Week 6 of lockdown, and things have settled into a pattern: alternating frenetic bursts of exercise with doing absolutely nothing.
Whilst we see in the media images of people acting like twats and abusing the lockdown, the reality here is much more mundane. People are generally distancing pretty well, and most incidents of near misses are more likely down to inattention than deliberate. I have, however, developed a loathing for those runners who pass you at a distance that would have been disrespectful before all of this, let alone now. Feedback continues to be given according to the severity of the crime and the “hardness” of the offender.
Not that it’s been as much of a problem as at first, mainly because I’m really selective about when I venture forth. Indeed, if I miss the window, I’ll stay in rather than go out at a time I know will be busy. I couldn’t stand crowds before, and I can’t stand them now. My definition of a crowd may also have tightened somewhat.
But all this aside, I’m actually quite liking lockdown. The roads are quieter, the ambient noise level is lower, and people are generally a bit more willing to say hello when out and about. Then there’s the birds. Their volume switch has been been turned right up, so much so that it becomes difficult to believe that it’s just an absence of traffic noise drowning them out.
So what have I been up to…
Well first there was the expedition to Chav Henge to look at the sarsen stones:
After a few weeks of only staying within the rough boundaries of the estate where I live, went just a little further to the riverbank for a change of scene:
and some slightly more in depth exploration of my immediate environs:
including a return to Chav Henge…
Finally after a lazy Saturday, I made myself go for a longer walk, in the strange lands north of the A13…
Three more camps in the garden…
In between all of this has been work. I worked at home occasionally before, but still found it a bit difficult to get in the swing of it. Partly the distraction of the “situation”, and partly the fact it was day after day. I found it took about 4 weeks before I really hit my stride. I now don’t want to go back to the office, when that dreaded day comes.
And of course cooking:
I’ve also been looking back on past trips to the hills, but am going to put them in a later post. It turns out April is quite a month for such exploits historically.
It looks like the weather’s about to deteriorate, so it’s looking like May is going to be a bit of a struggle…
