[Magdalen] Happy New Year

[Marion Thompson]

it's wonderful to hear from you, Sally, and in such rich detail!  Thank you
for persevering with the typing despite the difficulty it presents.

Onward and upward in 2021.

Marion, a pilgrim

On Sat, 2 Jan 2021 at 02:43, <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
>