1st September 2020

After testing positive for coronavirus, 3 have died in the UK.

I picked three sacks of sweetcorn from the vegetable patch on a warm and pleasant morning. This year, I grew three different varieties in the vain hope that they would ripen at different times, but alas, that has not been the case; they are all ready at once!

As I did last year, I used my entrepreneurial skills, setting up a picnic table beneath the garage camera and placing a sign at the end of the drive, offering four for £1. By the afternoon, 16 had been sold, and the proceeds will cover next year’s seeds. Hopefully, most will be gone by the end of the week.

The Rothwells went ten-pin bowling today at the newly revamped Thunderbowl in Kettering.

2nd September 2020: Ten people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus.

Today is Charlotte’s birthday. Unfortunately for Lucas, it was his first day back at school, so only Ellis and Suraj celebrated this special day with her. They started the day enjoying the rope course at Irchester Country Park, then moved on for lunch at Sywell Aerodrome. Having been there many times before, they love watching the light aircraft taking off and landing. Unfortunately, just before they arrived, a single-seater aircraft crashed while practising aerobatics, and they were told that the pilot was in a bad way and on his way to the hospital.

This morning I took Jamie to work in Sutton Basset. Ruth’s car was having its MOT and he had loaned her his runaround to travel up to Bottesford. His sporty Audi is too noisy at that time of the morning for the neighbours, so I volunteered to take him. In compensation, I was treated to a gorgeous late summer drive through the Welland Valley. As we arrived at the office situated within a farmyard, the farmer exited one of the barns, followed obediently by a sweet little calf eager for the bucket of grain he was carrying. A lovely rural sight and what a picturesque place to work.

As I returned home, a lorry arrived with a scaffold tower I had ordered. Looking at the jumble of bits lying on the driveway, I decided to call Jim Hankers to help me construct the tower. He arrived around an hour later, by which time I had discovered that there were two parts missing. After a phone call, we had coffee while the errant bits arrived. It didn’t take long to get everything fitted together, and I soon set about topping the tall conifer hedge down that had grown far too big and was casting an unwelcome shadow across the lawn.

After lunch, the second lorry of the day arrived, this time delivering a large quantity of shiplap. After storing it away inside the garage, I returned to the tower and continued topping the hedge with a combination of pruning saw, chainsaw, hedge cutter and loppers. A little later, Jim returned with his two dogs to check on how I was getting on. As he left, the rain arrived, but by then I had finished most of the job apart from a couple of large branches that I would have to reach from the other side; they would have to wait for a dry interlude.

It rained for the rest of the day!!!

3rd September 2020: After testing positive for coronavirus, 13 people have died in the UK.

Today is Charlotte and Suraj’s wedding anniversary. They were married in Zanzibar in the same year that I retired (2008); it seems only yesterday! It is also Ellis’s first day back at school.

It rained throughout the morning, and when it stopped, I moved the scaffold tower to the side of the house in readiness for tomorrow’s painting job. Sue visited Jim and Bridget during the afternoon for coffee and to see their house. They brought her home, and we sat for a while in the back garden, enjoying the first bit of sun for nearly a week. We celebrated the warmth with glasses of cool, refreshing cider.

4th September 2020: After testing positive for coronavirus, 10 people have died in the UK. India today announced a world record of 83,883 new COVID-19 cases in one day. The country also recorded 1,043 fatalities in the past 24 hours, taking its total deaths to more than 67,000.

Today is Suraj’s birthday; he and Charlotte celebrated it by visiting Cambridge. I completed painting the wooden cladding on the side of the house. During the afternoon, the window cleaner arrived to brighten up our views. Sarah and Lee made a brief visit.

5th September 2020: After testing positive for coronavirus, 12 people have died in the UK. Worryingly, after a spell of fatalities being in single figures, is this rise the start of a second wave?

Today was very much a dog day. On a warm and sultry day, we had five doggy guests:

Rocky and Nala: They arrived early in the morning with Ruth. She and Jamie were heading up to Sheffield to buy Charlotte’s birthday present, a large pack of her favourite tomato sausages, specially made by a butcher in Thurcroft. We have their dogs overnight.

Harby and Shoby: They arrived mid-morning with Jim, who had come to check out my paintwork and ask if I was watching the rugby in the afternoon.

Mia: She arrived late in the morning with Sarah, Lee, and Alice. They were meeting their friend Chloe for lunch in Harborough. Fortunately, we have a large garden, and all five dogs, despite being different breeds, get on very well with each other.

6th September 2020: Three people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. The UK recorded 2,988 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, due to be held in Ramsbottom, Bury, have been cancelled due to the Covid crisis.

Late in the afternoon, Willow Bank became dogless as Jamie and Ruth collected Rocky and Nala on their way home. After spending the night in a Sheffield hotel, they visited Peak Cavern in the Peak District before heading back.

7th September 2020: Three people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. Seven Greek islands have been added to England’s quarantine list: Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Crete, Santorini, and Zakynthos.

In the morning, Peter rang from New Zealand. He is considering returning to the UK next summer if COVID-19 restrictions allow; however, if he can secure work in NZ, he may not return at all.

I spent the day imprisoned in the garage, painting both sides of 35 shiplap boards, each 3.9 metres long. Utterly tedious, if it weren’t for Spotify, I’d have gone insane with the monotonous repetition. Perhaps grey is not the most visually stimulating colour to stare at for seven hours!

8th September 2020: Thirty people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus.

Both Sue and I had our flu jabs today. I was given a time slot of 10:44–10:45 am, and thinking that was a very optimistic prediction, I had to ‘doff my cap’ to those involved. On my socially distanced journey through the clinic (temporarily held at Harborough Leisure Centre), I hardly broke stride, pausing only briefly for a few seconds to have the injection before returning to my car. Well done, NHS, good practice for the eventual COVID-19 vaccine.

In the morning, Sue played pétanque with one of her U3A groups at a pitch located at Harborough Cricket Club, before having her inoculation in the afternoon.

Earlier, I had promised Paddy that I would look into an internet issue he was having, so after visiting the clinic, I drove to Little Bowden to investigate. I discovered a fault with his telephone line that was affecting his internet connection. After contacting BT and having them test the line, they arranged for an engineer to come and fix the problem on Thursday.

I spent the afternoon replacing the cladding on one side of the garage. I called Jim to see if he could help me nail the new shiplap in place, but unfortunately, he and Bridget are self-isolating after their grandchildren visited on Sunday. The little ones had mixed with an infected child at a school club. Magnificently, Sue stepped in to help, holding the planks while I nailed them in place. We just about finished the job as darkness fell.

9th September 2020: Twelve people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. The Government has announced tighter social distancing rules, banning social gatherings of more than six people in England. This applies to gatherings both indoors and outdoors, including private homes, parks, pubs, and restaurants, from Monday (14th).

After returning from a morning ramble with the U3A, Sue was feeling the effects of her flu jab and took to her bed when she got home. Fortunately, she seemed much better by tea time. I spent another quiet but busy day replacing the cladding on the front of the garage. The evening was rather spoiled when I foolishly watched Leicester Tigers get hammered by Wasps, 54–7, on BT Sport.

10th September 2020: Fourteen people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. A pub in North Yorkshire has banned drinkers under 25, as young people are bearing the brunt of the surge in cases. Yorkshire logic, reet sensible!

Feeling much better, Sue went on another ramble with her U3A group, this time to Pitsford Reservoir. I, once again, spent the day working on the garage cladding.

11th September 2020: Nine people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. There are now 67 infections in the Harborough area.

Today was memorable, I finally finished cladding the garage!!!