A few benefits of the Covid-19 pandemic have been the reduced traffic on the roads, less jumbo jets flying overhead at 38,000ft and the easier access to online city tours.

Berlin, Lviv, Istanbul, Odessa…just a few of the cities I’ve had the pleasure of visiting from the privacy of my garden. The Heygo platform is a fantastic new discovery for me and with the free tours (tips accepted) of the countries on my own list of desires have brought the world onto my laptop.

Another online delight has been Radio Garden and the huge number of accessible local radio stations so Berlin with local radio!

Sunniest and driest April for 10 million years. Well, for a long time anyway. The rain, drizzle in effect, has come to see the month out. Planted seeds sprouting well in garden and weeds reaching dizzying heights.

Prime Minister’s new baby (how many children has he now? 5,6?) is the news today. Other reports say that the lockdown is no nearer being lifted. Huge job cuts at British Airways and Airbus as well as a slew of retail companies shutting shop for good. Virgin Atlantic looks to be in grave danger too.

My efforts to move away from the behemoth that is Amazon took another step today. Ordered a couple of books from my local Lindum Books. Only £1 postage, so a surprise there.

My first new phone in 6 years received today. My innovative self obviously wanted one that looked as close to my old one as possible so welcome to the new iPhone SE. At £400 substantially less than the £1100 iPhone 11.

Days repeat without any clue as to identity. Tuesday could easily be Thursday or even Saturday. The structure needs quite a bit of working on. There is an ideal, that much is clear. But apathy takes over by 9am and the day seems lost by noon.

20 minutes yesterday on duolingo means I should be able to converse in French within 30 years maybe. I won’t live long enough to know. Reading three books at any one time leads to three books never being finished. History of Turkey, walking from Paris to the Pyrenees and some thriller are the current tomes. The walking one I’ve been reading for a year or so. It’s a good read but one gets caught up in Syria, Palestine, Balkans or Hitler’s last few days in the bunker – the mind (mine anyway) can only take so much before the interest wavers yet again.

My olive tree appears to be showing a few signs of growth. I fear lack of water, over watering, too much feed, too sparse feeding. My green fingers have decimated many a plant over the years.

I keep reading about what others will do once this lockdown is over. I probably won’t do anything, though a drive to the sea seems appealing sometimes. Reckon leave it a week or two until the rush of fellow lockdownees has subsided a little. Best time to go is when the children are all in school but with all schools still shut and no sign of re-opening for at least several weeks yet who knows.

Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia have relaxed lockdown. We watch with huge interest. Our pessimism expecting the second wave of the virus. Our optimistic other self hoping the plague has been defeated. Very early days still. New Zealand and Iceland, two countries who listened to the WHO and tested, tested, tested have reported very few cases. The UK, totally unprepared as always, is still seeing several hundred deaths daily. Over 21,000 so far. Prime Minister Johnson now recovered and back at Downing Street. A Churchillian rousing broadcast to the nation yesterday, though full of fighting adjectives, told us very little apart from the lockdown continues. Life for us here in Lincolnshire in virtually unchanged from the norm. I rarely ventured out anyway and shops (unless books or food) were ventured to very, very rarely.

A warm and sunny April has given way to typical April weather of clouds, drizzle and cool Eastern temperatures. May starts on Friday. Lets hope the new month brings more light to life.

Lovely weather for early spring tempered by the Covid-19 lockdown. Week 5 coming up and looks like being here for at least another 3 weeks but social distancing may well be here until the end of the year at least. Still, no real lifestyle changes here and cupboards well stocked, no power outages yet, internet fully functioning and tv services all there.

20,000 dead in the UK so far though death toll has fallen slightly to about 700 daily (down from nearly 1000). Government still relying on scientific advice but what if that is flawed? Prime Minister still not back at work and daily briefings where the daily toll is read out are now run by a succession of ministers, none of whom seem plausible or decision-making. President Trump yesterday advised his citizens to inject themselves with disinfectant!! He now claims he was being sarcastic. Most people assume he’s just a moron. Scarily he’s leading the USA.

Oil prices have plummeted. Couple of days ago a barrel of crude was -$15!!! The lowest it’s ever been. Ever. Petrol prices at the pumps still high though at £1.10. Claire and Matthew still diligently working from home. Lucy still hard at work, at work. Getting really difficult to think of how life can ever return to what it was only a few weeks ago. No cinema, no trains, no planes, no restaurants, no pubs. Face masks will become the norm when venturing outside. Once this pandemic is over how long before the next?

