Tuesday 9 June

No pics today I’m afraid. I haven’t really done anything worthy of snapping. I walked into Coulsdon this morning, and noted that in our road there are so many vans doing window-cleaning, roofing, extension building, gardening…..Everyone is seriously taking advantage of lockdown to get their house in order. Oh and skips. Rather than queue endlessly for access to the tip, hire a skip and get rid of a whole load at one fell swoop. And the neighbours will join in!

My most exciting event was the arrival of my final birthday present. Only 2 months behind schedule, but in fact it has been rather good fun to have such a spread-out birthday. With a bit of effort perhaps I could make it last the whole year.

I learned a new German word today. For the fat which one has put on during lockdown. Coronaspeck. Speck means something like bacon, or lard. Suffice it to say that it is a pretty graphic description. My most dynamic activity today was to swing the hedgecutter around a bit. We have a very long garden with hedges to match. Despite the lack of rain the hedge is still growing, so I laid about myself with gusto. I think I find the trouble with gardens is that they’re never finished. You go out and sit down with a coffee and the paper, as I did today, and see yet another task which needs doing.

I have been reading, and sewing, both things which under “normal” circumstances I find little time to do. And listening to classical music. I watched a Mozart concert from Wurzburg on my phone as I watered the vegetable patch. How about that for multi-tasking?