Every day brings a new challenge, it seems. Our Spring travel plans have been under threat for the last couple of weeks and then finally, we took the decision to abandon them altogether for a variety of reasons. Meetings that have been arranged for months are being rearranged or being held online and almost every conversation makes reference to the elephant in the room: Covid 19.

My meeting in London last week was held as planned, however and the effects of the developing situation were evident in the lack of tourists in Oxford Street. When was the last time I caught an empty bus to Paddington? Never.

Though we are not consciously self-isolating, we do seem to be spending more time at home and that is not a bad thing. In the last couple of days, I’ve even put the last pages together for our Road Trip Journal from last summer!

It’s the usual scrappy mix of pictures and ephemera, telling the story of the next stage of the Oregon Trail.

As usual, it starts out strong and then fizzles a bit as I become a bit overwhelmed. Thankfully, my blog is a great aide-memoire and a good prompt for those times when my mojo goes awol.

When I reached the end, I did a mental review of the things I remembered. Had I got them all covered? For some reason, I couldn’t remember telling the Sacagewea story and tried to remember just where that cemetery was so I could go looking for some photos and the blog post, perhaps. But as I flicked through the completed pages, there it was - I created that page so long ago I had completely forgotten it. Really, I do need to get on and complete these things and not leave it so long.

There’s no doubt, the pages I make “on the go” are far more lively - how else would I have remembered that daft thing said about a room full of stuffed animals? More surprising, my Hero had forgotten all about the Tiehack Memorial till he was reminded of it here.

Actually, all that’s needed on occasion is a map with a few notes to bring it all flooding back!

But I will admit, it’s the stories that bring it all to life!

I always have an attentive audience, too.

Speaking of which - attentive audiences, that is - I’ve seldom seen my WI so enthralled as they were last night when John and Francesca Caton told of their fascination with The Baroque Lady.

Having begun the evening wearing her chemise and a robe, we watched as John helped Francesca get dressed, starting with her reed-filled stays….

followed by several layers more before adding the stomacher, the finishing touch. All handmade by Francesca herself, it was fascination to watch the transformation take place!

We can but hope that events such as this don’t fall by the wayside in the next few weeks and that by taking sensible precautions we can minimise the spread of this horrible virus. If we do find ourselves having to stay at home for an extended period of time, I wonder how long before the boredom sets in?