Wednesday 29 April

It has been a momentous day in the UK for all the wrong reasons. The death toll from Covid-19 has hit 26,000. I remember back at the start of this that the government and SAGE said that if we suffered under 20,000 deaths then we would have done well.

The most troubling sign is that this is not going down.

In comparison, Sweden has hit 20,000 cases. Another staggering stat is that there have now been over 3 million confirmed cases worldwide. Its numbing to wonder how high this is going to go, especially as it really hasn’t hit Africa or South America fully yet.

The government have also announced that schools in the UK will open in phases, it is what we were expecting, but this is now going to take most of our energy as this will not be easy no matter how you look at it.

The streets are still quiet and the weather is still lovely. Walking with Mabel and the family is such an amazing tonic in amongst all of this depressing news.

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Tuesday 21 April

Another ‘school day’ under lockdown with Lisa in school, kids working in their rooms and me working downstairs with Mabel keeping me company.

Very windy but still wall-to-wall sunshine with birds queuing up to get to the food; also in line is a brazen grey squirrel and ‘Fat Pigeon’ as kids fondly refer to it.

Outdoor lights have arrived for the pergola and so has the saddle soap to try and recover our two leather satchels – another project initiated as a consequence of watching The Repair Shop on TV.

Home made pizza for tea tonight which we love and have picked up some Serrano ham and some mushrooms from the village shop during our dog walk this evening.

Spoke with Dad today and helped him pay for Mum’s care home invoice; I’ve realised that I have hardly mentioned Mum at all throughout this blog which has made me sad and shamed. Love you, Mum.

Monday 30 April

A new working week in lockdown (the second period) starts and I feel I am starting to find my stride with this blog thing.

Italy are starting to lift restrictions and my brother and sister-in-law were able to venture out a little which made me realise how fortunate we have been in the UK; however, Japan and Singapore relaxed there lockdown’s recently and they have seen a resurgence of the virus.

My Dad (who is 90 years old next year) has always prided himself on his ability to walk between 2 to 3 miles every day around his village and the fields that border it but the lockdown has made him a little more reluctant to go out.

His solution is to measure the distance from his front door to the kitchen and repeat this relay a ridiculous number of times each day to ensure he is getting the necessary steps in to equal his walk.

Adora (Mabel came too) and I did a run this morning and she hit me with another classic line – “Dad, honey is basically bee wee isn’t it?” Good grief.

Sunday 19 April

Really fierce hayfever today; one of the downsides (the only one?!) of having a warm and dry spring is that the trees and shrubs have a flowering field-day and the blustering winds whip the pollen around like an invisible dust storm.

Sitting in the back garden (probably unwise re the above) I am conscious of how the wind surges wash through the budding branches of the trees causing them to arch and strain.

They take it in turn to curl over at the tips like waves breaking and spraying as they head towards land and then provide a whoosh of sound as they scamper up the shore.

To add to the confusion a couple of gulls craw above like they also got caught in the lockdown whilst taking a trip in land and finding they cannot return home until all of this has blown over.

Meanwhile the criticism is gathering of the government and of Boris Johnson specifically with the Sunday Times saying he has lost interest in the job like a child does when he becomes bored with a new toy; and that the government just did not take the virus threat seriously enough at the beginning.

Saturday 18 April

The past few days have seen it get a little chillier with air coming in from the north-east which has an effect on things; the trees are not used to bending and reaching in a different direction so you can hear them creak and rub against each other making our walks a little eerie.

Getting the washing in off the line this evening I was serenaded by a Blackbird from the cherry tree.

Went for a run with Adora this morning and we passed three swallows that were watching us from the telegraph wire – first sign of summer?

A further 888 people died of Covid19 in UK hospitals in the past 24 hours and the argument about supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) rumbles on.

I get the feeling, now that they have announced that we will be in lockdown for a further three weeks (minimum), that the public and the media will start to get more critical from now on.

Friday 17 April

Got some upsetting news today; being at home I think helped me work it through and then pass it on to the rest of the family.

It made me reflect on how, in the day-to-day hustle and bustle, we don’t have the time to mentally digest and manage bad news when it happens; I am going to carry this with me after this lockdown.

The post arrived this morning with everything for me; a replacement wheelbarrow wheel, a magazine and a t-shirt I ordered from the US for a band I am listening to alot at the moment – Parsonsfield.

Spent some mindless time this afternoon sorting my screws, nails and tools that had accumulated in the shed – also changed my wheelbarrow wheel – then went for a walk with Mabel and tried to name all of the wildflowers I could see.

Me and Lisa watched Gardeners World this evening followed by another episode of The Repair Shop which we only discovered for the first time this week; every episode we have watched so far has left us in tears for the stories but inspired also to fix and make do with what we already have and are grateful for.

Thursday 16 April

The Shed. This is one of the most wonderful places to any household that is lucky to have one; it is a storage place for old things or items not needed at the time but are too important to throw away.

You might need it in the future, it was expensive to buy at the time, it’t too lovely to throw out – whatever the reason for keeping it, it ends up in the shed.

Every two years, when the weather is kind over two days, everything comes out on to the grass and we sort the shit from shinola; tough decisions about what was important once is now unecessary, damaged by damp, nibbled by mice or covered in rat poop.

It’s a two day job so stuff is left out on the lawn overnight and the rest is sorted the next day.

You also find sparkly jewels of the past too; my old records were browsed through (“That’s probably worth a bit now!”) and my old Sony music system with turntable has found a new home in Stanley’s bedroom. The good old shed.

Wednesday 15 April

I saw my first ever Green Woodpecker today flying across the freshly ploughed field down our lane.

It swoops like a washing line propped up in the middle using what seems like a split second of flapping but is probably about twenty wingbeats each time.

Our lesser-spotted woodpecker is a regular visitor to the back garden munching on one of the peanut feeders whilst the grey squirrel bosses the other; all of the birds take a backseat when these big guys are in town.

Another beautiful sunny day but the wind has changed direction and is coming from the north-east making things much chillier.

The experts are talking about seeing signs of the social-distancing impacting on the numbers of people being be admitted to hospital but a row is brewing about the death figures being misleading as they only include hospital deaths – this won’t go away anytime soon.

Tuesday 14 April

Today Adora came out with a confession to exemplify why science is not one of her strongest subjects.

Over lunch she said that in a mock science exam she thought that ‘equilibrium’ was a chemical element and tried to look it up in the periodic table.

We ran again this morning and I did some work including making the daily submission to the DfE of how many students and staff were in school today.

We’re obviously in week two of our official Easter break but all of that is very different this year as many schools remain open for children of parents who are ‘key workers’.

Another 778 people died in UK hospitals in the past 24 hours of Coronavirus; exactly the same amount as died in New York City in the same period of time.