We went to Thaxted (Essex and "the home of British music") for lunch at The Swan with two old college friends - one of them being my unofficial medical adviser. As he and I are both Clinically Extremely Vulnerable with regard to COVID-19 and my wife Sue is Clinically Vulnerable, I asked for a well-distanced and ventilated table and they put us next to an open sash window. It was good to start moving out into the world again and spend some time in the company of old friends.
After lunch our guests headed off to Cambridge where they are due for a week's cat-sitting at one of their son's houses, and we went off for a stroll around the town. Here's a fine old house next to the medieval Guildhall:
This is the church which we know well from years of going to the Thaxted Festival concerts here:
The windmill (currently undergoing restoration):
Note the church spire in the second photo. Like all the best spires it can be seen from miles all around, pointing the faithful up to God in his Heaven.
These two photos are of the wall of a cottage near the windmill. I have absolutely no idea what the numerals mean.
All this brings me back to the subject of live music - classical, opera, and jazz - which was my main occupation for years before the combination of COVID and myeloma struck. I admit to a slightly obsessive personality, and to some extent petanque has filled the void left by the absence of live music in my life. I haven't been to a thing since March 2020 except the Writtle Jazz Festival (in well-ventilated tents) and can't see myself going back to more than very occasional events for a year or two yet. That's from someone who was regularly out two or three evenings a week for music of one kind or another. At least I'm saving money on tickets this way - enough to pay for the boules with some left over.
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