Why is it that a sandwich tastes so much better out on a picnic than it does while sitting at the table? My perfectly ordinary sandwich on my picnic yesterday (and a picnic in my car alone with the windows of the car open letting in the warm autumn air) tasted divine and it was only ham and coleslaw. And that brings me to another covid thought. Covid does seem to govern our lives these days - however hard one tries to get away from it it looms large.
One of my passions as I have got older is clothes. Yes I know, please don't tell me that there is more to life than clothes, that with the world in the state it is clothes other than essentials are unnecessary, that there are much more important things to do with one's money. I know this and I do have charities which I support and have done so for years. But as my regular readers will know, pre Covid friend W and I, and various other friends, ate out regularly - always at least twice a week and it was not uncommon for it to be four times a week. And that needed nice clothes, so I bought nice clothes. This year, in early Spring,I bought a new pair of trousers, which I have had on once and three new tops - one I have worn once and the other two not at all. Now the winter catalogues have arrived (I have been unable to buy clothes other than on line for years owing to my mobility) and there is no point in opening them. I had a new winter coat last year and this year - in the depths of winter - I shall sit in the window by the radiator and watch the world go by. And the money I save? I am sure I can find another charity to send it to.
And another question. What is happening to poor Boris? Is he losing his touch? I often wonder when I see the top politicians on the television screen, how on earth they keep it all together. Life is so complicated. Balancing the books, dealing with the outbreak, dealing with Brexit - all these things to balance - yesterday Boris really lost it when being asked a question about Covid restrictions in the North East (I live on the edge) and later had to apologise. And then I read an interesting article on Rishi Sunak (who is actually my constituency MP) - on his rise to power as Chancellor, on his ability, on his popularity. And in the article was a recent picture of him. He was striding up the stairs at number 10, red folder under his arm, past pictures of past Prime Ministers - one wonders - is it true that a picture is often worth a thousand words??