Opportunities are to be grasped when they come, although sometimes they are missed and regretted. However strange though it may seem, lockdown has provided opportunities which many have grasped. There has been an increase in the number of people learning Welsh; there has been some gardening done; I have taken the opportunity to do something I have not done for years – a jigsaw puzzle – a picture of Lake Como and a thousand pieces! It took some time, especially the blue sky and waves – but job done!
As far as our local ringing scene is concerned, our worthy Benefice Ringing Master and his mate have taken the opportunity to re-decorate the ringing chamber, something that needed doing, but I doubt if it would have been done had it
not been for the opportunity that lockdown provided – and a magnificent job they have made of it. I can recommend a good firm of painters and decorators!
I imagine for many, lockdown has also provided am opportunity to do all those jobs that they have been meaning to do for years – clean out the garage, put up those much-needed shelves, etc., etc.
I also wonder if Covid has given us an opportunity for some spiritual reflection. Has faith, for those who have it, helped cope with lives lost, with isolation, with being deprived of those landmarks that give structure, meaning and purpose to our lives, not least for us ringers, our weekly fix of Stedman on a Sunday morning? Something to think about, I suggest. Time for a pre-lunch glass of something. Cheers and God bless.
CHRIS MARSHALL
A member of The Guild of Clerical Ringers