Is there hope?

 

It’s all well and truly over. The dream for a good time has been and gone. This year, unlike last year, we did go in the loft and retrieve our Christmas decorations box and we strung a few lights on the walls. And the cards were hung on ribbons on the ceiling in their usual place. I can let you into a secret and that is that the card ribbons stay there all year hidden amongst the beams. No one seems to notice, and it is much easier leaving them there, but I do feel it is a bit lazy.

And I feel lazy about using the recycling box to decide about what to do with all the bits and pieces like wrapping paper, empty boxes and a gift of teas that we do not like. I feel virtuous, though, about doing recycling and it stops me storing things away to clutter up the drawers and shelves. The hen and the compost bin deal with leftover food. It feels good putting spare cabbage leaves on the compost and giving the hen and wild birds a treat of spare mashed potato.

Perhaps, more seriously, COVID is getting nearer. By November last year only friends of friends had it, but now close relatives are reporting positive tests. The last time I checked, one in twenty-five people had the disease which means even walking on the street for a short time you could pass an infected person.

I had a text message last Saturday saying GET BOOSTED NOW from the NHSbooster programme. Maybe it was part of the drive to offer everyone a booster by the end of last year. This was not exactly an offer with a place and time. It was perhaps a reminder. And the problem is my health records show that I have had a booster! Nothing is as easy as it seems.

My amaryllis bulb has not been as easy as the box indicated either. It was to be a beautiful white trumpet flower and the photo showed it shining out against the red background. I planted it two months ago and all over the festive season it did not flower. In fact, it did not show even a leaf but remained crouched stubbornly in its pot on the window ledge looking brown and fat like a toad, without a sign of life. I kept it in the light and warmth. I watered it regularly but not too much, to no avail.

Now, today, I have done my usual scrutinising and I see a small green shoot. Perhaps in the long grey months ahead there is hope for that promised beautiful white flower.