On Florence Nightingale’s 126th anniversary Deirdre was born and ever after May 12th has been consecrated as the birthday of two women who changed history. . Florence transformed medicine and Deirdre transformed me. It is also the day when the
black bears of the Canadian Rockies traditionally come out of hibernation. Having been locked down without the benefit of Crich Area Covid-19 Mutual Aid Network to do their shopping, they are pretty hungry. So down to the verges of the highways they come to graze on dandelions and in 2012 we were there to see them. That made Deirdre’s birthday very special, as did the fact that we were able to use her anniversary to get free upgrades in hotels for a good week afterwards.
.On our first wedding anniversary I bought her a garden hoe. The fact that it stood unused and unappreciated in the garage for 48 years taught me to be very cautious about surprise gifts, but the lockdown forced me to throw caution to the wind this year. Now many people will have birthdays and celebrations during lockdown and it’s very difficult to arrange surprises if one’s partner never goes out shopping or to a body vibes class. It’s impossible to phone one’s mistress or arrange a drugs purchase on-line if you’re always having to shut down the computer because someone is in nosing around looking for an elastic band or her ipad, (glasses case, phone, keys, wallet). Nor is it possible to nip out and buy a card because you’ve forgotten to get one. So there were lots of furtive emails, phone calls made from the garage and coded signals semaphored from the roof tops.
The first surprise was to be a Zoom meeting with some friends in New Zealand timed for 9-45 am. Remember there’s an 11 hour time difference. I lay awake from about 4am going over all the possible scenarios that could sabotage the arrangement: Deirdre would be in the shower, doing her hair, upstairs doing mindfulness. Round about 8am things augured well. She was sitting up in bed deciding whether to arrange her cards into categories by colour or theme and there seemed to be plenty of time. At the critical moment it turned out I didn’t have a password for the meeting and, still trying to sustain the pretence whilst making coffee and warming croissants I was frantically making a phone call to New Zealand from my mobile. Do you know their lockdown is being scaled down in an orderly manner, everyone knows what they can and can’t do and the shops, schools and gyms have all been able to prepare in advance? No wonder there was never a Kiwi empire.
The afternoon was a succession of various people paying their homage. We had Zoom
lunch with dear friends in Nottingham and then attended the installation of the amazing Open Gardens panel in the telephone box. This was followed by a two metre liaison with Abaigh and Mollie at Cromford Wharf where we were greeted by a family of Canada Geese
goslings which immediately breached the spatial distance rule and were packed off back into the water by two honking parents. Later it was Zoom party games with the whole family.
Now this is one of those narratives which hops about in time and place and always annoys us in TV dramas. Time – maybe 12 years ago; Place – Booth’s supermarket in Keswick. Action – phone call from our builder – the very expensive, very beautiful Celtic design stained-glass window panels don’t fit the door the joiner has made, the glazier is waiting to glaze and the builder is waiting to fit. Glass designer, glazier, builder and joiner can’t decide who is responsible. Result - new panels have to be made and we have been left with the old ones with very little idea what to do with them. Maybe it was the head space created by lockdown but- Eureka - I had an idea – to have them mounted in oak as a garden feature. For which I needed the one seriously brilliant craftsman who could design and create the article in oak – Keith Fretwell.
For today it has been possible to rise above the constraints, anxieties and muddles of these months. I estimate that over 20 people helped demonstrate that we can still do special things and celebrate special people. The finale of the day was a meal of steak, with an excellent red wine to the background music of Nat King Cole singing "They tried to tell us we’re too young."
I don’t think he was taking the Micky!...........
"........And then someday they may recall We were not too young at all."