Friday, July 31, 2020

A Scrap of Paper


I'm getting a bit of a late start this morning -- I didn't wake up until 7 a.m.! Usually Olga's thumping her tail around 4:30, eager to get moving, but not today. I guess we all needed some extra rest.

I couldn't get New Blogger to function at all this morning. The screen to compose a post simply would not load. I had to revert to Legacy Blogger to make this post. I don't know if it's our router or Google, but it seems like there may still be bugs in the system.

Yesterday was the most social day Dave and I have had in weeks. One of his former students, Jacob, came over in the morning and sat with us in the garden for a while. He kept a mask on the whole time, even though we were outside and distancing, which was very considerate. Then, in the afternoon, our friend Colin finally came over for our long-awaited socially distanced cocktail date, which we'd postponed twice because of rain. He works with us, so we caught up on some work gossip and talked about how weird it will be to return to work in a few weeks and what the circumstances will be like. (No one really knows beyond the barest of outlines.)

It's very strange to have people come to the house and not be able to shake their hand in greeting or even get very close to them. It makes me feel like a bad host, though of course they don't expect it.

During my walk with Olga yesterday morning, I found this scrap of paper:

 

That's front and back. Sounds like material ripe for a short story -- a new identity, police, a murder, jail, a tiger coming to tea, and dancing customers. Hmmmm...

(Top photo: From my walk through Kentish Town on Wednesday.)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The note is intriguing. Good to have visitors. We are social animals but we can't have visitors at the moment.

Colette said...

Your photo made me happy. It has been so long since I've been downtown, or in any urban setting because of this virus. It reminds me there is beauty everywhere, even in the most unexpected places. I know that probably sounds trite, but I really mean it. Plus, you have an eye for composition.

ellen abbott said...

I hate the new blogger and am sticking with Legacy. they just made everything more complicated.

and interesting piece of paper. I wonder what it was.

Anonymous said...

It's so lovely that you had visitors and felt safely distanced.
Interesting piece of paper you found there.
I haven't tried the new blogger and will probably stick to Legacy. I am resistant to change.

Ms. Moon said...

I wonder what "wood flooring entre" means?
I am hoping those notes are for a possible story. Although now lost or perhaps- purposefully abandoned.
So nice to have visitors. A tiny breath of normalcy although the presence of masks does sort of interfere with that particular fantasy.

Sharon said...

It must have been nice to have friends visit. It's been so long, I'm beginning to wonder how that would feel. What an interesting piece of writing you found. That's quite a lot of subjects in such a short space.

The Bug said...

Oooo - a mystery! I think it's actually a therapist's notes from a session with a pretty disturbed (and perhaps felonious) client. Ha!

Love that you had company! I'd love to have someone visit, but we really don't have a good socially distant place to sit outside. Plus, it's been 90 degrees every day. Ugh.

Moving with Mitchell said...

Ooh, are you going to create a story around that scrap of paper? We're about to go meet some friends for a drink. He's here from Glasgow; she lives here. It will be very strange to not hug and simply sit across the table from each other. We are a VERY physical community, one of the things we love about Spain. Argh! I love your photos... always. Little stories in every one.

Catalyst said...

I think that note was left especially for you, to intrigue you and allow you to create some intrigue on your blog. I'll bet you're feeling better about it now.

Steve Reed said...

Andrew: And Zoom just doesn't cut it!

Colette: Thanks so much! There is indeed beauty everywhere. I like urban scenes a lot, sometimes the grittier the better! (Of course that's easy for me to say because I can retreat to my comfortable middle-class garden.)

Ellen: I think at some point we won't be able to go back to Legacy, though.

Robin: I think eventually we'll all have to move to New Blogger, though I'm still unclear about that.

Ms Moon: I wondered the same thing. Maybe it was a fiction-writing exercise?

Sharon: Yeah, definitely not a slow-moving story, whatever it was!

Bug: Lord, I hope some therapist isn't letting their patient notes float around on the streets of London. This is why there are shredders!

Mitchell: I'm not a great fiction writer. You wouldn't want me to try. Trust me.

Catalyst: I must admit when I found it I thought, "This will be GREAT for the blog!"