Nine of us zoomed on 16th October. I wonder how soon the verb ‘zoom’ will be included in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). In 2006 ‘google’ made an appearance and is in common use now. Will ‘zoom’ be the same? If this Covid pandemic continues and restrictions remain, then it probably will.

Just for the record, Greater Manchester was placed into Tier 2 at the beginning of the week, when the PM announced a less confusing system (ha! believe that if you can!) of rules and categories. In Tier 2 the “Rule of Six” applies outdoors and in private gardens – no more than 6 people. People must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place. This was marginally better than the restrictions we had in Stockport the week before when we weren’t allowed to meet anyone outside of our household or bubble even in our gardens. So for now, we can meet in gardens but few of us do because of the weather – it has rained an awful lot and is getting a bit chilly. It’s expected that we be going into Tier 3 any day, so make the most of garden visits while you can 🙂

We’ve been quite busy: Agnes has started knitting a pink cardigan for a baby born to her great niece. May is also knitting a baby cardigan. Linda is knitting socks. Maggie is knitting hats. I’m knitting a scarf. Between us, almost a complete wardrobe!!

Two of us have had babies born in our families. Agnes’s great niece had a baby girl, her first, on the 9th and my youngest son welcomed another boy into his family on the 11th. Had one been later and the other earlier they would have been born on a very interesting date: 10.10.2020.

One of the more difficult questions in this week’s quiz was:

What sort of creature is a kiang?

Is it a) a wild ass b) a fish c) a bird d) an insect ?

The answer is below.

We tried breakout rooms again at the end of our meeting. It’s a good way of getting to know people better. You’d think that in a small group like ours, we know each other really well. When we meet as a whole group, whether it’s in the pavilion or on-line, we don’t have much opportunity for one-to-one conversations and it’s during those that people are able to have deeper and more revealing exchanges. I find that in my role as ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ I rarely have the time to sit and chat with anyone for more than a few minutes, which is a huge shame. I’m usually flitting about, doing bits and pieces, checking everyone and everything’s ok etc. Obviously I don’t mind that at all but I like the idea of breakout rooms and think we’ll all enjoy getting to know each other better.

Answer is……. a wild ass. The kiang is native to the Tibetan Plateau.

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