The other night I was stuck with Dionne Warwick warbling "Trains and Boats and Planes." Earworms are strange things.
Anyway, yesterday was pretty low-key. I did some cleaning and two loads of laundry, and finished yet another Newbery book ("Bud, not Buddy," the one I had such trouble starting, which was my fault, not the book's). Now I need to pause the Newbery project and catch up on The New Yorker again, and even as I write that sentence I feel a sense of numbing sameness.
Today is the census in the UK, and we're all supposed to go online to some website and fill out our census forms. The letter I received was oddly specific about this: "All households should complete the census on Sunday 21 March 2021 or as soon as possible after. You must complete the census by law or you could be fined up to £1,000."
Cripes!
It sounds like a recipe for disaster -- every household in the country going to a government website on the same day?! We'll see how it goes. Dave and I had Zoom drinks with our friends Mike and Sally on Friday night, and they said they'd already completed their forms, so I guess we could have done it early -- but I didn't want to wind up in the Tower of London awaiting the executioner's axe.
It sounds like a recipe for disaster -- every household in the country going to a government website on the same day?! We'll see how it goes. Dave and I had Zoom drinks with our friends Mike and Sally on Friday night, and they said they'd already completed their forms, so I guess we could have done it early -- but I didn't want to wind up in the Tower of London awaiting the executioner's axe.
On Friday the beloved BBC show "Gardener's World" began its new season, and Dave and I watched it on the iPlayer last night. "Gardener's World" stops broadcasting during the winter, and it's always encouraging when it resumes in the spring -- as encouraging as the primroses growing wild in the cemetery. Apparently "Gardener's World" became quite a thing in the states during lockdown, at least according to The New York Times, so maybe some of my American readers are watching it too.
Speaking of which, I need to get out in the garden today and get a few minor things done -- mostly putting stakes in the ground to keep the dog from walking on the tender new shoots of our plants as they come up from their winter slumber. Olga is notorious for plowing heedlessly over everything in her path.
JUDGE You are duly found guilty of failing to fill in your census form. It is a most heinous and despicable crime. Have you anything to say before sentencing?
ReplyDeleteREED As I said before your majesty, I mean your honour...I tried to do it. I really did but the online system was overloaded on March 21st and afterwards I simply forgot because I was reading my back copies of "The New Yorker".
JUDGE (donning black cap) Officers! Take him down!
(Reed was then frogmarched to the cells, his feet hardly touching the floor. He was heard screaming up in the court room, "It's not fair!". The Judge chuckled.)
We did an online census a couple of years ago. It was forecast to be a disaster and it was. The website crashed immediately. I can't remember why I and so many others were angry about it but we were and I filled in nonsense answers. It will be our most unreliable census ever.
ReplyDeleteYour gardening exploits are always a treat to read, Steve. And thanks for the earworms. Stuck now with trains and boats and planes on repeat.
ReplyDeleteMy father in law would put down his potatoes when Gardener's World started again - "coincidentally" always at or around St. Patrick's day - and although he only planted a handful for sentimental reasons, it was his Big Thing. And he was a great gardener.
My gardener here keeps a diary and lamented that this day two years ago, he cut the lawn while this year, we still have hoar frost.
Thanks for reminding me of the census. I thought the deadline to submit was 29th March.
ReplyDeleteI got THE letter some time ago; duly logged on. The questions go into amazing detail. Writing them my memoirs would be easier. I get that they want to know where you are on 21 March (cue Herod's decree, Mary and Joseph, little Jesus born in the manger, Bethlehem, ca. 24/25 December many years ago). But this census asks insanely personal questions. Luckily, my computer, clearly reading my mind, "crashed" mid way through as it lost patience. It didn't even make it onto my to-do list. I shall be damned if I spend this lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, 21 March 2021, the first day of Spring, telling them I am LOCKED DOWN at my usual address and not on a park bench.
Have fun,
U
Be prepared Steve, they want to know everything but the kitchen sink about you, I was shocked. It used to be simple but not any more.
