This week I came to a breakthrough with yoga. Thursday morning I sat down on my mat and our teacher said “Just be the pose. Don’t ‘do’ the pose. Just be.” This must have been what I needed to hear because for once I didn’t feel stupid for wobbling, or for feeling weak, or for needing to fold down into child’s pose to rest for a bit. Yet strangely, at the end, I did feel sad, as if the class had released something chemical that made me sad. It was a feeling that followed me around all day, but left me on Friday morning when I woke up to being ‘on holiday’.
Yes, this week I was finally on holiday. Not quite the holiday I’d planned but a four day weekend is still a four day weekend, even if it’s spent at home. We’ve tried to make it more fun by referring to the house as “the hotel”, as in “the breakfast buffet at this hotel isn’t very good, is it?” or “what time does the hotel bar open for happy hour?”
This weekend I’ve walked down streets I’ve never walked down before. With limitations on exercise options, we have started walking around the local streets. There are more scenic places to walk, like the park or by the canal, but the park is a magnet for everyone and can get crowded, and the canal paths are narrow enough at the best of times when you have cyclists and runners and walkers trying to negotiate a space that’s only a metre wide; currently we are recommended to keep a two metre distance.
This week we watched some streamed theatre with a friend – Jane Eyre from the National Theatre. She obviously watched it in her house and we watched it in ours, but we watched it at the same time, and were able to compare notes after. I’ve seen other friends have watched opera and ballet. I’m not sure I’m that keen but we’ll see.
With a (mostly) sunny and warm Easter weekend, it was time to finally get out into the garden and do some serious garden work. We refurbished the strawberry patch, planted out some of the perennials I got as bare root stock back in February, tidied up some pots, cut back some growth and mowed the lawn. I meant to order in some more plants and potting compost but there is only one local garden centre that is still open and delivering, and it seems if you’re not online when they upload new stock, everything is sold out in minutes.
This week also the intensely competitive games of canasta continued. One night I had to play three extra games until after 11pm so that husband could feel vindicated that he’d won a game. The thing is, I didn’t used to be a competitive player – I’ve now adapted to how he plays so if I can play viciously and win, I will do it.
Tales from Tobhamhor 