Dear LPG,

Whatever else this pandemic of ours has brought with it this spring, I challenge anyone to say that the weather has not been really good to us.   I have watched the sun through my living room window for the past three months and it has cheered me up no end as I viewed it while making all those telephone calls that were prescribed by the government and associated agencies as the way to keep sane.   I am one of the many pensioners who live in a flat alone, and although I have quite a big family, few of its members live locally, although neighbours have been so kind and brought me what I need in the way of shopping.

But after the many hints and so called directives issued by our government, I have worked out that, July 4^th was to be more than the day of American independence for us Brits this year, it is the day that all services and shops can finally open their doors again as long as you have a mask on your face and follow a million other rules.

I still had my reservations about just how safe it is out there but, my daughter made the journey and visited me so that she could be with me as I took my first steps out into the world again.   We arranged to go shopping for the first time in a long time yesterday.  I have been one of those people who was really scared at the prospect of going out at all for the past three months, but my daughter collected me and was good enough to keep me company while I took a long awaited look at what is going on beyond the television and my front door.

We had only just left the car park when I looked over a front garden fence and had to stop to take this picture.  There is nothing remarkable about it apart from the beautiful sunny weather on the day, but for me, the contrast of the brown ageing Christmas tree against the greenness of the rest of its surroundings suddenly reminded me that it might be time to start thinking ahead. I know it is still only July, and I am not an advocate of shop decorations going up before the beginning of December, let alone before Halloween has been celebrated, but my thought processes are slower these days and I need a lot more time than usual to get the most important family event of the year just right.  So I quietly get started on the present-choosing at about this time of year.

The picture got me thinking that, just in case there are any other readers who need to get going a bit early, seeing this picture might just be the perfect memory jogger.

AR, Brockley