ReplyDeleteLove the primroses.
Briony
x
I don't know why, but I always find cemeteries such peaceful beautiful places. And it looks like Olga feels the same.
ReplyDeleteEar buds. Oy. I wake up every morning singing a song. And sometimes it's something I've heard lately, and sometimes it's something I haven't heard in ages; and every day it's different. Today was Sam Smith and 'Stay With Me'.
Everyone on the same site at the same time? What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it would work nothing like the Covid vaccine sign up sites that keep crashing.
I had an earworm the other day. thank the gods I've finally forgotten it. and I have no idea where it came from either. so I've been writing down the names of plants I see on other people's blogs, a lot from yours, and finally made it to the nursery with my list. nope, nope, nope she says, none of those do well down here (with one or two exceptions). well, phooey. can't take our prolonged heat I guess.
ReplyDeleteYes. The New Yorkers...
ReplyDeleteWhy do we submit ourselves to the guilt of these deceptively slim magazines which arrive daily, it would seem?
Let us know what sort of questions are on the census. I'm curious now as to what personal details they want.
I haven't had an earworm in a while and I'm pretty happy about that. It really bugs me when I have it while trying to fall asleep. Oy.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing spring springing up there.
What a crowded overgrown cemetery!
ReplyDeleteClassic, I Always Thought That It Was 'meadow dust' Until Today - I Feel Your Vibration, Another Line I So Appreciate - Thanx For The Tune Brother Man - Always Be A Dreaming Man - Plow On Girl - Will Say That Olga Girl Looks Really Good With That Profile In The Cemetery - Please Stash An Uncle T Biscuit Under Her Pink Blanket - Enjoy Your Week Ahead My Man
ReplyDeleteCheers
I've had an ear worm everyday, all day, for decades. Some songs are worse than other, it's like having an out of control radio on in the next room. It does get old.
ReplyDeleteOur census was remarkably simple. How many people, what do you do for a living, what color are you? We did see a census taker who was looking at a wash across the street wondering why there was no house on it. Good luck with it.
Your photos in the cemetery look like you and Olga are in such an ancient place. I hadn't heard of Gardener's World. I'll look for it. I did watch several Monty Don garden tours and enjoyed that show very much. Although that one is more about design than actual gardening. There is one show I've watched on Netflix that I meant to mention. It is called Grand Designs and the series follows unusual home builds all over England. There is one episode that takes place in north London in an area called Haringey. I looked it up, it's just north and east of Highgate. I've never been there but for some reason, images of that house keep popping into my head. It's strange. I saw that episode months ago but I still think about that house often. Not because I actually liked the house but for some other reason. It feels familiar when it can't possibly be. Have you ever seen that show? There are some very interesting places featured, like the two guys who converted an old hospital water tower into a home in south London. That one was weird.
ReplyDeleteear worm, dread! For the past week there has been one going on in between my ears, I could not identify it...went to Value Village and there it was, their advert ditty for shopping sensibly. At least yours has been a semi cool one.
ReplyDeleteToo cold to even think of gardening, and wet! But glad your favorite program has returned, your springtime is warmer than ours.
Your post titles are getting similar - gross, slimy things mentioned recently: "Earworms", "Slugs", "Ugh", "Earthworm chili"! I think you need warmth and sun and flowers blooming to lift you up! Hang in there, Steve!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about your census too - ours was a five minute affair. Of course people in the US would rise up in arms if the gubment tried to find out personal information.
ReplyDeleteWhen I filled out our census, I was asked for race. I said 'human'. That was as persnickety as I got on things.
ReplyDeleteIf the people in the U.S. were ordered to fill out a census form or face a fine, a lot of them would go insane. I was a crew leader for the 2010 census. Some people became extremely upset when enumerators came to their houses to ask for a bit of information. They considered it an invasion of their privacy, but the U.S. census asks for far less info than it did in the past. The 2020 census was never finished.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie