The easing of lockdown continued in small steps, although the virus was still considered a threat
and face masks became mandatory in many places. We learned never to leave home without a mask in your pocket and to wash our hands at every possible opportunity.
and face masks became mandatory in many places. We learned never to leave home without a mask in your pocket and to wash our hands at every possible opportunity.
Eat out to Help Out was encouraged to help the economy but restrictions on serving alcohol, numbers of people allowed in venues and closing times were not always popular!
At home the wildlife continued to appear although it was not always wildlife we spotted!
People were now allowed to travel a little further if local restrictions allowed and everyone was eager to do just that. We kept our visits to places we knew wouldn't be very busy and began to enjoy seeing again the sights and sounds around us.
In August, schools in Scotland returned. Outbreaks of the virus occurred in many areas during the following weeks but again we were lucky in our part of the country. We began to feel more confident and travelled further afield. Family were allowed to come and visit - and even stay over!
Over the next few days and weeks, despite the cold wet weather we experienced, the old wall was demolished and a new one grew...
We never like to throw things away if there might be another use for them - so the good bricks from the wall were recycled in to paths around our raised beds. The builders were quite surprised that we wanted them but soon got into the habit of throwing good ones into a pile for us. We then had to move them into the back garden and lay them. The mortar was knocked off the bricks and ground into material to lay the bricks on. So a lot of hard work was done!
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By November we had local
lockdown areas – rather than the national restrictions we had become used to. A vaccine was also announced that seemed to be effective
against coronavirus and on 8th December the first vaccine was given. The
elderly were targeted first – especially those in care homes. However outbreaks
of the virus continued to develop and with Christmas approaching we were all expecting another
lockdown. Initially a 5 day relaxation of restrictions was announced but this
changed suddenly to just Christmas day itself. Many people, including us, abandoned Christmas get-togethers
completely. Autumn had been quite colourful but winter brought frosty mornings.
On boxing day Scotland as a whole moved into the tightest
level 4 restrictions and a new lockdown came into force on 5th Jan
2021.Back to only going out for exercise or essential shopping. The local river always gives us something to see and was definitely more interesting than just walking the streets.
February was a big month for us we redecorated the bathroom and had our first jag!
By February 1 million people had been vaccinated and towards end
of the month some children began to go back to school. One year after the first lockdown the
timetable for the lifting of restrictions was announced. We began with the allowance to travel within our council area before being given the go ahead to travel anywhere within Scotland. Shops, cafes, hairdressers, gyms etc began to reopen.
At home we decided to extend our pond in the garden ...
Found a huge slab that needed moving,
but decided to keep some of it as a beach,
and added larger stones in case any wildlife fell in!
Just need a few more plants and time for it all to settle and grow.
Also decided to make our version of a zen garden. Stripped out the few plants that were there and laid some weed suppressant.
Gravel was added and a home-made rake put in the lines...
The 'beach' of the pond also got the 'treatment'
Now we are able to we are venturing to some of our old haunts ...
but also discovering some new ones. We have had some lovely sunny days but April has, according to the Meteorological Centre, had frost almost every day! Snow showers and hail stones have also been experienced so plants and wildlife in the garden, although showing encouraging signs have not really gone mad!
April saw us get our second jag and the combination of the lockdown and the success of the vaccine programme allowing some restrictions being eased. We were allowed to travel further than our local authority and more people could meet outdoors. By the end of the month we could even go to England!
We are still investigating our local area and managed to find another little gem this month.
Mouswald Loch definitely is a 'hidden' gem as some of the locals don't even know about it!
It was apparently a Prisoner of War camp during WW1, with the prisoners spending the day at the peat works before going back to the camp at night. Once the peat works closed the area filled up with water - hence the loch.
We also paid a visit to Kirconnel church & graveyard, near Springkell. This is the remains of Kirkconnel old parish church and graveyard, first recorded in the 12th century. It is now a ruined building with memorials and grave-markers close to Kirtle Water.
There is a 'tale' associated with this churchyard - here is the grave of Helen Irving (known as Fair Helen of Kirkconnel) who lived in the 16th century. According to tradition she was loved by 2 gentlemen at the same time and one vowed to kill the other. While sitting with one admirer, the other attacked and she put herself in the way and died. After the killing Adam Fleming fled to Spain and when he later returned to visit her grave and lay on it, he died on the spot! He was buried next to her.
'Helen of Kirkconnel' is now a famous ballad.
Restrictions continued to ease and life returned to some sort of normality - although we are still being careful about where we go if there are too many people around.
Level 0 was announced in Scotland on July 9th and a month later we were beyond Level 0. This meant there was no need now for physical distancing or limits on gatherings, but the use of face coverings in some places would continue as would the collection of contact details as part of Test & Protect.
