Plague crosses

This morning we had an email from our neighbour across the street. She was sick with the flu along with her daughter. Would we bring her two eggs since she was unable to go shopping? Of course we agreed to her request.

Before I left, Anne admonished me to take care when I took the eggs so I would not contract the flu. Anne has recovered from the flu and I am unscathed so far. I crossed my fingers as I passed the container with the eggs to my neighbour.

I then thought about the English village I was raised in, Cheddleton, and the plague cross found at its boundary. Village folklaw said this cross was where people left food for plague victims during the years of the Black Death. The cross shown here is one from another English village and commemorates the many victims of the plague in that locality. Our H1N1 precautions of masks, elbow bumping, and isolation at home of those with the symptoms recall to a small degree the efforts in the past to thwart the plague.