No change from the previous 5 weeks of lockdown. We are still pursuing the same pattern, get up at 7:30 have breakfast, yoga, do various bits and pieces, go for a walk and then back for lunch. Do something around the house and then call someone. Maybe have a zoom chat in the early evening before eating. Eat and watch a bit of telly. Wash up is the next thing on the agenda and finally upstairs to mess around on the computer or read.
Where is the adventure? Where is the something new? It’s not that I’m not grateful for all the things we do have and I really believe we are very lucky compared with many others. There is always something to do, but what is beginning to get me down is the consistency of it all and the lack of excitement and freshness to the daily routine. It makes me even more grateful that I was never locked up in gaol. Everyday there must seem like the same. However you do know how long your sentence is. At the moment the government is keeping the length of sentence a secret.
Monday 360 deaths reported from hospitals. Maggi and I took a drive to Bayhurst Wood which is just off Breakspear Road North. I have been here before with Mark and I more or less took Maggi on the same walk. Through the wood and down to Harefield Parish Church of St Mary’s and back again. It’s about an 80 minute walk and nice because it contains a few ups and downs.
We discussed the positioning of the side wall with Gregor and decided to keep things as they are.
I had a chat with Geoff Fuller, tried to do a bit more work with mapping, and not very successfully and arranged a zoom session with Alex and Mum. In the evening we had a pesto dish and watched a documentary on George Michael on Amazon Prime. As a source of television or films it has been underused in our household. There is so much on the Amazon platform that prime video becomes irrelevant.
Tuesday numbers of hospital deaths down to 569.
I had a bad night’s sleep with my stomach playing up. When I woke up in the morning I felt really lethargic. Despite that I went to the shops. It was raining for the first time for quite awhile and there was no queue when I arrived or left. I have become quite adept at handling the Sainsbury’s app that let’s you scan the stuff as you go round and bag it up as you go. It saves queueing at the checkout. You go to the self-service checkout.
On returning from shopping I went straight up to bed and spent the rest of the day there. Listening to some music, radio and at the end of the day I downloaded War and Peace and have started to read that great novel again.
Wednesday, and still felt grotty in the morning so went straight back to bed after a small breakfast. Read more of War and Peace, listened to music and pottered around. In the evening we had a zoom meeting with Gill and Mark and watched a Spanish drama called Money Heist (sub-titles) on Netflix. It had been recommended by Mark. It started off quite well although very improbable. By the end I had decided that I would only watch the first episode.
Thursday walk in the woods.
View across the fields from Mad Bess Wood Tree across the path Along the bridleway in Copse Wood The Hawthorn in Bloom A tepee is ready for covering Close up of Camp
In the afternoon I played Bridge online with Richard against Clive and Dinesh. They won. One of the reasons was that I mistook a bid by Clive as a bid by Richard. I ended up bidding Clive’s suit because I had 3 of them. Richard pulled me out and we only went 2 down.
Friday 739 deaths from Covid today includes outside hospitals
I normally go to Mum’s flat on a Thursday but we were out messing around in Ricky and Ruislip Woods instead. So on Friday I plotted a route from Park Avenue up through Park Wood and down to the Haste Hill Station at the end of Ruislip Lido. The idea was then to climb Haste Hill and come out on the Rickmansworth Road and make our way to Mum’s. However the route to Haste Hill Station was so boggy and such uncomfortable walking that I revised my plans. We continued straight on and came out in Copse Wood. See map above. The Northwood Golf Course is immaculately kept, even in Lockdown. There are non-golfers wandering around, I bet some even bring dogs.
You can see the mansions in Linksway from the path that follows the edge of the course.
I waited outside Waitrose toby some fish but the queue was so slow and it was raining. I gave up. Mum’s flat was fine. We threw out all the rubbish that had accumulated in her post box. On the way back we had to shelter under an evergreen with a thick canopy or we would both have been soaked.
Walked back home which meant that the car was still at Park Avenue. Had a quick lunch and then headed off to pick up the car. The next place to go was the Covid 19 mobile testing centre in Linden Ave, Ruislip Manor. There was no queue and the whole thing was being run by the army. I drove in and was given