[Magdalen] Happy New Year

[sally.davies at gmail.com]

Happy New Year to everyone still in the Pub!

It is lovely to hear from you all. I have finally managed to clean up my
formerly unusable Gmail account and made it a NY resolution to keep
clearing it. The Spam was unbelievable - much if it due to my addiction to
US politics. Honestly I do not know how you guys stand all these PACS and
people pretending to be Nancy Pelosi!!

These days I do everything on my phone or iPad so typing is less fun and
much slower unless I dig out the Bluetooth keyboard. Still, I have a new
phone which allows me to sweep what Malcolm Guite calls the “Twenty Six
Summoners” into life, and I just need to master this peculiar new trick to
befriend social emails again.

We are still in the Eastern Cape, in a village called Blue Horizon Bay.
Both kids out of the house though Evan (our younger son) is studying in
nearby Port Elizabeth and starts with my sister in town so we see him
often. Keith has been at home the whole year with very little work but we
get by somehow.

I’m still working in InPatient rehab which has not been much of a fiesta
this past year but continues to provide an income and a wonderfully
supportive team. It’s been a sad and uncomfortable year togged out in our
PPE; I am not working with known Covid patients (due to what my young team
mates, with unnecessary frankness, consider to be my advanced age) but of
course you never know who will unexpectedly test positive in a so called
Green Zone. So far only one of us has been infected so we did well; she’s
now finally back at work but struggling with post Covid symptoms - further
reinforcing my conviction that however inconvenient life may be, we are not
taking any chances with this awful thing.

Unfortunately the young tend to consider themselves invincible (‘twas ever
thus) and when what has undoubtedly been a very tough year dragged to its
end they wanted to celebrate and to party. So now we have a second surge
and even a new variant of the Rona that appears to be both more contagious
and more inclined to affect children. Our city was the first to hit crisis
with this; TBTG our numbers are going down now but other places are really
struggling.

After gathering frustration and concern about the platform’s ethics and
willingness to accommodate bad actors of all types,  I deactivated my FB
account so regrettably have lost touch with Pub friends of yore who were on
there. I persisted with Twitter @sallyshuttle - but if you seek me there
currently, you will not find me. Owing to an Unfortunate Misunderstanding,
sooner poor phrasing, and inability to resist tweeting historical minutiae,
I am exiled to “Twitmo” and currently have little hope of escape from that
lonely isle since their idea of investigation is “when did you stop beating
your wife”.

I am therefore exploring and so far enjoying the visual feast that is
Instagram - will gladly follow any of our number who is on there - let me
know how to find you. IG handle is Sally_D_in_SA.

Being confined to home when not at work, I’ve been improving the shining
hours by delving into Shakespeare plays throughout 2020 - with occasional
diversions into other delightful works such as the Ancient Mariner,
Wuthering Heights, and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. I don’t read much anymore -
eyes tire too easily - but YouTube is a firm friend. Theatre productions,
including some wonderful American ones, are available and sometimes movies
as well. I haven’t had to pay for anything yet!

I can’t imagine how tough it would be to get through a year like 2020
without the boon of IT - from Zoom to What’s App (yes, I know that’s also
FB, to whom I bite my thumb)- to YT, Twitter and Netflix. Also Apple
Podcasts...

In August, our little Mimsy cat passed away quite suddenly from kidney
failure, leaving us sadly reduced. But in October, just as our elder child
and physics boffin Donal headed back into the wilds of Cape Town after 7
months confined patiently at home, our fur family expanded to include
Gimlet, a silky, slinky and highly adventurous black kitten. He’s now four
months old and growing by the day. Our bush surrounded home is full of
dangers for small cats, not least our own dogs in the back yard and next
door’s 3 cats, but Gimmi is fearless! So once again we are parents of a
“teenager”, caught between his angry meows at being kept indoors, and
anxious scanning of the yard as we wonder where he is and who might be with
him!

Whatever 2021 may hold for all of us, let us hold fast to our own guide
rope. We are not yet even close to the surface of this deep, gloomy dive
into which 2020 has plunged us but we slowly rise toward the light; and
blindly cling on, knowing Whose hands are firmly grasping the other end of
the rope.

Love and blessings

Sally D



On Fri, 01 Jan 2021 at 02:02, Roger Stokes via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

> If I had any doubt the noise of fireworks would remind me that 2020 is
> making way for 2021 as I write. Some aspects of 2020, such as Covid
> restrictions, will necessarily still be around for a while and here in
> the UK we are now in a different relationship with the European Union
> but we are called to face the future with confidence and faith.
>
> Roger
>
>