joggers, man and wife, middle-aged but they ran towards me one in each gutter, parallel and level, leaving me with no other alternatives than to walk up someone’s drive to avoid their presence, or to get run over on the crown of the lane… What is wrong with people?

And then on the return journey, I needed to call at the Stretton Store for milk but exiting the shop was a strident fellow I know well enough, though he was wearing a mask on this occasion. His dog has generally leaned against my knees when we have met in the local area, providing a pleasantly warm poultice but the mutt was in the chap’s car on this particular morning. He told me to stay clear, for his wife had ‘symptoms’ (and he had been fitted with a pacemaker some months ago) but why on earth did he go into the shop for his newspaper, if he was unsure of his situation? Isolation, surely? And then he revealed that he was 50/50 in his opinion about the always smartly attired Dominic Cummings’ ‘behaviour’…

I rushed into the shop holding my breath, bought milk and dashed home…

The ‘branch in the gully’ between Stretton Road and Micklehill Drive had again been mown round by the council’s grass-cutters last week, leaving ridiculous and larger tufts of long grass displayed but this morning (Saturday) someone had dragged the offending bough further along the grassy verge, so when the cutters arrive soon, they’ll have no alternative but to remove the wild grass, which of course will now begin to grow where the displaced branch currently resides…

Walks at Yarningale Common, Temple Balsall, Alcester and Elmdon Manor have been interesting, although yesterday’s spill from Elmdon Manor into the park, near the Jaguar Land Rover plant revealed a good number of groups of people lounging, their children playing together and males (mostly) chucking frisbees about and kicking soccer balls in quite large groups. I was, er, surprised at the numbers spread over the grassland but remained clear of them, noting a number of beer and lager cans left lying awry on the ground just 10 metres from an admittedly overfilled waste bin… 

A few Bundesliga footballers have been seen spitting this week, hugging each other after goals have been scored, as well as clashing heads. Away teams have done particularly well so far with no crowd advantage for their hosts, which maybe augers not well for teams struggling against relegation in the Premier League, for they might be relying on a few scraped points on their own patches to save themselves… 

TEMPLE BALSALL...

One neighbour has decided not to cycle on local canal towpaths any longer because too many dog walkers and joggers are vying for room too… I was amazed by his comment because he ignored the fact that pedestrians have largely given up walking along towpaths due to all three of the above dangers to their health and privacy: cyclists, dog walkers and joggers… 

ALCESTER...

So, yesterday I lost control of a mug of coffee which flew out onto the wallpaper, my diary, etc, etc, but not onto the carpet or sofa. Then I cooked a curry and a fly flew into my left eye, whereby I wiped it, unknowingly with red pepper residue on my finger and my eye was suddenly on fire like a WW1  Somme tank and finally I knocked an empty wineglass over but caught it, slip-catch like to save it before it rapped onto the table…

A bad day…

Anyway, I’m off to spit onto a sleeping policeman… 

(That IS a joke…) 

The Mowdog…