I'm bored, very bored, so bored that this is arguably my first ever Blog. Yes I know, that's how bored I am, and I guess you're bored too because your still reading this. Since I can't go out much further than my garden other than for exercise I thought I would entertain you with my latest rabbit pictures. Toffee and Fudge are 8 years old and absolutely adore each other. Toffee the brown one is independent, strong willed and just a wee bit grumpy. Fudge is the white and brown one she is very thick, licks everyone and everything and will happily sit on your knee, shoulder or wherever you put her for pretty much as long as you wish. Where Toffee leads Fudge follows.
With the exception of a healthy interest in the purchase of Transient Light prints and a few other miscellaneous outlets business has essentially dried up. We are I guess all sitting at least two metres apart confined in our homes, twiddling our thumbs and desperately trying not to succumb to the vacuum of day time TV or the stream of depressing Covid 19 daily death reports.
A little bit of news for those that don't know, I recently moved house, actually we moved quite literally the day before lockdown was announced. We are fortunate to have a large garden of around 0.75 acres and our new (old) house built at the turn of the 20th century was the Old Excise House at the Dallas Dhu Distillery in Forres. The distillery itself is no longer a working distillery but it does have a tiny visitor centre, runs the occasional tour and sells off some of the special reserve bottles periodically (not at the moment of course). The distillery is a grade A listed building and as such nothing new is allowed to be built within direct line of site of it. Some how our property which is within the curtilage of the distillery escaped listing, though we were subsequently informed it should have been as it too was deemed to have been built by the distillery architect Charles Doig. This was great news for us as renovation was not subject to the minefield of Hysterical Scotland listed building constraints which would otherwise have resulted in us not buying the old house and likely as not seen it fall into total ruin. As it is we have tried to keep its appearance on the outside as similar as possible to the original countenance and modernised the inside for 21st century living, with regard paid to the original quality features that were already there and in relatively decent condition. We are very pleased with it and of course we hoped to be doing more work on it during the summer at least that was the plan before we were told even mowing your lawn or carrying out simple DIY is a risk too far.
With all the negative aspects of Covid 19 being constantly aired and wallowed in by the media I thought I might mention a few ironic positive things I have noticed.
Before the virus took hold there were only two things that the media held onto like a rabid dog with a bone, that was Brexit and saving the planet. I suspect like most folk here in Britain you have had a belly full of the former. Regardless of your own personal views, the political bickering, lies and point scoring showed all political persuasions during televised media interview and question time to be a total disgrace. I have only ever voted for a candidate that I felt deserved my vote. Not one of them met that most basic criteria, I didn't vote. Happily Brexit has for the present been banished from peoples minds.
Secondly there is that tiny little issue about saving the planet. It appears human beings have been turning the Earth into a gigantic dustbin, understandably its a wee bit disgruntled. Oh the nations of the Earth collectively say how terrible it is and their G7, 8 10,12, 20 (or whatever number we are currently up to), are all terribly concerned, except Trump of course at least he's genuinely disinterested. Their representatives leap on to 1st class jets, quaff champagne, wine or beer, discharging great plumes of pollutants from their rear ends, (the aircraft, not the occupants, that's just hot air), they argue the toss for a few days and return having agreed to disagree about everything until the same time the following year. Well the Earth it appears has had enough, it's been feeling pretty lousy for decades, "about time I took some effective medicine and got rid of this nasty infection, Covid 19 should do the trick". Honestly, with far too much time on my hands and little to do other than applaud the NHS, it is difficult not to believe the planet is fighting back and taking care of itself. You reap what you sow.
Apparently the air globally is already cleaner than its been for years. Cities and towns are clear of smog and the usual clouds of pollutants, no cars, no planes, no trains, no industry, (Britain doesn't have much of that anyway). We as a nation have rarely been fitter, those that are well enough to go outside are reveling in their permitted hour of exercise. I now live adjacent to the Dava Way an old railway track which had been reclaimed as a public footpath. Before Covid 19 I rarely saw more than a few folk amble by, now it's the equivalent of the M1, I have never seen so many people about and I seriously doubt there are two metres between them all. Folk are running, walking, cycling, engaging with their kids indoors and out. Junk food outlets are nominally closed, people are baking their own bread and getting creative with craft related projects courtesy of their excess toilet rolls. Venice one of the most beautiful yet hideously polluted cities in the world has had an ethical renaissance, the water is clear and blue with jellyfish swimming by, (personally I could do without the jellyfish).
The above are just my musings and thoughts in one of several bored and admittedly frustrated moments where I feel imprisoned in a house and being told to sit on my arse when I believe I would be both safer and happier out with a camera alone in Scotland's great outdoors. As you are doubtless aware the government ramble on about recovery and a cautious return to normality. I do wonder if they have the faintest idea of how they are realistically going to achieve that goal or even if they should, perhaps this ought to be considered an opportunity to re-construct a new normality one that is not parasitic but symbiotic with its relationship to planet Earth particularly as it seems to hold all the cards.