Parish council meeting this week via Zoom – will we have a ‘normal’ meeting again this year?

Low sugar and carb eating plan going pretty well – only a week or so into it but 7lbs down this morning so pleased with that. Normally 3 spoons of sugar in tea/coffee but only sweeteners for last two weeks.

Week 4 of Covid-19 lockdown ending and still at least another 3 weeks to go. I can’t see an end yet and 3 weeks is pretty optimistic considering the UK is already up to over 13,000 deaths, very limited testing and the economy crashing in flames.

The Prime Minister hasn’t been seen in public since he came out of hospital and his underlings appear inefficient and indecisive. The Queen has cancelled celebrations of her birthday and the hero of the crisis seems to be a 99 year old ex-soldier who is walking laps of his garden and raising money.

Personal protective equipment for NHS staff is projected to run out this weekend and barely anymore to replenish stocks. I don’t blame the government for the pandemic but I do lay blame at their door for poor planning, poor information and a grave delay in locking us all down to prevent further spread.

Matthew and Claire still working from home and still being paid. Lucy still working as normal in Chorley. Apart from increased food spending, higher energy bills and an increase in noise art home nothing much as really changed. Dog walking, gardening, reading, Skype parish council meetings. Have saved quite a bit on fuel for the cars though, so a bonus there.

I only ask as a wander through the village yesterday was frequently punctuated by cars, many of them, and quite a few fellow wanderers. The death toll has passed the 3000 mark, barely any official testing for the virus is happening and life seems to be getting back to some semblance of normality. Italy, Spain and USA hardest hit but China tells the world that the virus is being beaten there.

So, April 2020 and our social isolation continues. Little bit of clapping outside for the NHS last night at 8pm has been our biggest social event of the year so far. Two cars on the drive, both fully fueled, but nowhere to go.

2nd April, spring looming, birds frisky, buds budding.

The Covid-19 lockdown continues. One exercise outside daily, food and pharmacy shopping only, 2m distance from fellow humans, socially isolating indoors but the company of my wife and 2 of my 3 children, tv, netflix, internet and books keep one from chewing the trees. No sport, none whatsoever, all p;ubs, restaurants and cafes shut. Even McDonalds has closed its doors. Not used my car in 2 weeks though neither has my bicycle seen the outside yet. Walking with the dogs and a near-normal daily routine see the day meet the night safely.

This time last year the national talking points were solely concerned with Brexit and the impending departure of the UK from the EU. Being a determined Europhile I was concerned our future isolation – we are hardly a world leader in anything, dependent on cheap imports of most things, militarily and politically weak yet the march towards Brexit continued unabated. Now, Brexit is forgeotten as new words enter our lexicon – coranvirus, pandemic, covid-19, and the daily 5pm death toll is watched by millions on tv every day.

It seems, though, that the EU is impotent in all that is happening in Europe – Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, Germany all have taken responsibility for their own safety and the EU, as a collective, is never heard on news reports. Did the UK leave at the right time? Who knows.

19 March 2020

Still alive and well in Nettleham. Plenty of food, water and sufficient toilet paper for the four of us here (Me, Helen, Claire and Matthew. Lucy living in Chorley).

Claire collected from London yesterday as she sits here and waits for her call up from BDO Accountants. Matthew working from home for possibly 3 months after orders from employer.

Food rationing at shops, Tesco closed each night, McDonalds all closed (Drive thru open), chaos at all shops, no sport for at least 3 months, pubs, restaurants etc closing down, shares dropping like never before, interest rates at 0.1%, cinemas clsoed for months, schools shut until summer….phew!

Already several days into the new year and the ‘new me’ is still the old me…idle, apathetic and brimmed full of unachievable aspirations. The ‘walk 5 miles daily’ has been demoted to ‘walk if I can be bothered’ and the ‘eat healthily’ pledge is now the ‘eat all the shit I can find’.

Time moves on though and my new hope that improved weather will work wonders on my already useless start. Bugger!! The weather isn’t actually that bad so that one excuse vanished quickly!

Claire, Lucy and Matthew all safely deposited in Jersey, Chorley and Leeds respectively and the inevitable dreary routine continues again here.

Big task today is to find out how to attach photos to these posts from my shiny new MacBook Air.