The Weirdness.

The cat is lying on the desk, purring quietly and looking outside, where it's cold, but sunny. I've been working on restocking some things (making new spinning packs, for instance); my mail backlog is the usual size, there's a paper to proofread and amend.

It's normal work, and life feels very normal at times, accordingly. And then some weird thing happens - like having to check whether postal service still runs to a specific place. Or the postie delivering something and asking me whether I want to sign or not (I didn't, for us both; he took a photo instead, documenting the delivery. Smart method.)

Sometimes it feels like this is all just a dream. All too unreal to be real - though, of course, it is. Still, the sun is shining, there's bees outside, the peach tree is starting to bloom... and there's a list of shops in town that are now offering delivery of goods, as the shops have to stay closed during the lockdown.

Now... to ensure that these businesses survive, it is of course good to shop with them, right? Basically, that is sort of a civic duty at this point in time. Probably you have a local shop in need in your town as well, struggling for business survival now. So this is the perfect excuse, actually, to buy hand-made chocolates from a fancy chocolate shop. Or some glorious yarn from a knitting store. Or from a small hand dyer. Get some new plants for the garden from a local nursery. Or splurge on something other nice... because you can, because it will make you happy in these times, and it will help the small business. (If you need something, consider not ordering online via one of the big players, especially the big A, which is still treating their workers very badly. Instead, try looking for a local shop in dire need of support and business right now. Who knows - you might discover a new favourite shop?)

I'm writing all this just in case you needed an excuse to get yourself something pretty, of course. And now I'll go call that local nursery. We need fertiliser... and a plant or two.