Lucy's Concert & A Late Ramble!

My sister Lucy played (1st Violins) in her first concert with the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra today, for the first time in over two years! It was the first NSO concert since Covid began and I was pleased to hear that there was almost a full house at the Corn Exchange in King's Lynn! Vivien couldn't go and although part of me did want to go, I just don't feel ready to take the risk of sitting with 700+ people yet! I can't risk increasing my sickness record at work – every time you have a day off, it is classed as an episode, be it one day or six weeks – when you reach 5 episodes, you are interviewed etc etc and it rolls over from the last 12 months. I will more than probably go to the next concert in March. Hopefully the Covid situation will have dwindled more by then! I was really proud of Lucy, she must have been shattered – all the musicians had to be there at 11am for rehearsal, break for lunch and then do the concert at 3.30pm for approximately two hours. Lucy was understandably a bit nervous, but I reassured her beforehand, that every musician would be feeling nervous after not playing in public for over two years!

After doing the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch (see previous post), I unexpectedly fell asleep for over three hours!!! I'm having a lot of issues with fatigue over the last few months, I don't know if its long Covid or quite what is going on – I'm under investigation! When I woke up, I discovered the White-tailed Eagle had been sitting on Titchwell beach and had then cruised west over Holme and then south over Hunstanton! I felt really guilty about not going to Lucy's concert , but I just couldn't take the risk and as Vivien said when I phoned her this afternoon...... Lucy sometimes feels more pressure if her family are there, so maybe it was for the best that I wasn't there.

I eventually went for a late afternoon walk at Titchwell RSPB, which gave me some much needed exercise, but didn't really see anything of particular note, as the light was rubbish by the time I got there. The usual birds were on the scrapes: Golden Plover, Pintail, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Shelduck etc. 4 Marsh Harriers flying over the reed beds and a Cetti's Warbler burst into song. A couple of Little Egrets on the marsh and a Kestrel on a post. Walked to the beach, it was high tide and the tideline was dominated by Oystercatchers – also 2 Knot, Herring Gulls, Common Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Turnstones and one Cormorant. Two couples walked onto the beach with a mid brown poodle type dog (not birders). On my return along the main path I found a newly dumped light green plastic bag full of dog crap, by the seat at the beginning of the freshmarsh – it wasn't there when I had walked to the beach and the two couples with the dog were the only people with a dog, so logically it had to be them – they were a long way ahead of me on the walk back, so I couldn't ask them if they had forgotten to pick up their little green bag! As I wrote on Twitter "If you can’t be bothered to take your dog crap home with you, then don’t bother visiting Titchwell RSPB or anywhere in Norfolk! Why should the RSPB staff have to clear up your smelly dog bag?! Utterly selfish & illegal littering......"

I have been doing some baking over the last couple of days and had made a Ginger & Pear Loaf Cake and a Lemon Iced Coconut Loaf Cake (I added the lemon icing) – I was very pleased with the results and the Ginger & Pear cake was the best thing I have ever made – as good as the Cley Deli one!!! Even though I do say so myself! Scrumptious! On the way home this evening, I dropped off some of both my cakes to Lucy, who has a sweeter tooth than me!

Lucy told me all about the concert later this evening and said she was very tired and that her fingers ached with all the playing. She also told me something very sad – another musician asked Lucy if her mother was coming to the concert and Lucy had to tell her that she had died and the young lady who had asked, said she didn't know why she wasn't aware of that and apologised – that must have been difficult for both the young lady and Lucy. It was three and half years ago since our mother passed away and I still miss her so much – I miss our daily conversations more than I can put into words. There is hardly anyone to chat with now, apart from my sisters of course.