Shocking

My daughter's photo

 This is one of the most shocking things I have ever  had to write on my blog. Our son-in-law has just phoned to let us know that our daughter who is alone and on holiday in Berlin has been attacked. The only reason being she was wearing her corona face mask.

She was walking down the street to get away from the crowd of protestors and one thug threw his drink over her then a group of men started throwing punches but luckily the riot police pulled her to safety.  She's safely back in her hotel room now shaken and bruised.

The protestors believe the corona regulations infringe their basic rights and freedoms and want normal life to resume. We just want our daughter safely back at home now.

Link to the "anti-corona" protest news report.


Edited to add : Sunday 30th August.

I see the news report has been updated to say of the thousands of protestors, three hundred were arrested and I sincerely hope those thugs who attacked my daughter were among those arrested.

Carol has said although she is feeling sore and sorry for herself she is not going to let it spoil her last day in Berlin, she still loves Berlin and the German people as a whole and she will return.

Shopping trip

I wouldn't normally write a blog post about a shopping trip but these aren't normal times. We have our groceries and medicines delivered to our home and anything else we need or want is ordered online. Following last week's upsetting trip into town, yesterday we decided we'd head to a nearby shopping outlet and hopefully have a bite to eat while we were there. It's something we used to like to do and it's fair to say not going out and being stuck at home is giving hubby cabin fever. At least I can look forward, if that's the right word to having lunch at the hospital once a week and chatting with nurses and other patients. It was a nice trip out for hubby.

As it turned out the place was well organised with the new regulations in place, most customers and all of the staff wore face coverings and although I definitely do feel vulnerable it turned out alright. I found what I wanted and that was some new placemats. I've managed to ruin my old ones by watering my plants placed on our dining table and they've had to find a new home in the utility room. I'd bought the tablecloth online and these placemats are perfect. I also impulse bought a new duvet set with bees, I couldn't resist it as I like bees. Lunch was quite nice, I had a chicken and ham pie with new potatoes and vegetables and hubby had scampi and chips.

 My plants now in our utility room

Journeys

I've been waiting since the end of April to have Ann's two paintings professionally framed. So wearing my medical grade mask I've ventured into town twice this week, first time to drop off the paintings and again today to collect them. I chose the brown frame for Annie and asked for red for the campervan painting. The framer only had one length of red frame and today he told me that although the frame looks good from the front the corners weren't up to his usual standard and so he very kindly refunded me the cost of that one and so it's been framed for free. I had originally intended for the campervan painting to go in our conservatory but have now decided it is far too hot in there for an oil painting so it's joined some of Ann's other art work in our living room and I think it looks good there in that little corner. To say I'm thrilled to bits is an understatement.

Annie alongside another of Ann's fabulous paintings of her

 I've been shielding at home since March, not seeing anyone and not wanting to leave the house or be around other people, only leaving home to attend hospital appointments. I know that I am vulnerable to the virus as I am only part way through my weekly chemo treatments and it's true to say I've been very wary about going into town and rightly so after today's ghastly experience which I'll tell you about.

After leaving the framing shop I went to the newsagents shop to buy myself a magazine.There was a group if three men outside the shop approaching people on the street supposedly raising awareness for mental health but had pink wristbands which I assume they were selling. One man came right up to me and I politely asked him to socially distance himself as I was a cancer sufferer. He took a few steps away from me and then turned and came back and rudely asked me if had I just called him an a++++++e. I'd said no such thing and I think he was just trying to intimidate me. The staff in the newsagents told me the men were upsetting a lot of people, many complaints had been made about them and they'd previously been there collecting money for a totally different cause. I decided to call in at the police station and the officer said he'd send a police community officer to speak to them. I was so glad to  return home and that'll be my last venture into town for the foreseeable future I can tell you. I've done what I'd been longing to do and that's have Ann's wonderful paintings framed.

Today my daughter has flown to Berlin for a ten day holiday. She had to go via Frankfurt as there are no direct flights due to Covid. She reported to us that at check in instead of thousands of passengers queuing across multiple lanes there was just her and the staff. I wish our town centre had been like that! Anyway, if you're reading this  from your hotel in Berlin Carol, have a wonderful holiday and please take care and stay safe.

At long last

Our daughter and son-in-law came to visit us yesterday. They had phoned first to ask if it was alright and we said yes of course. Not having seen them for what seems like an eternity it was the tonic we needed. We really needed to have our family with us, have proper contact other than on screen or telephone conversations. We  needed this contact as I'm certain we were beginning to suffer from the loneliness of isolation.  No longer having our little dog Annie and going on daily walks and meeting our dog walking friends has been tough, so seeing our daughter's two greyhounds again was wonderful. We took them for a walk to our nearby park and even stopped to chat to a lady walking her greyhound. All four of us wore masks even in our home and we were able to enjoy a socially distanced evening meal, one of the benefits of having a long living / dining room. I know that visiting us was a tonic for our daughter and son-in-law too as not only am I a cancer sufferer but our son-in-law's father has cancer too, these are very tough times for our family indeed.

Verne making himself at home on the fireside rug

A closeup of Verne's ouchie. Daughter had been mopping the floor in her home when Verne charged in from the garden, slipped on the floor and injured himself with the claw's from his other leg!

This is the lovely Miss Molly.

Doing well

I had the first of my weekly chemo treatments this week and so far so good and this course I've been told is much kinder than the last course which made me feel quite ill.  My oncologist has warned me though that as the course progresses I will become more tired and to rest and pace myself. As hubby and I are continuing to shield at home all I have to post is some photos of the succulents I separated into different pots back in April and they are doing really well.

A nice dark red plant doing well

I cut off a couple of the babies on this one and planted them alongside and they seem to be growing and doing well.

What can I say about this one - I'm not sure what to do with these new growths which are doing extremely well :)

Hubby and I are continuing to shield at home which here in Wales is due to end  on the 16th of this month. Not for us though as we are in the vulnerable category and we're not taking any chances of catching this deadly virus. On our way home from my eye clinic appointment last week we did stop off at the beach cafe takeaway and had coffee and a bite to eat while sat in the car, it was tasty and we had a nice change of scenery. It's a sorry state of affairs when that is the highlight of our week. We're not complaining though, we're doing well.