The Joy Of Freedom
I set out my views on masks in the title of Should We Be Given More Discretion Over Mask Wearing?.
Today was the first Friday under the relaxed rules on masks, when I have done my pre-weekend Friday morning routine.
- Take a bus and a Northern Line train or a direct bus to Moorgate.
- Have a Full English breakfast in Leon.
- Visit Marks & Spencer on Moorgate and get my weekend food.
These are my comments on today’s trip.
- I rode the bus to Angel without a mask and had a pleasant chat with a lady of my age about Putin.
- We felt that the Brutus solution for Vlad the Poisoner would be best!
- On the train between Angel and Moorgate stations, I was the only passenger not wearing a mask.
- It was easy to walk up the steps at Moorgate station.
- Leon was busy, with about half of customers and all staff wearing masks.
- Marks was about half full and it was nice to be able to shop wearing my glasses, which don’t fit my mask.
- I should say, that I need my glasses to read sell-by dates.
- There were no naked faces on the bus home.
It was such a joy for me, to be able to travel and do my shopping without a mask.
But then at no time, was I in a crowd, which might have made me reach for my mask.
Conclusion
I doubt at no time, I’ll go back to full-time mask wearing.
Incidentally, I used to have a racehorse called Joy of Freedom.
A Full-English Gluten-Free Breakfast At Leon
I regularly have a breakfast like this in Leon.
Delicious and gluten-free!
Finsbury Circus Appears Fully Open
I bought my breakfast yesterday in Leon on Moorgate and ate it in the nearby Finsbury Circus Gardens.
It is now fully open.
This picture shows the gardens during the construction of Crossrail.
Note.
- The bandstand can be picked out amongst the trees.
- The shaft towards the bottom is forty metres deep and was used to get men and materials to the tunnels.
Comparing the pictures shows that the gardens are now able to used for their original purpose.
Could I Survive Four Months Self-Isolation?
As I am over seventy, it is quite likely that if newspaper reports like this one in The Times, which is entitled Coronavirus: Millions Of Over-70s Will Be Told To Stay At Home For Four Months, prove to be true, I shall be spending at least four months, alone with my television, my books and the Internet.
These are a few thoughts.
How Does My House Get Cleaned?
When I moved into this house, I decided that I didn’t want to have anything to do with cleaning the house, so I hired a contract cleaning company, who come every Monday.
I also reduced my cleaning utensils to those that I would to clean up a spill.
- A dustpan and brush
- Kitchen roll
- Washing-up liquid.
- A portable Dyson vacuum cleaner.
- A few sponges.
At least I don’t spill much.
How Do I Get My Clothes Washed?
My clothes washing arrangements may seem strange to some.
- The cleaning company also looks after my bed-linen and changes it on Mondays.
- Most of my clothes like underwear, shirts and jumpers are washed by a lady, who collects them from my door and brings them back a few days later.
- I take trousers, jackets and suits to the dry cleaners.
Since my washing machine packed up about three months ago, I haven’t replaced it and I use a pair of new socks every three or four days. It’s cheaper than buying a new machine.
I can see problems arising, as my lady, who does the washing, is not in the first flush of youth or good health and may be told to self-isolate.
But I can afford to get more clothes delivered.
How Am I Placed For Home Deliveries?
Despite my front door virtually opening onto the street, I have problems with home deliveries.
- Inevitably, they come when I’m out! But that won’t happen, if I’m confined to barracks!
- But the major problem is that I share a post-code with the mews that runs down the back of my house and drivers relying on sat-navs inevitably end up in the mews. It happened last week and only because I’d given the company my home phone number, which the driver rang, did I get the parcel.
I should say, that most things that I need I collect from shops, because of the delivery problem, which inevitably means I have to collect it from a Post Office or depot a short or sometimes long distance away.
I Like A Daily Paper
I buy The Times most days and I also have an on-line subscription.
Being brought up in a print works, I like the feel of papers and as I do most of the puzzles in The Times every day, I don’t have to print them out. Not that I can print them out at the moment, as no-one can work out how to drive my printer from this terrible Microsoft Surface Pro Studio computer.
