Quarantine Blog Day 0 / 1
So day zero was travel from Crete to Heathrow with BA – the only airline that seems to be reliably serving the UK from Chania. The trip was pretty smooth, with a near empty airport.
Just as well, since we had a struggle at the check in desk to produce e versions of our ticket, Test Results, Passenger Locator form. My phone is no more, Al’s refused to download the documents so we resorted to my laptop. The check in person was patient, and there was no queue . We checked in the baggage, and went to picnic outside on home made cheese pies (thank you Despoina), a bakery spanakopita (not quite so good) and some of Despoina’s sweet cakes. Also Al ate an apple, in case you are worried about our 5 fruit and veg! BA kept up the good work with a small bottle of water and a bag of crisps. Virus-wise things pretty OK. Around the airpot Departures most wore their masks properly. Outside Arrivals a few all-male groups clustered, drinking coffee and chatting with no masks.
Uneventful flight at 3 hours 40 minutes.
First encounter with UK BORDER. We both failed the e passport machines. Told by a security gorilla that we had probably failed to complete our Passenger Locator Forms correctly. Actually if that was the case, we wouldn’t have been on the flight at all. A nice Asian immigration bloke checked our passports and let us into a now non-European UK. Well, maybe only-just-U K.
National Express to Bristol with overweight Simon, cheerful chap from South Wales. Asked him why he wasn’t wearing a mask. He said he had post-Covid breathing difficulties. Mostly mask-wearing on coach except for an old chap who looked like he wasn’t quite with the programme. Good spacing and A/C.
Walking through Bristol with suitcase wheels rumbling away was quite a trip. Hardly and masks around and young Bristol was out on the streets, in the pubs, drinking on the dockside. First warm dry evening for a while, and there’s a bit of a VE Day feeling about things. It really feels like a lull before the next storm, since there’s nothing that reassures us that the B617-2 variant isn’t going to ramp up into another lockdown situation.
For a clear view of the science and the Government’s actions – or lack of them, try Independent SAGE.
Which brings us to Day One after a very short night. Amazing how much jet lag a 2 hour time difference can make! The house, de-cluttered looking like an AirBNB sort of familiar, but sort of not! Of course our task now is to start sorting out in preparation for the move out. 8am Waitrose delivery. Aaaargh I forgot to order tea, the most important thing. Al started the day with a large cafe au lait, toast and marmalade. I did a yoga class with Stephanie Quirk, from Australia, courtesy of Vimeo. About Stillness, important in these days of uncertainty and change. Supper courtesy of Riverford, Crispy marinated tofu, with Pak Choi and Broccoli. Delicious. Tomorrow I managed to wangle another delivery so the tea situation will be remedied, together with more ice cream and strawberries. Well, I don’t need to remind you that it’s my birthday. And before you ask, we are having a dry quarantine, to make up for a moist 15 months in Greece, so no bubbly this year.
Today sunny and warm in Bristol, so door to garden open all day – a flavour of our temporary home in Marediana.
