Jumping Through Hoops

It's been over six months since I last wrote this blog. I felt that people had enough on their plates to be bothered about my wittering so I kept quiet.

When I last wrote, our holiday of a lifetime had been postponed yet again. We booked it long before the pandemic was even a twinkle in a Chinese bat's eye and, ever the optimist I tried (unsuccessfully)  to convince Marion that it would go ahead.  She, ever the pessimist, was of course right.

But now, things have changed and, maybe, just maybe, we will be going soon. Our flights to St Vincent were cancelled by Virgin who are no longer flying there for the time being so we now have to fly via Barbados instead (hoop one). Our flights arrive in Barbados too late to catch a plane to Bequia so we have to stay in a quarantine hotel in Barbados overnight (hoop two). To arrive in Bequia we have to fly to St Vincent on the following day with a PCR test taken within 72 hours (hoop three). We then need to take another test upon arrival in St Vincent (hoop four) before catching a ferry to Bequia where me may (not sure about this one) need another PCR test (hoop five) before staying in quarantine for two days (hoop six).

Booking a PCR test that will be back in good time for us to fly has been difficult but we've found one at Heathrow so are staying in a hotel near the airport and taking the test the day before the flight (hoop seven).  The final cost of all these tests and hotel stays would probably pay for a European break but at least we will be having a holiday, albeit over two years since booking it and in the Caribbean off season (wet and windy) instead of the high season (dry and sunny). I really can't complain if that's all we have to worry about - people have suffered terribly in the last eighteen months. Ours is hardly a third world problem and ,who knows, with all the climate change, October may be the new dry season. 

I'll blog from Bequia .... as long as the volcano on St Vincent doesn't erupt again.

If you've read this blog before you will know that I started eBaying again during lockdown. It's something I enjoy very much and, indeed, my novel (see top right) is based on a fabulous eBay find. Here are a couple of recent finds. These were not found on eBay but I was delighted to find them. 

First Period Worcester Sauceboat c1753 Going To Bonhams Sale

Beautiful Royal Vienna Portrait Plate Found In A Junk Shop

Beautiful Pair Of Watercolours By Julius Caesar Ibbetson Going To Bonhams

Stunning Worcester Porcelain Night Light Holder With Lithophane Of Napeleon Going to Bonhams Napoleonic Sale.

The metal detecting season is just getting underway with crops being harvested very late this year. I've only had a few outings so far. The best find to date is this Richard I silver penny. Richard coins are rare and, although the portrait is unclear the lettering is very clear and reads Stivene On Lund. (Steven of London - the moneyer). 

We've not managed a single visit to our caravan in St Andrews since very early in the year and have missed our Scottish grandchildren very much. However we did have one bright spot in the pandemic when we joined up with them and our Kent family for a few days in Center Parcs.

Before the families went their separate ways we had a glorious morning at Lowther castle.

Lowther Castle - Well Worth A Visit

Another summer treat was the visit of friends Chris and Steve from Corfe Castle who had a short Suffolk break. We met them in Bequia and hope that they will be there when we return to Bequia next year (hoops permitting). 

More summer highlight were the visits of our Kent grandkids and Sarah coming down from St Andrews with Rose and Melody. We had lovely time with them.

Catherine had her first try at detecting. She enjoyed it and found a medieval button. I hope it was our first trip of many together. 

It was great to have the girls with us too. We enjoyed a trip to Aldeburgh and Thorpeness although the big treat to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella in London was thwarted by COVID closures.

So that's the blog updated. I hope to write more often now that things are quietening down (sort of). Come back soon and let us hope I will be posting something like this.

No Bequia No Cry

 

As I write we should be here on the beautiful island of Bequia for the holiday of a lifetime that we booked in 2019. Instead we will probably be working on the insurance claim of a lifetime over the next few weeks. We've done our best to keep the holiday dream alive but it's been a rollercoaster of ups and downs of shifting dates, arranging quarantine, booking PCR tests and juggling with airline bookings to try and salvage something from the five week trip. But the latest legislation make the risks too great. So, even with vaccinations, two weeks quarantine and self isolation here for weeks in advance it's not going to work. Problem is, our favourite location (booked two years ahead due to its popularity) is booked up for this time next year. Never mind it's a very tiny problem in comparison to what others have had to suffer over the last twelve months. As I said, No Bequia No Cry.

The vaccinations are booked for us both. Mine was planned for this week but the vaccination centre closed due to the weather. Marion got the call last night so we changed my booking to coincide with hers and we are off to Woodbridge (weather permitting) on Sunday. Keeping our fingers crossed for no more snow.

And boy has it snowed! It's been the heaviest snowfall since we arrived in Suffolk eight years ago. I've kept myself busy with my eBay buying and selling which has turned from a hobby into a mini business. 

Customer service has always been my aim and I hate to have any dissatisfied buyers. This was last week's sales all wrapped up and ready to go but the snow was so thick that I couldn't get the car out of the drive.

But Marion stepped into the breach (and the snow) and, in the quest for perfect feedback (no negatives in 21 years), she made three treks to the post office on foot quoting Captain Oates "I am going outside. I may be some time."

"Why did you let her do that by herself?" I hear you say.There is a reason. I injured my heel in early October after constant daily lockdown exercise with Fitness Blender on YouTube.I went to a physio who thought it was a bone spur but after months of no improvement (and no x-ray as promised by the doctor) I started trying to self diagnose. I now think it is a stress fracture and the cure for that involves keeping off your feet. I can't bother the doctor with it at the moment so I'm keeping my feet up and four months after it started and three weeks into resting it I am just seeing an improvement.

