Sunshine and Problem Solving

The primary route into the village was closed towards the end of last month to allow for much needed repairs to a bridge across the lane and above which runs the East Coast main railway line. It's proving to  be a real inconvenience when I need to travel to see my mother or visit the supermarket. However, and on the plus side, it now offers the opportunity for walking along, unimpeded by vehicles and with the added benefit of tarmac underfoot. It's not a surface I normally enjoy stomping on but when the footpaths and bridleways are damp and muddy underfoot, it comes into its own.

Hence, today the sun was shining but, after rain overnight and this morning, conditions dictated against anywhere soft and squelchy for exercise. The ideal opportunity therefore, to march on a road I would normally only ever drive along. Mister E donned sunglasses for the occasion but, not being so "cool," I preferred the "uncovered and out to absorb Vitamin D and boost the immune system" look. We got a lovely view over the Yorkshire Moors that you see only fleetingly whilst driving and I swear I returned with a suntan.

Cooped up indoors in the miserable conditions that have prevailed of late,  I have struggled to maintain the 10,000 steps I need to get through a day and so cause my Fitbit to celebrate with a fireworks display. Today it was easy peasy, whereas normally I'm wearing holes in the stair carpet trying to hit my target.

I returned happy and so did the Fitbit.

Further, if the sunshine and fresh air didn't give me a sufficient boost, I found myself another fillip when I restored to life, remotely, the wireless thermostat in the property we rent out 120 miles away. It's an annoying little story which began when I received a message from the managing agent saying that the thermostatic control was broken and here was a quotation for an extortionate amount of money by a supposed expert tradesperson to replace it. 

For years now the premises have been let to a sucession of highly educated, very clever post-graduate students. Without exception all of them (and I include the eldest amongst them) have failed to properly follow the instructions for operating the control, often giving up to switch the heating on manually rather than study a 16 page manual. 

Having received no explanation from the expert as to the actual nature of the fault or breakage, I decided to contact the occupants and talk them through the necessary steps to set up the wireless connectivity between boiler and control, just to make sure they weren't missing anything. So called expert; broken, my foot! Rather, somebody had fiddled and essentially switched off the timer. To think that simply because of a casual flick of a switch (albeit on the rear of the unit) the whole thing, along with a matching receiver in the boiler, could have been replaced. Moreover it only took a few minutes to sort the problem.

Yes being outside in the sunshine isn't always the only path to happiness.

Now that the night is closing in, however, there is just one  tinge of trepidation on the horizon, marring that feel good factor. Tomorrow, we find out which tier of restrictions we are going to find ourselves in at the end of the current national lockdown. Apparently the age of the population and availability of hospital beds will play a part in the determination, as well as the performance of surrounding areas. The village is still fit and healthy but like so many rural areas it is inhabited by people of retirement age and beyond; obviously the number of hospital beds compares poorly with the urban offering and then to top it all, across the fields and no respecter of county or district boundaries, the virus persists in raging. It may be sunshine today but it could be a dismal outlook again tomorrow.