Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Another Gig Bites The Dust
by Russell Turner - 20:50 on 17 March 2020
The future looks increasingly gloomy for self-employed musicians. The next date in the City Limits diary is a gig in old favourite Foxes in Inverness a week on Friday. If anywhere in town will still attract people, despite coronavirus fears, that’s the place, but by then pubs might have been ordered shut if they’ve not already done so voluntarily. And that’s setting aside the question of, given the opportunity, should we be out there anyway?
The first wedding gig has been postponed, which is a big lump of income to lose, and doubtless more will follow. At least my petrol bill will fall drastically over the next few months.
Matchgirl had a scare today when one of her colleagues on Plague Island was told to self-isolate because of contact with a confirmed virus case. That advice has now been changed, so there should be nothing to prevent the wanderer’s escape to The Rural Retreat later this week. Her bosses have told her to work from home for the next two months, although as Loganair is cancelling all flights to Shetland in April and May she had no choice in the matter.
The lockdown is beginning to bite, even in the rural Highlands, which now has five confirmed cases.
As expected, word came today that the Cheshire 10k, which I’d already written off, has been cancelled. My next race will be the Leamington Spa Half Marathon on July 5. However, as the forecast of peak infection period has moved from May to June the likelihood of it happening is anyone’s guess.
The consolation prize is that I can still get my Cheshire medal and shirt by making a virtual run this weekend, which after yet another rejigging of my training calendar has become the end of the second week of a programme which concludes with a second virtual half marathon, two weeks after the first on not-London Marathon day. Then I’ve a week off before beginning the 16-week Edinburgh Marathon programme. Whether we’ll be virus-free by September remains to be seen.
But before all that, after two quiet days spent in accidental self-isolation in and around the Retreat, tomorrow I venture into Dingwall to see if the panic-buying locusts have left anything for me and to fill Grandson of Seat’s petrol tank for what might be the last time for a while. Wish me luck.
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