11th June 2020

A further 151 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, bringing the official death toll to 41,279.

A wet and miserable day in Leicestershire. I saw hardly anyone during my morning cycle, just the way I like it. My daily forays usually take me along seldom-tramped tracks and pathways, but since the pandemic, my fellow lockdown citizens have been encouraged to embrace exercise, forcing them to avoid urban pavements and instead experience the real countryside.

Routes where I would occasionally surprise a fox, egret, badger, heron, rabbit, or hare are now well-trodden, marked by flattened vegetation or, worse, worn bare and rutted by the passage of countless boots, each wearer claiming their daily dose of government-sanctioned freedom. The wildlife has adapted, no doubt retreating to more inaccessible locations; these days, my surprises tend to be floral.

That said, I have discovered a few new and interesting routes by following these emerging ribbons of erosion carved out by others equally keen to find another way from A to B. Today, on a rare but refreshingly wet, long, and lonesome ride, I stumbled upon a stunning display of Oxeye Daisies, and had them all to myself!

After drying off and discovering I had run out of beer and cider (I usually have a can while writing this blog), I drove across town to B&M to restock. As it was still raining, I gambled that the citizens of Harborough wouldn’t want to shop and queue outside today. I walked straight in.

As always, when not accompanied by Sue, my trolley ended up filled with all sorts of things my spontaneous self whispered I might need. With the compulsory wearing of face masks soon to be upon us, it was noticeable that neither the staff nor most of the shoppers I saw were wearing them.

Sue spent her day working on a jigsaw, sewing the tapestry Doreen had given her to finish, and feeding a bedraggled Millie. Meanwhile, I dug out an old tablet that had stopped working and coaxed it back to life. It now serves as a digital clock display in the bedroom and a handy portal into Google Home.

Lee and Sarah managed to sell the four Roman columns that had adorned their rear garden for £200. Charlotte was pleased; she had campaigned to get rid of them from the moment she first saw them. I’m surprised they’ve gone. Sarah loved them. Though I always thought they were too large for the garden, I’d got used to them.

12th June 2020

The UK’s official virus death toll has reached 41,481 after the Department of Health confirmed a further 202 fatalities overnight.

We had an overcast and murky day, with rain arriving late in the afternoon. Sarah and Lee are starting to feel the strain of having a new baby and posted on the family Messenger:

“Advertising childcare duties… will pay. Parents require sleep.”

It was accompanied by a photo of a very alert-looking Alice in her carrycot. I remember it well, those first six weeks with a newborn are tough until the little bundle of poop, puke, and pandemonium finally settles into a routine. At least, unlike puppies, they don’t chew the furniture!

While I was roaming the fields around Harborough on my bike, Sue went shopping at the Fosters Factory Shop, returning with a wonderful selection of French fish soups that I can’t wait to try. The ‘other’ apricot tree, ordered as a replacement, arrived at lunchtime from Holland. It looked like a poor specimen, heavily pruned down to a metre-long stick and completely devoid of leaves. After unpacking it, I watered it and left it in its pot in a sheltered spot next to the greenhouse to see if there was any life left in it. I may move it into the greenhouse in a day or so.

We’re growing concerned about our three pheasants. Despite putting out grain, we haven’t heard or seen them for two days; fingers crossed, the fox hasn’t made a meal of them. Speaking of birds, we’re experiencing another spate of them attempting suicide by flying into the lounge window. Over the years, this has been a regular occurrence on all the windows around the house, and it’s not unusual to hear the occasional thump on the glass as we go about our housekeeping duties. But this week alone, we’ve had five strikes in the lounge, each one leaving large, wax-like imprints of the bird in flight. Fascinating to see, but perplexing as to why it keeps happening.

In the evening, we watched The Red Sea Diving Resort. It’s a film loosely based on the events of Operation Moses and Operation Joshua (collectively known as Operation Brothers), during which Ethiopian Jews were covertly moved from refugee camps in Sudan to Israel in the 1980s. The plot lacked continuity at times, but it was well-acted and worth an evening’s viewing.

Halfway through the film, Jamie popped by briefly to pick up a present for Alice that we had been looking after; he’ll deliver it tomorrow.

13th June 2020

Government figures show that another 181 people with coronavirus have died, bringing the official UK death toll to 41,662.

Hundreds of people descended on central London today as part of anti-racism and counter-demonstration protests, despite officials urging the public to stay at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, British drug-maker AstraZeneca Plc announced it had signed a contract with European governments to supply the region with up to 400 million doses of its potential coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford. The company stated that it was expanding manufacturing capacity and would provide the vaccine at no profit during the pandemic, with deliveries set to begin by the end of 2020.

Today, people living alone in England can begin forming “support bubbles” with other households. This paves the way for some grandparents to visit and hug their grandchildren again, while couples not living together can finally stay overnight at each other’s homes.

It was a warm and pleasant day in Harborough. As is now usual on dry days, I spent my time tending the fruit and vegetable plots, while Sue busied herself in the garden, sprucing up areas that had become unkempt since their last tidy-up. She also tackled the driveway today, blitzing the weeds and, it seemed, turning a lot of the gravel stones the right way up!

The easing of lockdown restrictions is becoming increasingly obvious; traffic on the roads has noticeably increased, and there seems to be an endless stream of pedestrians passing the end of our drive.

Sarah, Lee, Alice, and Mia took full advantage of support bubbling. First, they visited Jamie, who was nearby in Bottesford with Ruth this weekend. From there, they continued to Lee’s parents in Cotgrave, where Alice also met her new aunt, Sam White. Tomorrow, Sue and I will be forming yet another bubble, travelling to Newbold Verdon to see our grandchild in the flesh for the first time. Fingers crossed the weather holds.

The good news about our pheasants, Sue spotted the two males waiting impatiently by the Scots Pine, eager for her to stop turning stones so they could get to the grain left for them. Later, I spotted a very proud and protective mother pheasant leading a large brood of chicks along the riverbank. My task for next week: capturing some family pheasant photos!