Notes from the country with Vicky Turrell

  We had all been waiting for the big announcement. Something that would take us forward. But after the Prime Minister had spoken, it seemed as if nothing was going to happen. And it did not at first – we are all still obeying the same lockdown rules. But on Monday there is to be a big change. The schools are opening. ‘Step One’ towards a new stage in our lives. It will not be quick; we cannot rush things. We are all doing our best to keep going, but it is difficult. Four million of us are still shielding and according to my Government email I must await further instructions at the end of March. There will be no coffee or picnics outdoors for me and other shielders, we must move even more slowly. Our newly planted seeds have been moving slowly too. At first nothing happened but then I read that they needed warmth. We put them in the airing cupboard amongst the curving pipes and the hot cylinder – carefully avoiding the newly washed clothes. It worked, and now we are back to tra...

There is something in our home-made compost that should not be there. I put vegetable remains, cardboard boxes and tea-bags in. But, whenever my husband turns the compost, there is always a little pile of plastic which of course hasn’t rotted. Where does that come from? There must be plastic hidden in the packaging somewhere.   I have been to Uriconium this week. (I am looking for things to do which feel safe for me as a shielded person.) It is a long time since I have seen the walls of the old baths towering against the Welsh hills. The items that the Romans dropped or threw away, like pottery, glass and metal objects, are fascinating to me. Their pieces of litter are now called artefacts and I, for one, am glad that they left them behind. I am fascinated to find that the Roman women used eyeliner tools and wore such beautiful jewellery, just like today. Even in our garden and fields we have found old things that have been discarded, which are interesting. A Shipman paste ...