If anybody knows how to drive a HP LaserJet P1102w from one of these awful computers please get in touch. And if you are anywhere near London N1, there will be a beer waiting if the fridge or a boiling kettle, if you turn up.
I buy the paper from the shop round the corner, but I can’t find anybody to deliver one!
It sounds like there’s a business there to deliver papers to those, who the government insist are isolated in their own homes.
What About My Food?
At the present time, I shop most days and generally keep the following in the fridge.
- Two bottles of milk; one in use and one full.
- Some fish pate or M & S salmon parcels.
- Several small pots of M & S Luxury Honey & Ginger yoghurt.
- Three pots of cut fruit from M & S, which I usually eat at a rate of one a day. Sometimes with the yoghurt.
- Benecol spread instead of butter.
- Two or three ready meals.
- Two packs of M & S gluten-free pasta, which has a two months life. I cook it with peas in a yoghurt sauce, with each pack giving two meals.
- Three bottles of Adnams 0.5% beer from M & S. I’ve also got plenty of this in store.
- Some eggs and cheese.
In various store cupboards, storage jars and bowls I also have the following.
- Several bananas.
- Lots of dried apricots
- M & S gluten-free bread.
- M & S gluten-free ginger snaps.
- Plenty of tea bags.
- Tins of sardines
- Tins of baked beans,
- M & S gluten-free granola, which I eat with yoghurt and apricots
- M & S gluten-free porridge pots, which I eat with honey or strawberry jam.
I should say, that most days, I eat breakfast out either in Carluccio’s or Leon.
You will notice that I shop extensively in Marks and Spencer. But I have one only about five hundred metres away in Dalston and in Central London, you pass one of their food stores very regularly.
I can also go to their two larger stores at Finsbury Pavement or The Angel, if I am able to risk the bus.
- It should be noted that I have strong connections to M & S at The Angel.
- My paternal grandmother used to shop there before the First World War.
- C and myself used to shop there in the early 1970s, when we lived in the Barbican.
There is also a Boots next door, where I get my prescription drugs, which was also used by my grandmother over a hundred years ago.
How Will I Get To The Doctors?
It’s walkable!
Conclusion
I think, that I’ll survive.
LEON Scraps China Cups Because Of COVID-19
LEON used to offer proper china mugs in their restaurants.
Not in every one, but in some that I use.
But not any more, as last week. they were using paper cups.
I was assured that as soon as they can the china mugs will return.
A Toned Down Automatic Leon In Leeds Station
Leon have opened a new outlet in Leeds station.
It’s toned-down with an automatic order facility.
Leon Has Smart-Looking Glasses For Gluten-Free Beer
I had lunch in Leon at Ludgate Circus.
It was only a chicken burger and fries, but I did have an Estrella Damm Daura.
It even came with a smart-looking Glass.
Top Class Service With A Smile
I only went into this busy Leon on Tottenham Court Road for a hot chocolate and a gluten-free cake.
As it takes a minute to make a hot chocolate, the young lady at the counter, suggested I sit down and she’d bring it over.
Which she did with a smile.
Rescued By Timpsons
Putting my boots back to go to the Football at around five, one of the laces gave up the ghost.
Timpsons? Surely, they could help.
But I would have to hurry, as it shut at six o’clock. I suppose the good peoiple of Manchester have to get up early to work in the satanic mills, so shops close early.
I eventually found a Timpsons in the Arndale Centre and for a few pounds, I got some new laces.
As the price included fitting, that must be three cheers for Timpsons!
As I left the Arndale Centre, many shops were closing.
Could the decline in High Street sales be partly because opening hours no longer fit the times, when the public now want to shop?
I regularly shop for everyday needs in the evening, if the television is rubbish and will go out for a snack supper to say a Leon or Carluccio’s and then perhaps pop-in to a Marks and Spencer to get food for a few days or perhaps some clothes from Eastfield. Usually shops in Inner London close at nine or ten.
My local M & S foodhall in Dalston, which is shutting at ten tonight, is just two bus stops away.
Perhaps, more people need to live in City Centres to revive them?
The Anonymous Widower 