11th January 2021

UK deaths: 529. Current Market Harborough infections: 476. DOWN from last week 51. So far, 2.4 million jabs have been administered across the UK.

On a slightly warmer day than of late, Sue and I met Sarah, Alice, and Mia at Fosse Meadows Country Park. Taking advantage of the current Covid restrictions, which allowed us to meet with one other person (babies and dogs not counting) for exercise, we spent the morning wandering around this young, predominantly broad-leafed woodland in Leicestershire.

Planning to meet at 10 am, we both arrived on the dot, parking up next to each other in the overflow car park. Though none of the three car parks was full, they were busy enough to provide custom for a small catering van stationed near the entrance and the start of several woodland trails.

We first opted to explore the area around a small artificial lake and investigate a couple of hides set back from the water’s edge. Disappointingly, there was no waterfowl to be seen. Moving on, we followed a well-trodden and very muddy outer trail skirting the edge of the wood. Along the way, we briefly diverted to track down a Geocache, discovered by Sarah, intriguingly hidden underground next to a post and unearthed with the help of a conveniently placed stick.

We stuck to the outer edge of the woodland until, about halfway, the mud became too treacherous to walk on safely, prompting us to venture into the drier, firmer conditions beneath the tree canopy. However, this proved to be only a brief respite, as our path soon led us towards a small, meandering stream that snaked through a lush meadow, where the ground was even boggier.

After some careful navigation, we eventually found a route across this near-swamp without mishap and arrived back at our vehicles.

The morning turned out to be a pleasant, if slippery, stroll through a part of the county that neither of us had visited before. It’s definitely worth another trip when conditions are warmer and drier. As a Covid-restricted clan meeting, it was a resounding success—and one we fully intend to repeat (if permitted).

12^th January 2021: UK deaths: 1243. Current Market Harborough infections: 449. DOWN from last week 68. HSBC has issued a warning to customers as retailers step up safety measures. The lender – which also owns First Direct and Marks & Spencer bank – said customers who refuse to wear face masks at branches could forfeit their bank account.

 

The day started dull and drizzly but ended in bright sunshine beneath clear blue skies. We had originally planned a 6-mile walk near Uppingham, but after the government announced an overnight tightening of exercise restrictions, we changed course and opted for a 6-mile walk starting from home instead.

The route we chose was one I regularly follow with my part-time dogs—usually with a stop at the Coach and Horses for a well-earned refreshment. Alas, such a simple pleasure has been cruelly denied us by Mr Coronavirus.

It had rained heavily overnight, and the underfoot conditions were every bit as challenging as expected. Like me, Sue had wisely opted to wear her new Town & Country wellies, thus sparing herself the tedious task of drying out sodden walking boots by the fire later that evening.

A highlight of our tramp was discovering an occupied badger sett. We spent some time examining the claw marks left by its inhabitants at several of the entrances, speculating whether they might be distant relatives of the ones we feed nightly at home.

Another stop along the way was in St Nicholas’s cemetery in Marston Trussell, where we paused to read the gravestones. I pointed out one I had discovered on an earlier foray, that of Anne White (1665), who had fallen victim to the Great Plague. We lingered again as Sue read an information board at the church entrance, which described the slaughter of some escaping Royalist troops by Parliamentarians in the adjacent field.

The homeward leg of our trek took us past Thorpe Lubenham Hall before we followed the old railway line back into Harborough.

During the evening, we thoroughly enjoyed researching the history of Thorpe Lubenham Hall and its past occupants. We came across an article by the Harborough Historical Society, written by the present owner: A History of Thorpe Lubenham Hall by Sir Bruce MacPhail.

We learned that the original manor house, which predates 1296, is reported to have stood on the island in the moat and has passed through the hands of many owners over the centuries. Among its notable occupants were the Romanovs, our present Queen, and the legendary racehorse Brown Jack, whose claim to fame was winning the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the longest race in the flat racing calendar, an astonishing six years in a row, from 1929 to 1934.

13^th January 2021: UK deaths: 1,564Current Market Harborough infections: 517 (down 64 from last week). The UK recorded its highest daily death toll since the pandemic began. The UK has now vaccinated more people than the rest of the EU combined.

Rant: After Vice-President Mike Pence refused to invoke the 25th Amendment, the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump. Maybe die-hard Republicans cannot understand or believe that Trump lost the November election, yet much of the rest of the world cannot understand how 70 million Americans have been duped into thinking that the Trumps have been ‘Great’ for their nation. As so few Americans possess a passport and are the result of an insular education system that rejects innovation and is constricted by a rigid testing regime, it is not surprising that so many do not question or have even weighed the arguments set before them over the past four years. In their defence, the world beyond the  52 states has looked on in bewilderment, crossed its fingers and run shy of Donald. During the reign of this wannabe despot, the internet has been awash with jibes over the antics of his administration, and this has reflected badly and undeservedly on the 74 million Americans who chose to end the madness. The humour in the two inset cartoons would be spectacularly funny if they weren’t true!

14^th January 2021: UK deaths: 1248. Current Market Harborough infections: 438. DOWN from last week 65. Travel to the UK from all of South America, as well as Portugal, Panama and Cape Verde, will be banned from 4 am on Friday because of concerns over the Brazilian variant of coronavirus. A fourth Covid vaccine, Valneva, is undergoing a trial in the UK as the government orders 60 million doses.

Trump was impeached on Wednesday by the House of Representatives over the deadly Capitol siege, making him the only president in US history to be impeached twice. Shame on Vice-President Pence for failing to stand up and be counted.

On a day when the rain poured relentlessly and the River Welland burst its banks, Alice hosted a tea party with her lockdown friends, proving that not even a deluge could dampen the spirit of a good brew and a bit of company.

15th January 2021:  UK deaths: 1280. Current Market Harborough infections: 490. DOWN from last week, 118. The UK shuts travel corridors and requires negative Covid tests to enter, and all international arrivals are forced to quarantine, as well as demonstrate they have had a negative Covid test.

16^th January 2021: UK deaths: 1295. Current Market Harborough infections: 459. DOWN from last week 100.

17^th January 2021: UK deaths: 671. Current Market Harborough infections: 426. DOWN from last week 82. The government announces that all UK adults to be offered a coronavirus vaccine by September.

There is a “very serious” risk of violence at Joe Biden’s inauguration, Donald Trump’s former FBI director has warned. In the eyes of the world, Trump’s America appears to have lost any shred of dignity, and whether it can be regained will depend heavily on the Republican Party and its commitment to a peaceful transition of power.

Hopefully, the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday, 20th January 2021, will not be remembered as a day of shame.

In Rothwell, while cooking Sunday lunch, Charlotte’s Smeg oven decided to stage a dramatic rebellion, the outer glass door unexpectedly failed and exploded across the kitchen, scattering shards of glass everywhere! Thankfully, dinner survived unscathed, and no one was harmed. It now remains to be seen whether the warranty covers the fault, or if Smeg will merely offer “shattered expectations” as compensation.

Meanwhile, in Newbold Verdon, Alice enjoyed her Sunday lunch in a far more civilised fashion, sporting a very smart and impressively comprehensive bib.