 

Marion is just a big kid at heart and has kept herself amused this week building snow sculptures.

Caribbean Snow Man

Liverpool Fan

I thought this was a cat but Marion tells me it's a mouse.

Well at least it's given her a bit of amusement.

I mentioned the eBay sideline. I was buying at auction and selling on eBay but lockdown closed the auction houses. I now try to buy on eBay but some auctioneers have started selling online to beat lockdown with no viewing and photos only.

This large lot looked interesting so I made a bid and won it.

It was a gamble that paid off as the birds turned out to be the lid from a rare Lalique glass vase. The vase is very valuable and when I listed the lid on eBay I was inundated with requests to end the sale early from owners of the vase without the lid. For the first time ever I stopped a sale early and re-listed with a four figure Buy It Now. It sold within seconds.

I don't think that I will repeat that success in a hurry but eBay, my main source at the moment has brought some lovely buys. Here are three that I'm selling this week.

Chinese Export Porcelain Coffee Cup C1780

Rare Set Of Six Ridgway Porcelain Campana Shaped Egg Cups c1830

Beautiful Coalport Bow Pattern Dish c1820

In other news, we've been looking at one of the cars sitting on the drive for almost a year whilst a regular lease payment went out of the bank every month. Realising that lockdown wasn't going to finish any time soon we contacted the dealers and they've taken it back and we've settled the finance deal and ordered a replacement plug in hybrid runaround to be delivered in June. 

I used to enjoy blogging about our regular cinema trips. What happened to them? I think it's approaching a year now since our last cinema outing.Like everyone else we've been watching a lot of TV.

Not all the critics loved Staged 2 but we adored it. The episodes are short but after a year of Zoom this was a natural show for our time and is destined to become a piece of lockdown history.

Of course Zoom has been an absolute boon. Tonight we will be watching Jay's quiz on YouTube with our friends via Zoom. We've done his quiz most weeks since he started it and it has been one of our few opportunities to socialise all year.

Finally - ("at last" you say) a film recommendation. 

The Devil All The Time on Netflix is a dark, evocative and powerful movie. Not for the squeamish but brilliantly done.

I will leave you with the latest viral video. You've probably already seen it but if you haven't do check it out. It's had us both in fits and that's a good thing in these difficult times. Stay safe.

https://youtu.be/m5r1oGZOKZ0

2020 Our Year In Pictures

I don't need to tell anyone what a year it's been. 

I just realised that I haven't written a blog since October. So I thought I'd end the year with a summary in photos.  

January 

Life was good and we were carrying on as usual enjoying trips to London with friends. 

Come From Away , the wonderful musical was followed by cocktails and a visit to the Gaugin Exhibition at The National Gallery

Mamma Mia The Party At The O2 Was A Fabulous Night Out

First treasure find of the year - 18th c Meissen sugar bowl in a box of junk

February

We were all still oblivious to what lay ahead and had a lovely trip to London with daughter Sarah and our Scottish grandchildren.

The Science Museum was a highlight for them.

Just a few days later we took the Kent grandchildren to Whitstable for a break

They picked up this stone with an ominously prescient message 

This Sevres tureenand these fabulous porcelain plates bought for a few pounds were a big success on eBay

March

Mum came to visit

The best find of the year turned up at auction for £28 and, after a few months spent identifying it, went on to sell on eBay for £900

We went to Scotland to the caravan to visit the family but couldn't see them as Melody had a cough and the virus was just starting to take hold. So, within three days we headed back home.

Instead of the dinner at The Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews, Marion celebrated a major birthday with a pizza I cooked for her back in Framlingham.

And lockdown began.

We welcomed Jay and his online Pub Quiz into our house for the first time, little knowing that he would still be a regular feature in December. 

No gym meant no more of Alastair's classes at the college and, instead, Fitness Blender on YouTube was to become a daily routine.

A list of chores started with cleaning the garage.

It was amazing how many spiders had taken up residence.

Next job was cleaning my garden office

Poor Mum had a nasty fall back in Spain and ended up in hospital

April

Framlingham took the crisis very seriously. We started a neighbourhood WhatsApp group for our road.

I started taking an online iPhone photography course

Painting the office became the next job on the list.

That was a job I came to regret as I suffered a recurrence of the slipped disc that laid me low for much of 2019.

May

Thank goodness for the lockdown weather

The photo course continued

And the glorious weather continued too

June

We got out of the house and drove a huge 16 miles to Ramsholt 

No new clothes for Marion but at least she got a designer face mask

Further progress with the photo course

July

Mum paid us another visit

A small ray of light amongst all the darkness

A little visitor

A bigger one

Nature red in tooth and claw as we lost our favourite blackbird

Lockdown hair

August 

We lost our dear friend and neighbour David

On a happier note our Kent family visited for a couple of days

The long hot summer continued and we managed to get to Snape

September 

Granddaughter Melody turned seven

We managed to spend a few days in Scotland and see the family 

More photo experiments

Granddaughter Rose the bookworm

Best eBay buy of the month. 18th century delftware plates

October

All set for another grandchildren's visit. It didn't happen due to chickenpox.

Marion did some weeding!!!

The lockdown eBay hobby turns into a business

November 

A beautiful auction buy that sold well on eBay

Bought on eBay for £8.50 

Paid £84 to get it here but already sold a bit of it for £321 and got twenty pieces left

December

First cold snap of winter

Christmas tree up at the end of November

It's infested with bugs so it's down again in no time

Stripped of its decorations

Latest eBay buy - Lomonosov porcelain jug

Two fabulous auction buys

The tree is back up now

Have a wonderful Christmas if you can

And best wishes for 2021.