Out and About

What a difference the weather makes. Last weekend saw beautiful sunshine, blue, cloudless skies around Bath, everyone was out and about enjoying the sunshine, smiling, picnicking, and generally enjoying themselves for the first time in months.

You know things are getting back to normal when we start talking about the weather instead of Covid.

The daffodils are out, take my advice and drink them in, they don’t last long, sit on a park bench or in a field and literally waft in their loveliness.

One of my favourite places is the Botanical Gardens in Victoria Park at this time of year, it is a special place and the crocuses are spectacular at the moment.

The Vaccine

Big news is I got my vaccine this week. Off I went on Monday night to Bath Racecourse, the coldest place in Britain.

What an organised place that was, lots of lovely volunteers in the freezing cold telling me where to go, what to do, really impressive, not scary at all.

I was reminded of the old US comedy series Mash as I looked around at the huge room like a field hospital and uniformed staff running around with needles. Really nothing to worry about, it takes a few minutes, you can’t feel it and so far no side effects at all.

Well done to all the staff and volunteers doing a sterling job up there in Siberia, they are flying through it.

Hairdressers

I nearly pounced on my poor hairdresser when I spotted him out walking on Saturday with his lovely wife.

I practically took him out from behind so desperate am I to sit in his salon once again.

Miles from Vaughan salon in George’s St was having a gentle stroll on the fields, I literally headbutted him, the hair situation is getting serious now.

He tells me he is booked up until the end of May so get cracking if you need an appointment.

New Mcdonald & Dodds episode is fab What is it with Bath and new hit TV shows?

They are practically fighting each other on the lawns of the Royal Crescent.

First we had Bridgerton, the most widely watched TV drama ever, filmed in all its naughty technicolour right here on our hallowed cobblestones and magnificent Georgian mansions.

Now we have the second series of the wonderfully gentle and ironic Mcdonald & Dodds aired at prime time on Sunday night.

It is a gloriously charming old school murder mystery, and the new episode shows wonderful scenes of Bath from the ground and air.

With a cast of stars including Rob Bryden, Patsy Kensit and Martin Kemp, it is the story of a man who is mysteriously falls or is pushed out of a hot air balloon in mid air.

(The fantasist in me really wants the sexy duke from Bridgerton to challenge Rob Bryden in his anorak to a duel on the famous lawns.)

They must have been bumping into each other last spring, both series were filmed around the same time, TV stars everywhere.

Filmed all around Bath, including Gay St and the Royal Crescent, the gentle humour and charm of main character Jason Watkins as DS Dodds is adorable.

Roy Bryden’s Bath accent is hilarious, he asks DS Dodds where he bought his jacket with its ‘wonderful array of pockets’.

It has received rave reviews in the nationals, the Guardian applauding its West Country charm, cleverness and lack of bleakness.

The daffodils are out, take my advice and drink them in, they don’t last long, sit on a park bench or in a field and literally waft in their loveliness. Nancy Connolly

The month of March

We are into March now and the countdown to easing of lockdown is really on. Tennis players and golfers are counting down the days until March 29 when outdoor sports re-open.

At Lansdown Tennis and Squash club they are literally chomping at the bit, some people have booked the day off work to enjoy a whole day of their favourite sport.

What else can we look forward to in March?

Longer, brighter, warmer evenings, children going back to school, more and more people vaccinated, a virtual Saint Patrick’s Day, our pub gardens getting ready to re-open on April 12 (a date firmly in my diary), getting our gardens ready for when our family and friends can visit, more wonderful walks around Bath, rugby and Cheltenham races on TV, another episode of Mcdonald & Dodds.

And if all else fails we can always talk about the weather.