The Dodges in 2020 Lockdown
What an utter bastard of a year
it’s been !
Now it must be said from the outset
that one thing that we have tried to do is maintain a sense of proportion about
the year, and the situation that will be continuing into 2021. Yes, our plans for the year were decimated,
but we’ve managed to stay safe, hunker down, and just make the best of
it, whilst remaining mindful of the 60,000+ people that have died from this
horrible virus, and leaving behind a similar number of grieving families. Not to mention the cost in terms of income,
redundancies and business closures. The
Dodge household has indeed been fortunate.
Denise was furloughed from Vets4Pets
for two months in the Spring. She eventually returned to a world of full-on
P.P.E., and a huge reduction in the amount of client contact that she
previously enjoyed. Eventually, after
numerous discussions with Carla and Ollie, she decided to bring forward her
retirement, and worked her final shift on December 31st,
thus moving into 2021 as (her words) ‘a kept woman’.
Looking back now, last January seems like
a very different world……
Once again we began the year with a
weekend at Woolacombe, with Tom and Fliss Harper
.
A lovely apartment at Narracott
Villas……
….with great views, including
‘The Red Barn’
A beautiful
dusk.
.
Pablo Costoya
stayed with us over Xmas and the New Year, whilst Carla and Ollie were overseas
Chilled on
Sunday morning.
Fliss, busy in the kitchen….
Muttley relaxes with her new bestie
…and, later on, Chris enjoys tea and some quality pug-time.
Our
This shot captures that lovely “just arrived” feeling.
Look for the ‘
…with that fabulous view out to sea. Here, ‘Benchi Express’ passes in front of a Tui cruise ship.
Dusk on the balcony.
The only day-trip that we went on in
2020 was to Loro Parque (literally,
Spot the Dodges
As ever, the orcas were truly spectacular
Underneath the aquarium
The mandatory rather self-conscious looking selfie
“It’s one o’clock, and time for lunch, dum de dum de dum dum”
Denise gets creative during her morning walk
That cruise ship again (remember them ?) this time passing Volcan de Taburente at dusk.
The Blue Cactus restaurant has certainly upped it’s game in terms of cabaret offerings in recent years, with the excellent GotSoulBand performing twice a week.
The view from the balcony at dusk
The new moon,
the grey area being lit by ‘earthshine'.
On the last night, we took a Stargazing Trip to the higher part of the island, going by minibus to around 5000’ above sea level in order to get some clear and seriously dark sky. This was taken at about half that altitude, and shows the sun setting over La Gomera.
The last of the sun’s rays gently
illuminate
Time for some serious photography
These mobile phones have some seriously
good cameras these days !
OK, confession time, it’s actually
a photo of the image showing in the eyepiece of one of the astronomer’s
telescopes. It was taken with
Chris’s phone though.
Back to Instow in February, for a
weekend at a new venue for us, No 3, Cleveland Villas (close to the former
level crossing)
This time, as well as Tom and Fliss, we
were joined by James and Caroline Bryant
No. 3 included a rather fine
kitchen……
…as well as somewhere comfy for Muttley !
There’s only one early riser in
the Dodge household these days
The old Signal Box, on the former Level
Crossing, is a well known local landmark, and looks particularly atmospheric
when a light comes on during the evening.
Another fine weekend this, and we were
supposed to be back at Instow, next door to No 3, with a different party of
pals, just 5 weeks later….
And then it all went to ratshit !
Just as the whole Covid thing was
beginning to affect everyone’s lives, Chris’s mum Margaret sadly
passed away at Cholwell House Nursing Home, on Monday 2nd March.
She was 96, and continued to live at
her bungalow at Stanton Drew, with a group of wonderful carers in regular
attendance, until suffering a serious fall in November 2019. As a result of this, she was never able to return
to her home of over 37 years. As well as
being physically very frail, her dementia accelerated at an alarming rate, and
by February, she was barely aware of who we were. Mercifully, when the end came, it was both
peaceful and pain-free, which is the best outcome that you can hope for in
these distressing circumstances.
