Tuesday April07: Glorious spring sky greeted World Health Day, PM in hospital on oxygen. Coronavirus now has a face and its Boris Johnson's. … Walked, quite busy, speeding cars, phone-fixated zombies. Back home, daughter Skyped. Grandson feeding small change to toy dog that nods for money. Yesterday he Wide open spaces...out for a walk [...]
Friday April03: Queued 20 minutes at Waitrose. Well spaced although the guy behind seemed to think he'd get in quicker if he edged closer to me. It was fairly well stocked but crowded given the rationed entry. Many people so focussed on their shopping they were oblivious to those around them. Hard to maintain separation. [...]
GO PLACIDLY amid the peace and the silence, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, be on good terms with all persons more than two metres away. Speak your truth loudly and clearly enough to be heard by those socially distancing; and listen to others, even to the panic-buyer [...]
Dreaming towers... Frangokastello in Crete Monday March30: Among the Covid-19 debris are plans for a Cretan family holiday. We've been going 40+ years. 2020 would've been 3 generations with grandson. I try to push away images of mountains, sound of flisvos, big horizons, wild flowers, goat in the pot, icy Amstel, ferocious raki. [...]
Thursday March26: Saw the Walking Man shuffle past, looking for an ATM that worked. … Boriswalked. Tight queue outside Sainsbury's. Chemist had hand sanitiser. No maker's name. Probably homebrewed in someone's bath. … Sat on the forecourt taking cloud pix and sampling the Harvey's polypin. Heard Toddler grandson explores the beach loud music. [...]
I've been passing the time writing a coronavirus diary. Here's some more... Saturday March21: Last night, haunted by the mantra 'a year without beer' following yesterday's order to close the pubs, I thrashed the plastic buying beverages online. ... Went for a walk, passed three kids dancing along the road, followed by parents shouting out [...]
I've been keeping a CoviDiary. Here are some extracts... Tuesday March17: Roads and shops busy but shelves empty. No loo roll, kitchen towel or hand sanitiser for over a week. … Stopped for a pint, sitting on my own in the garden. Inside, the older clientele in high spirits, Blitz humour and laughter. ... TV [...]
My maths was so bad my mother sent me to after school lessons. The tutor managed to bump me up an exam grade. I might have done better if I hadn't spent half the time staring at the Aubrey Beardsley prints on his wall. They were strangely compelling and, fascinated, I took out books from [...]
Everyone likes a freebie but I get fed up with slebs enjoying free holidays thinly disguised as TV travel shows. Mostly they're presenters/actors/whatever offering brief spells of fluffy box-ticking sandwiched between prefluff and postfluff. One recent example was in Crete, an island I know well and love. The show offered nothing you couldn't find on [...]
I am saddened, cheesed off and worried to find my GP has retired. It wasn't the patients, I'm told, it was NHS bureaucracy that drove him onto the golf course. It takes an age to build a rapport with your first port of call for medical assistance. Explaining ailments from scratch to a stranger in a one-disease-per-ten-minute-slot [...]