We have fallen into the middle. The part of life that is routine, basic and possibly boring. The things which make up childhoods, things we do not deem important but are at the core of who we become.
Alvin
Alvin’s routine consists of waking us up by climbing into our bed followed in by Jasper. He wakes up running and only cuddles but a moment. He has always been eager to get the day started. For the last five weeks we have homeschooling again. School days consist of on line lessons, writing, reading, and then in the afternoon we head to the park or for a long walk. Today we changed things and during lunch hour we walked with the neighbors into town to pick up library books.
I wake up slower. Pulling open the drapes attempting predict the weather by looks of the clouds or lack of. Ironically I am no longer am an avid tea drinker. I now start the day off with instant coffee, a much better selection than back home. You have already been introduced to my days. I start those off before sunrise riding my bike into work and they end riding back hours after sunset. On my off days I linger around the house resembling a sloth. I help Alvin with his school work, I write, and attempt to help Gary with the house chores. I am trying to embrace the lockdown; the lack of commitments, swim lessons or volunteering, but I often find myself making lists just so I have something to cross off: laundry, dishes, get dressed. The simple act of crossing something off adds some sort of purpose to the humdrum time we are in.
Gary’s Retirement
Gary has been keeping himself busy restoring our backyard. He put in a new fence and made planters out of the salvageable parts of the old fence, a true renaissance man. Gary and the owner of our rental house are off to a good start. She bought the material for the new fence after Gary did the research. The previous one was falling over, and Gary graciously did all the labor. If I attempt to add tasks or activities to his day, like the local Spanish lessons at the community center (pre lockdown) he is quick to remind me that this is his retirement. My renaissance man has also kept himself busy since our arrival by putting in new shelves in the kitchen and becoming friends with the neighbor who helped us arrange the installation of our gas range. We attempted to live with an electric range but after a month we decided it was a luxury we did not mind investing in.
The progression of the Backyard
Even though the pandemic and most recent lockdown has made it difficult to get to know our town past a one or two mile radius, it has allowed us to really know every walking path within the two miles. I see it as getting to know the water we swim in. And there is still much we do not know.
Saturdays have become a treasure
Saturdays are our highlight; we walked into town to buy food for the week. As we start weekly journey we must choose to walk along the Itchen River or along the street, both have their treasure. Either way we are lead to the exterior aisle of Winchester Cathedral, placing us in the middle of High Street, the center of town. We purchase our meat from the local butcher and fruits/vegetables from the farmer. Sometimes we go to Poundland (UK equivalent of the dollar store) and stock up on sweets (aka candy). We do need to keep an eye on the weight, not ours, but the bags we must carry back home.
City Treasures versus River Walks
The evening revolve around eating sweets, playing the piano, watching Alvin play with his Legos as we listen to Gary read or an audiobook. Simple times we have now but it is the core of his childhood.
Tell me about your routine, the mundane things of your life, your core?
This is awfully good. Just a quiet recording of your lives ‘over there’. Thanks. Things here are equally quiet. Very grey and rain daily and I suspect that the term ‘clammy’ might have been invented somewhere near here. Each morning and evening Grace-The-Wonderdog and I grumble at each other and then march out into the gloom where she craps and then I pick it up in a little plastic bag. Then we come home. Lynn persists in her efforts to make me into the man I could be. So far, at least, I resist though I’ve scheduled a haircut.