In 2020 there was an outbreak of 'flu. It started in China, and by March 2020 the WHO labelled it a pandemic.
The UK government's response was to restrict people's activities in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. These policies meant many people, myself included, were unable to go to work.
I decided I should spend some of my spare time writing this journal. There will be no theme to individual entries; just whatever I feel like writing. The images are (with a few obvious exceptions) taken within a half mile radius of our house.
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The weather is still warm and dry, ideal for barbecues, but our allotment desperately needs daily watering. I am writing this in the garden. It's overcast today, but the promise of rain has yet to be delivered.Some parts of the country have had torrential rain in the last few days which has resulted in closed roads. You can hear more traffic noise now, things are slowly resuming to the way they were.
We still keep to ourselves as much as we can; we have not been to a pub, restaurant or the like since March. As the situation evolves across the country, local lock-downs have been imposed. The restrictions of these seem relatively minimal and would only force us do the things we are doing anyway.
Town centres report the number of shoppers is just over half normal. I gather there are no queues for tourist attractions in London. In general, people are not returning to "normal".
I have spent time reprogramming the weather observations pages. It is a kind of spring cleaning. It all looks the same as it did, but things are tidier.
We visited Hil's father for a socially distanced picnic by the lake where he lives. We took a camp table and chairs and sandwiches.
It's a good year for fruit (tomatoes included). The bushes are thick with blackberries, and we are picking raspberries from the allotment again.
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We have had quite a bit of rain over the last week or so. The change in the weather has provided a welcome relief to our allotment and our need to water every day is now thankfully reduced. Sadly, our boiler broke down again. It seems to break down when it rains. We got it mended, but we have to accept we need to replace it before winter comes.
We attended a garden party / barbecue. It was strangely normal. Nobody touched anybody else (of course), but the range of social distance was quite variable.
We cycled into Brighton today. This is the first time we have been into the city since March. Hil's bike broke some spokes on the way in, so we started by visiting Evan's Cycles. They were really helpful, and provided a replacement wheel for us in under 20 minutes.
It was sunny and warm, having bought the things we needed (clothes and shoes), we had a beer on the sea front. The only beer we have bought since March was a takeaway from The Stag PH in Portslade. This time we were served as we sat at a table.
There were people about, but not anything like the numbers there normally are at this time of year.
So we are getting back to normal. It's a slow process, and I don't think it's going to accelerate any time soon. As we re-emerge, businesses are beginning to make people redundant.
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We are still shopping by "click and collect". I can see that carrying on while we do not need fresh vegetables - the allotment provides more than we need. We give away a lot of stuff to friends.
We have had more friends visit. It is easier to manage in your own home than going to the pub. We make sure there are clean towels for guest who use the bathroom; they do not have to use the same ones as we use.People are adjusting to socialising while keeping a distance and not touching anything (door handles / etc) or anyone. It's sad how normal it seems.
I sprained my ankle before then Bank Holiday weekend. The long walk we planned was postponed, and we tidied the garage instead. We also made a bird feeder out of old tin cans and scraps of wood (from the garage clear-out). I think we are rather proud of it!
The weather has turned cooler. This will slow down things on the allotment.
I saw the book "Plague Nation" on offer, so I had to buy it! It's quite a good read describing the efforts of people to survive and rebuild society in the wake of a devastating plague. It's a similar situation to that described by Stephen King in The Stand.
