April, what a strange month. If you are from UK, surely you’ve heard of Captain Tom Moore and his fundraising for NHS. I made a small donation this morning and wished him a Happy 100 birthday! I imagine he will raise £30 million by the end of the day. What an amazing achievement.
I was looking forward to Easter this year, hoping that we can go out with Festus on a very long walk, something like going to the Peak District or in Cumbria. We went on a long walk on our first Easter together, 10 years ago, and I wanted to recreate that, but with the lockdown we were unable to do it. It doesn’t matter though, we are going to go out when is possible and we’ve had a lovely time at home anyway.
This month I started University again, the third term, and now it’s everything online. While I’m happy not having to commute for 7 to 8 hours each week, which was so very tiring, I miss chatting face to face with my colleagues and our tutors. Even the exams will be online and different from what I’ve expected. I have plenty of time to prepare, so it will not be a huge issues, but, even so, I wish I had the same amazing experience I had in the first two terms.
On the bright side, this month I played lots of VR with our new VR set VIVE Cosmos. The latest game is this one, Virus Popper, made for children, but so funny that we spend 5 – 10 minutes playing on it, a few times so far.
With the VR I was also able to workout. Boxing on music is the one I like best and I did 10 workouts this month! Comparing that to 9 workouts between January to March, I think it is pretty impressive.
1. Beeswax food wrap. 2. The hand cream jar I have in my desk. 3. Chocolate Hot Cross Buns. 4. Good or Evil, makeup as art. Not from that day. 5. Playing VR. 6. Mask, makeup as art. 7. Bread. 8. Took pictures of Festus, for Easter. 9. Finished my essay. 10. New book. 11. Salad. 12. Happy Easter. 13. Easter eggs, a picture from the previous day. 14. Festus, nice and tired. 15. Trinity term starts. 16. Prosecco and dark chocolate dessert, for a celebration. 17. On my way to the supermarket. 18. Beautiful lilies. 19. VR. 20. Dinner & a mini-celebration. 21. New flower pots for the driveway. 22. More VR. 23. Meringue kisses. 24. Chester zoo, online. 25. Busy day in the garden. 26. Wearing a mask while going grocery shopping. 27. Quiet time at home. 28. Reward from TKMaxx. 29. Virus Popper. 30. Books I finished this month.
Let’s talk about books. Only 9 read this month, but most are non-fiction, and two of them are long, The Wealth of Nations and Modernity and Bourgeois Life. I enjoyed both, really good books, but not exactly for a wide audience. All the books are reviewed on Coffee and Books.
Next, there are two books in the Instant series: Science and Mathematics, which are really great. I enjoyed both of them, really interesting, filled with facts and stories about scientists and mathematicians, on top of being fab reference books.
The Rose was another great book and you can win a copy of it and a couple more goodies in my giveaway (UK only, sorry). The book contains fascinating details on the roses and illustrations at the end of the book, which can be framed. It is such a wonderful book.
The last three non-fiction books I read this month were The medical detective, a biography of John Snow and his research on cholera in the 19th century London. That book worths a read right now. I end this round-up with two books by Ruth Goodman, How to Be a Victorian and The Domestic Revolution. Both books are awesome as they give a different perspective on everyday life. Her writing is superb too.
Books I read in April:
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith – 5 stars
How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman – 5 stars
Her Dark Knight’s Redemption by Nicole Locke – 4.5 stars
Instant Science by Jennifer Crouch – 5 stars
The medical detective by Sandra Hempel – 4 stars
Instant Mathematics by Paul Parsons and Gail Dixon – 5 stars
The Rose by Brent Elliott – 5 stars
Modernity and Bourgeois Life by Jerrold E. Seigel – 5 stars
The Domestic Revolution by Ruth Goodman – 5 stars
You still had a pretty great month, Anca! University will definitely be different this term for you, but it’s great that you’ve got those past two semesters to look back on. I hope May is great to you!
Julia x
I’m sorry that your 3rd term of university is not as exciting as the first two but glad you won’t have the long journey (that’s the thing I am liking best about being at home- I gain 3 hours a day from not having to travel!
The VR game sounds great!!
You did still manage to have a very full month. I’m glad you got those first two terms in the “normal” way, but also glad you get to continue on… even if completely online.
I guess we’ve been fortunate that this pandemic isn’t nearly as deadly as so many in history have been. While the numbers seem large, especially in the way the media likes to portray things, they’re still a small fraction of the world population.
I agree, the virus is not as deadly. Sometimes I think the media’s exaggerations make people more circumspect of what they are saying in general. For example, at BBC, they compared the death tally in US with the losses in the Vietnam War. I have no idea why and how relevant is that. A comparison to flu would have been much better. I’m quite disappointed with tabloid feel some media outlets have, as in BBC. In UK, a few days ago they made such a fuss that 1 PPE is 1 glove and not a pair of gloves… even though everywhere, including all supermarkets, one can buy 10 gloves or 20 gloves, not 5 or 10 pairs. I call that an appalling journalistic endeavour.
I’d be really interested in the Medical Detective. John Snow fascinates me My second great grandparents lived very near but not in the district where Snow found the well that was dispensing the contaminated water. (They lived on the corner or Wells St. (off Oxford) and Margaret Street. I wonder if their decision to emigrate shortly after the cholera was influenced in part by the epidemic. I will never know but it is a period that fascinates me. I need to check out review of that one.
A full month, to be sure. You will enjoy your walk whenever you can. I hope you’ll be able to return to regular class in the fall. It looks like Michigan State University may be online only in the fall, but I’m not sure it has been finalized. Who would have ever imagined?
Exactly, who would have imagined something like this could happen. There were other pandemics, like ebola, which is more deadly, but it did not spread like this one did.