Two steps forward, one step back

The new plastickery has now been installed: it took three shortish days, and initially looked pretty smart.  

A couple of days of cold, damp days revealed what looks like a manufacturing fault: on some of the verticals, the fake wood film lifts away from the board, leaving a long line of blisters.  So we shall have another day or crashing and banging when they  come to replace the boards.  Yawn.

Yesterday marked the fourteenth anniversary of our civil partnership ceremony.  We don’t generally make a song and dance of it, since the more important date for us is the day we met, well over nineteen years ago.  

Still, just for fun, we booked ourselves a ride on the local heritage railway, which has acquired a Bulleid  light Pacific engine of the Battle of Britain class.  Quite nostalgic: I still remember watching them hauling the boat trains - and the Golden Arrow in particular - through Orpington when the family first visited well over 60 years ago.  We booked a whole compartment yesterday, to avoid proximity to the masses, and took a picnic with us.  In other times we’d probably have gone for a meal out somewhere, but we did at least buy ready-made sandwiches to make it a little out of the ordinary!   

We’re adopting top-level precautions as the country shambles blindly into another spike of infections.  As we queued to join the train, mask wearing and distancing were far from universal.  I admit it: I’m scared.