This photo was taken at Ebbor Gorge
Picnic Area during a visit with Chris during the summer of 2015
And so to
Lockdown, or as we now refer to it, Lockdown 1.
The one fortunate thing about it was
that we had some of the best Spring weather ever. We were also allowed to meet with friends in
gardens, and thus it was that our front garden saw more footfall during the Spring of 2020 than it had at any time since 1982.
L-R: Carla, Theo, Pablo and Ollie enjoy afternoon tea with us sometime in early April
Denise set about planting some
sunflower seeds that she had bought on Ebay……
….and they soon started to look
quite promising.
Like a lot of things, Chris’s
birthday celebration went online this year…..
Raising an empty glass to everyone, or
maybe it was just demanding a refill !
Denise’s Snap and Stroll
photography group also went online…..
…as
did the Keynsham chapter of Choir Jam
There certainly wasn’t much to
smile about in the Spring and Summer, but one evening in June, this certainly helped !
Preparations
for a socially-distanced lunch with Steve & Sarah Rendall in late May.
By which time the sunflowers were
certainly starting to look very promising indeed !
Chris took to visiting Tog Hill picnic area to photograph some spectacular sunsets.
At around the same time he embarked on
various attempts, as yet without success, to photograph the International Space
Station passing across the face of the moon.
As you do.
No luck as yet, but this fleeting moment provided an opportunity not to be missed !
Finally, on 24th July, a day
out !
As the situation began to ease we
headed off to Lapworth in Warwickshire, where the
It was brilliant to simply get out and about again.
Afternoon tea was taken next to one of the locks….
…. eagerly anticipated by one and
all !
In the end those sunflowers did rather well…….
So much so that it was worth putting
the drone up to get the best angle on them
Thankfully, the wheelchair visible in the background isn’t needed in our household. Yet.
Another ‘Grand Day Out’ a week later, as we headed down to Teignmouth for the day.
This is the view of the
“It’s one o’clock, and time for lunch” etc etc, this time necessitating a late evening drive home !
It was a very good lunch !
Mask-wearing was by now mandatory on all public transport
!
No day at Teignmouth is considered complete without a walk along the sea wall…
.…enjoying one of the best-known stretches of railway in the country.
This was the view from the
…so in the end having to wait until late evening to drive home wasn’t that onerous after all !
Finally, in mid-August, we had a few
nights away for the first time since February
We began with a night at Fowey….
….where Muttley was offered up as
a canine sacrifice to ‘The Rook With The Book’ erected in memory of
author Daphne du Maurier – the rook however simply wasn’t interested !
Next day we headed to The Eden Project
This was followed by three days spent
with Vet Nurse Sarah Kaines, and her partner Simon
Bond, who, in recent years have done three excellent things:
1)
They moved to
2)
They invited people to come and stay, and
3)
They actually meant it !
Social distancing, Cornish style !
St Ives,
looking lovely in the summer sun.
Sarah & Denise on St Ives beach
Sarah, Denise, Sarah’s faithful
dog Poppy, and our faithful carrier-bag Sainsbury enjoy a drink together at
Marazion
During the summer, or, if you prefer, between lockdowns, a few steam hauled excursion were run by various companies.
This was the wonderful spectacle of
46100 ‘Royal Scot’ and 70000 ‘Britannia’, between
New for 2020, the Socially Distanced
Drive-In Airshow !
This was Old Warden on 5th September, and actually, it worked really well. Each car was directed to the left-hand side of a 5 metre square, so you had the right-hand side to sit, socially distanced from your fellow spectators. The weather was kind too.
The Catalina flying-boat takes off
At last, a chance to enjoy a host of vintage aircraft against the back-drop of a clear blue sky
Home once again, and time for a siesta
with Muttley and Ruby Jay, who came to stay for a couple of days.
