Locked down with my Ukulele 47

These are strange times and dare we start thinking about holidays?

Although the government have plans out of lock down does it mean we will be able to do it. I’ve heard of some people booking flights going to well known holiday destinations. As the airlines have taken a massive hit to their bottom line over the last year are we going to able to afford to take a flight. I’ve heard others talking about a “staycation”.

So! I thought a staycation was staying at home and doing stuff locally. Now they’re talking about a staycation being staying in the British Isles. Given that many of us have been “staying home” I can see that “staying local” might not be that appealing.

I do find that “locals” often have not visited attractions that people who do not live in the area travel miles to see. Last summer some of these outdoor places were revealed to many who live in the local area.

I live in an English county called Suffolk. It’s the county Ed Sheeron was brought up. We have a coast line, we have forested areas, we have open farmland. We also have some sizable rivers and lakes. A quick trip into surrounding counties a different landscape emerges. Suffolk is part of East Anglia, which is quite flat. It’s an area that looks like a lump on the back of the main land of the British Isles. Britain was joined to Europe in the last ice age and was linked to Belgium and the Netherlands. When I travel through Belgium I see before me a strip of land and at least 75% of my field of vision is taken up by huge skies. On a good day a bright blue sky and a swish of green and you are looking at a living landscape that could have been painted by an old master.

I had been to a supermarket in a nearby town. The road to which follows an old Roman road route, so it is very straight. I reached the peak of an undulation in the countryside. There have only been a handful of times in my life when circumstances have conjoined to the perfect moment. This was one of them. As I hit the peak of the road the sun fell to just above the horizon and a pool of orange, red light washed over the fields below me. Scattered over the edges of the fields were silhouettes of mature twisted pines.

The scene lasted a few seconds but the shadows and colours are fixed in my mind. I wish I was an accomplished enough painter to get them onto canvas. I might get a few quid selling the art.

Another attraction recently being put to good use locally is The Abbey Gardens. This is a town garden that has grown up in the ruins of an old Abbey. It’s had a few changes in my living memory and has always had flowerbeds of rich colour and signs to keep people off the grass. It’s a place you can find a corner to contemplate peace, or watch the kids charge around on the grass area you can walk on. It’s the kind of place on a good day it is the perfect place to propose marriage. But! I think the Abbey gardens has a place in a blog of it’s own.

Red Sun (Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie)

I first heard this song while getting ready for work in the morning. Breakfast television was interviewing Christine McVie about the new album. Formally of Fleetwood Mac Lindsey and McVie have a history of iconic songs. Mick Fleetwood does an awesome drum sequence, which gives the tune a Macesque feel to the sound. I would recommend a listen, especially if are a fan of the stuff Fleetwood Mac produced.

The story is Buckingham gave the chords to McvIe and she wrote the song from phrases in a note book. She writes down things that come to her or she hears people say in everyday life. She apparently wrote the song while in Africa. You can just imagine the sun setting over the ocean. I just love the chorus.

Sometimes I wonder Do you ever think of me? And it's worse for me at night, you know When the red sun kisses the sea

That says a lot in a few phrases doesn’t it!

Stay safe