March 2020 - Part One

 That first day home after being away on holiday is horrible. Getting the suitcase unpacked, washing everything, getting uniform ready for work. Bleugh. Its almost like I need another holiday to recover from the first day back at work!

I'd popped into town for some bits, and when I was walking home I discovered these three ducks in the park. Bearing in mind there's no pond there, only a small water fountain the students are always tipping washing up liquid in, it seemed an odd place to see them. But they were happily strolling across the park on thier way somewhere. Shame I didnt have any food with me! 

We also came back just in time to see my Amaryllis flower, and what a beauty! Three flowers off the one stem, and all in this gorgeous crimson colour. Really brightened up the conservatory, especially as not much else had been starting to flower yet. But then it was early March, so I guess that's normal. 

We also had a lovely day down the beach too, it was nice to be somewhere where the only noises are the sea and the pebbles on the beach. It was very quiet too, but that was expected. Covid-19 was in the country, there had only been a couple of hundred cases so far, but people were getting a bit nervous. Which was hardly surprising. The last pandemic I'd lived through was Swine flu, but nothing really changed then. There was a lot of talk about the country shutting down, but it seemed like a distant possibility, or even a far fetched concept!

Ironically, the last day out me and James had was to the Vyne, a stunning National Trust property outside of Basingstoke. It was charming, although didn't quite look right from the outside. I think due to the chapel whacked on the end and the decision to add the Roman style temple frontage in the middle. Wouldn't it be nice to have the money to do that? You get bored of your front door, and hey presto you arrange for someone to design and build a Roman temple as your new front door. That would be amazing. But I don't think it will happening to me anytime soon. Not in real life anyway, I could probably make it happen on the Sims!

The other side has a bit more Tudor and Georgian charm to it, this was the main entrance for us visitors. Tickets are £15, and as always, if you're a National Trust member, you get in for free. There's an expansive gardens and woodlands walks too, so it's a place where you could easily spend most or all of a day.

Love this white and pastel blue staircase, and the landing above with its Roman columns tipped with gold leaf. Sumptuous and so delightful.

And then outside, I spotted a sure sign that winter was ending, a Magnolia, budding and coming into flower. I took great delight in inspecting it, and revelling in the though of the warmer days of spring were coming.