At last ! Back on the waterways again
!
A year to the day after we stepped off of the Tango at Benson in 2019, we took ‘Fjord Duchess’ out for a week from Middlewich.
An early afternoon stop on the first
day for beer, cheese & biscuits, and hand gel.
Muttley soon got back into her boating
routine…..
….As did Denise
The easing of restrictions, plus some
lovely late summer weather, meant that some stretches of canal were extremely
busy.
Here, on the Shropshire Union Middlewich Arm, we were to set a personal best (or maybe worst) in terms of queueing, taking 99 minutes to negotiate a single lock.
Needless to say the catering was up to it’s usual standard.
Leaving the last lock before entering
the centre of
An afternoon drink, canalside at
Night-time at
Drone’s-eye view of the boat,
with
Recovering the drone after a flight at Hurlestone Junction.
One Muttley sniggers at the other !
A simply
lovely week.
We got home on the 21st September,
a day which positively screamed “The last day of summer”. Walking by the north bank of the River Avon
in the late-afternoon, we saw a sight which summed it up perfectly.
Yes, he probably could have watched it
all day !
The farmer very considerately left
Chris’s improvised seat until the very end !
And, just 12 days later…….
Do you remember the first weekend of October ?
‘Storm Alex’, and the highest
rainfall ever recorded in the
We were staying at Instow, with Colin
Smith and Roger Beazer.
And Pablo, who found himself also being referred to as ‘Pedro’, ‘Pancho’ or ‘Pugsley’.
This was undoubtedly the worst weather we’ve ever had for a weekend away.
Denise at the beach with at least one dog on Sunday morning….
....after Pablo stopped, braced himself, and absolutely refused to go any further in the wind and the rain. Even after Muttley had kindly lent him her coat.
Colin cooked a lamb-based dinner on Saturday evening….
….and we enjoyed a Sunday Roast 24
hours later.
In the run-up to full-on retirement,
Denise has time to enjoy dog-walking…
Here, she poses with former colleagues
Alice Jay (breeder of Muttley) and Judith Hutchinson (breeder of Barkley, back
in the day)
Muttley sort-of poses with Ruby and
Meg, her great-grandmother !
And here, we have Dolly Jay, Aslan and Remmie Hutchinson, plus
in the foreground Inca (Muttley’s mum) Poppy
and Tinks Jay
Yes, we’re on the move
! Back in October we decided, in
a spirit of “it’s now or never” to move away from the house
that has been our home together for almost 38 years, and indeed to leave
Keynsham altogether. The ultimate plan
is to buy our own narrowboat, and to keep it somewhere in south Staffordshire,
this being pretty much the epicentre of the English canal network. This being the case, we decided to migrate to
Worcestershire – it’s a lovely part of the country, and one which
we already know pretty well. This will
give us easy access to the boat, whilst still leaving us handy to the M5 for
trips to family and friends in the
At present we are focussed on securing
a new-build plot in Stourport-On-Severn
but we are somewhat frustrated at present by Taylor-Wimpey’s slow
progress in terms of ‘releasing’ the plot, which is what needs to
happen before we can pay a deposit and actually get our names inked in for it.
All of this means that it is virtually
certain that we will need to go into rented accommodation for at least six
months, as the current projected completion date for Plot 15 is August /
September 2021. Given (a) the current,
highly volatile situation re Covid and (b) the fact that our social life at
present consists of socially distanced walks with existing family and friends,
we’ve decided that we will be renting somewhere close to Keynsham.
Fingers well and truly crossed !
In the meantime, we leave you with a
couple of drone-shots of the Soapstones
development, and of Plot 15 in particular.
You can find the accompanying video here.
Found by Denise when she arrived for her final shift.....
Merry Christmas everyone, and a happier
and above all safe New Year !
Chris & Denise
P.S: If by any chance you feel the urge
to look at previous, better years, here are the links:
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
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