A Covid Saturday In Beetley

~ beetleypete

Something seems to have happened this morning. Whether it is the warm sunshine, the fact it is Easter, or perhaps cabin fever has finally hit this small village, there is a lot of activity.

After so many weeks of uncanny calm and stillness, traffic has returned to the road outside. Not heavy traffic of course, just ‘Beetley traffic’.

The lawn mowers started just after 8 am. It was as if someone had called out, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” as they roared away in sequence, their owners determined to shave down their grass to within an inch of its life, and to win the Beetley Lawn Mower Grand Prix.

That was followed soon after by the ‘hammer people’. Those people who simply have to hit something -anything- repeatedly, to justify their ownership of an impressive assortment of hammers.

The sunshine also brings out the car-washers. People who are compelled to wash cars that are already so clean, you need sunglasses on to walk past them. At one time, this would involve a bucket of soapy water, and a sponge. But these days, anyone who doesn’t own a high-pressure compresser washer with a rotating brush attachment is just so 20th century. So the noise of water being expelled at high pressure is added to the growing cacophony.

Then just as I come to the end of typing this, it all stops. It’s as if they are reading my blog through the office window, and have been embarrassed into silence.

Or perhaps they have just gone back inside for a rest, after three hours of exertion?

As for me, I am blogging and writing. I’m still far too fatigued and sleepy to consider such activities.

62 thoughts on “A Covid Saturday In Beetley”

  4. Pretty quiet here this morning, all are abiding by our stay-at-home order.
    But on my afternoon walk I saw about a group of ten playing baseball at at a park, I wanted to scream at them ‘go home’ it’s those people that do not care and help to spread the virus.
    Be well,Pete,

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  8. A bit of “stir crazy” it seems…here in Beverly Hills now, you cannot even go outside your house without a mask…after raining for 3 days, it is bright sunshine and close to 80 – I will step outside for some much needed rays of hope!

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    1. Masks are still rare here, John. Unless they have an ‘in/out’ respirator, they are not that much use after ten minutes anyway. And let’s not forget eye protection too.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  11. Ha! This is wonderful! I miss those sounds … those sounds so familiar to me. It’s different here in Manhattan ..
    There’s just the sounds of the ambulances which is pretty grim and a constant reminder. I spoke to my in-laws this morning and their grass was looking magnificent! I think they’d been cutting it with nail scissors! Lovely, lovely post (even if it did make me a teensy bit homesick!). Katie x

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    1. Thanks, Katie. Manhattan is a lot like London, I suspect. When I lived there, I heard sirens 24/7. (And helicopters) My grass remains untouched, but the noise stopped sharp at 11 here, and it is now as quiet as the proverbial grave.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. This is true Pete. Every morning I’ve opened the patio doors to the sound of a jet washer or a lawn mower. I suspect people’s houses are now immaculate due to all the attention they have received.

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    1. Thanks, dear Cindy. Yes, still strangely tired, but not ‘ill’. It went very quiet after that frantic three hours. Now you could hear a pin drop! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  14. Hi Pete,
    here, the morning in the neighbourhood is quiet as usual. But I did hear some strange noises outside. When I went to have a look, it was 6 or 7 vultures sitting on the roof near the gutters. They hopped off and congregated on the ridge, and later took off into a nearby tree. Some of them are still circling in the sky. I suspect we might have a dead animal, possibly a squirrel, in the gutter. May get the ladder out later and check.
    I wish you a happy Easter. Take care, my friend, and stay healthy,
    Pit

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  16. Haha… so funny Pete! At least you weren’t woken at the crack of dawn by the bull next door! Or the neighbour’s yapping dog. The newborn two doors along wailing for her breakfast and her screaming sisters running around their garden! Seagulls squawking overhead all morning (I think they have moved inland looking for the chips and sausage rolls now it is quiet on the coast). Not to mention the BBQ yesterday which filled MY house with woodsmoke and the stink of burnt sausages. My fault of course because I had the windows open. Or the ‘party’ two doors down with raucous laughter all afternoon and then there is the girl next door doing some noisy DIY…

    Quiet in the country? I don’t think so…

    Happy weekend Pete 🙂

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    2. Sounds awful, almost as bad as London! Seagulls in Camden drove me crazy with their squawking, but I rarely see them here, except at the coast. As I was typing the post, it all went deathly quiet again. Suits me. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  17. I hope they are all well & truly chastened, even if only unconsciously absorbed! Don’t feel one iota of guilt, Pete: at least what you’re doing isn’t disturbing the glorious peace of an English village! I’ve been out on my bike; later than planned, but the weather was a bit doubtful earlier on – it’s lovely now, though. It’s hard work [all bloody hills around where I live!], but I know it’s good for my asthma, and there is some lovely scenery to be seen, which is a bonus. Enjoy your lassitude! 😉 Cheers, Jon.

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    1. Thanks, Jon. I could just about manage a bike on the flat around here, (few inclines, no hills) but gave up cycling a long time ago. Happy to wander around with Ollie instead, and I get to see more detail that way too.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Thanks, Jennie. One of my near neighbours spotted this, and her comment made me laugh. They live in the house directly opposite, and her husband washes his car almost every day. But not this morning. 🙂
      (Gemma, right at the bottom)
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  19. I’ve not been out yet – not even dressed yet – never mind doing anything noisy. There does seem to be a lot more traffic about today. Wonder where people are going? The supermarket closed early last night so maybe they are rushing about trying to buy Easter eggs.

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    2. We have a company that comes around after each bin day to wash and sanitise wheely bins. They keep putting leaflets through my door, but I am not paying to have a bin washed! 🙂 It’s a bin!
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. The noise can certainly be annoying though Pete. Though at times I like it because it reassures me that there ARE actually other people around. The worst though is bonfires. Yuk! They set my chest off so bad. Someone in our local Covid Facebook group reminded bonfire fiends that those suffering from coronavirus will suffer dreadfully from so many bonfires. Xx

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