Friday 17 April 2020

Walks After Work

One of the good things about working from home is that I can go for a walk the moment I finish work. All I need to do is put on a pair of shoes, and off I am.
But wait - first, I shut the company laptop/notebook (I never know what the difference is), pull the plug, store it in its bag and tidy up all reminders of work. That way, I have a clear separation between work hours and leisure, adding structure to the day.

The beautiful spring weather we've been having has of course helped. After the almost summery warmth of our Easter weekend, we had a cold Monday night and Tuesday, but by Wednesday, it began to warm up again, and yesterday was warm enough for short sleeves.

O.K. also goes for walks after work whenever he can, and we send each other pictures. Here is a collection of the past two weeks.

The first set is from the weekend before Easter, when O.K. and I could not see each other, and I went for a long walk on my own.
Along the way, I met this cat, who was much more friendly than she looks here:
 

Next picture: asparagus fields. At the time this one was taken, it was still unclear whether the many seasonal workers from Romania and other Eastern European countries were going to be allowed to travel to Germany to harvest asparagus and strawberries. I was looking at these seemingly endless rows and wondering what was going to happen.

Now I feel ashamed, having read about how it seems far more important to our government to have 80,000 seasonal workers flown in, than to help the refugees stuck on the Greek islands. Only 50 children who are without family are "generously" going to be brought to Germany, out of the 40,000 refugees. Not a big fan of white asparagus in the first place, I suppose I'm not going to buy any this year, although that won't make a difference to those poor souls suffering in the Greek camps.


Usually, on a beautiful Sunday like the one two weeks ago, lake Monrepos would be full of rowing and pedal boats. Not now - it all belongs to the ducks, geese and swans.
 

A pair of geese with chicks - alert but not frightened by people walking around the lake.
 

The next two are from O.K. Look at the moon! That was the evening before the night of the "Super Moon". He says that in reality, the moon appeared much bigger than in the picture. I know what he means. And the beautiful sunset speaks for itself.
 


Last week Tuesday after work, I decided to walk in the opposite direction and went towards the water reservoir.
 


Don't you just love the various shades of the early green leaves and blossoms on the trees right now?
 


Easter Monday, walking between O.K.'s and the next village. Many trees in the orchards are already shedding their blossoms; I was about a week too late. But this row of fruit trees caught my eye. And look at how dry and dusty the fields are; we really need rain, and soon:
 

On the Tuesday of this week, O.K. was again out walking after work, of course without me. He sent me the last set of pictures for this post. Magnificent, aren't they!






If going for walks was banned here, I'd definitely find life much harder! The way it is right now, I personally have no reason to complain; my family and I are fine, I have everything I need (including plenty of work), and not going to the pub, eating out at restaurants or seeing friends for a few weeks is really no big deal for me.

20 comments:

  1. I feel much the same about it all - there will come a day when all will be back to normal - not sure I shall cope with picking up the threads again!

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    1. I am not looking forward to the almost daily drama with our local trains here; sometimes getting to work in time for a meeting was like gambling, and I started to leave an hour earlier from home just to make sure I'd be there before the meeting started.

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  2. When I had a period working from home I went for a walk first thing in the morning too. It also helped separate home and work (a bit like "going" to work) and woke me up as well.

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    1. Morning walks are great, too - if only I could be bothered to be up and about so early! A friend of mine lives by a lake, they have their own small wooden pier, and she swims a little before work most mornings. She's never ill and has a super figure at 50.

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  3. It has been very dry over here too. The land is starting to cry out for rain. I share your disgust about how migrants in virtual prison camps on the Greek islands are being forgotten - as if they were criminals and not desperate people fleeing for their lives, seeking a better future. Legitimate migrants should be embraced but those who are merely economic migrants looking for a rosier future - now that is surely a different story.

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    1. Trouble is that it is hard to draw a line and differentiate. Economic migrants feel just as legitimate in aspiring for a better future than political refugees.
      Also, things can happen like with the four men who were arrested in Germany earlier this week for planning terrorist attacks in this country, after they had come as legitimate war refugees from Syria in 2014 or 15 but have become radicalised over the past few years.

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  4. At times my own life still feels strangely 'normal' - until I turn on the TV or radio (or computer) and am reminded of the rest of the world again...

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    1. I have noticed how very slowly other, not corona-related news, are making their way back into our main TV news at 8:00 pm. But it is still the one topic that dominates almost every conversation I've been having outside work.

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  5. I feel like I have shared in some of your walks with you. I enjoyed both your and O.K.'s pictures of a beautiful Spring. You are wise to separate your work day from your personal time. I have heard that even as the cities begin to "open up" again they may encourage more businesses to continue with people working from home. Maybe you will not have to go back to riding the train as often and be able to work from home much more in the future.

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    1. P.S.
      I love the cat picture! ☺

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    2. Thank you, Bonnie; I am glad you enjoyed coming along for the walks :-)
      I have been working from home on average one or two days every week for almost a year now, having to use public transport only on three days per week. But sometimes something went wrong on three out of three days!

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  6. We live in very conflicted times and I share your distress regarding the plight of the many refugees. We seem beset by a great many overwhelming problems. Your daily walks must be very consoling and it's good that you and OK both have such lovely countryside around you.

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    1. We are very glad to have so many possibilities, with our government not having limited the length or number of walks one can have per day.

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  7. I'm glad you can continue to take your walks...Some bloggers from France are not allowed to do this! The news from around the world is sad and disturbing but I read The Good News Network and Tank's Good News and even Upworthy every day for a happier view of the good that is happening.

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    1. Many of my cousins and their families live in France, and they are not allowed to leave their houses/apartments for walks the way we can do here. One of my cousins lives in Nice near the sea front but te most beautiful surroundings are of no use if you are not allowed to go out.

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  8. Such lovely places to go for a walk. We are not allowed to go for a walk here in Sicily, everytime we go out we need to carry a self-declaration form saying where we start our journey, where we are going and what for. I just get the supermarkets to deliver food, I am too afraid to go there in person, too many people.

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    1. I know, Francesca, the restrictions in your country are much harder than over here. You do well not to go to shopping yourself. I am sure your daughter, friends and neighbours also help when you need something.

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  9. All your lovely Spring photos but the one that strikes a chord with me is the one of the field plowed ready for planting...it reminds me of the story that my Dad told when he was in Germany just after WW2 and he saw the women and children with STICKS trying to plow the hard ground. It made such an impression on him, as someone who had farmed, he was astonished at this. Of course, my Dad is very much on my mind, he would have been 93 on tomorrow's date, the 24th. xx Stay safe, my friend! Keep your distance!

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    1. Such days always drive it home more than usual, don't they, missing a loved one.
      Your comment about the field plowed ready for planting puzzled me at first, but now I guess you mean the asparagus field - it is not plowed, but the "dams" are heaped up by a machine, and the asparagus grows all the way up inside those dam-like soil structures, they are higher than my knees. The men who work those fields have to make sure the asparagus does not poke its head through the soil, as it then changes colour and customers won't buy it anymore (even though the taste is not affected). I have been reading quite a lot about this topic lately, and harvesting asparagus seems like something of an art!

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    2. Oh, I see! TEE HEE...now that I look at that photo much closer, the soil does look very much "heaped" up...but to my eyes, and I am a farmer's daughter, it reminds me of a plowed field ready for planting! I know nothing about asparagus!
      I can't grow it and can't afford to buy it! :-)

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