Monday 29 June:

Went dawn walking around the harbourside (regular route)… on a pretty overcast and drizzly morning (brightened up a little later). Didn’t take a single photograph!

Have decided to get a DNA test from one of those heritage websites (using the same site as Gail+Ian)… apparently, it’s going to take a little time to do the test and to receive the results, but it’s something I’ve been fascinated by and, after our recent batch of family social history ‘investigations’ via ancestry.com, now seems an appropriate time to pursue it.

Immediately after breakfast, I set up Saturday’s next Urban Sketchers ‘virtual’ event (this time we’re off to Istanbul!).

We received fruit and veg boxes from Hugo – which was lovely.

I tried to contact Emmaus (regarding book collections) but, sadly, they’re not making any collections at the present time (due to virus restrictions etc) – so who knows how long the books will sit in our hallway!

I spent a fair amount of time today trying to complete a draft version of my Covid-19 Blurb book (I’m going to limit the ‘timeframe’ to four calendar months of ‘lockdown’ – ie. up until 18 July).

Did some sketching (while listening to Lorde on Glastonbury catch-up)… shame that the real event wasn’t able to go ahead).

Image: early morning fence shadows, Ashton Court (from a few days ago).

Sunday 28 June:

Moira and I had a very brief walk this morning – it had rained quite hard first thing this morning and then the sun came out, so we decided to ‘risk it’. Of course, it started raining again within 5 minutes of starting… so we did a pretty short neighbourhood wander.

Streamed church as usual (‘attended’ by less than 30)… Lee wasn’t involved again (he would have been at Glastonbury, so perhaps he’s on holiday?).

Managed to complete all the book sorting… which also involved getting the piles of books on the landings and in bedroom corners up on to bookshelves (AND there’s even space left for us to buy more books)! Glad it’s done… all that’s left to do is to contact charities and arrange collection (fingers crossed).

Hannah, Fee and Ursa popped to the house on their way home from Ashton Court… and they ended up coming through the house and us sitting in the garden for half an hour or so (all social distancing), which was lovely. While they were with us, Moira ‘opened up’ the potatoes growing in one of the pots. She’d used my silly, heart-shaped ‘Valentine’ potato and surprise, surprise, it actually produced some small spuds (much better than the previous time we’d tried to grow them) – which we used for new potatoes to go with our roast beef supper (I really wanted to roast them, but Moira wouldn't have it!). All a bit special.

I finished my Wodehouse book and have now begun the mammoth David Olusoga ‘Black+British’ book (over 700 pages long).
Watched 'Aquatic Life' on DVD (one of Hannah' supplied disks).

Image: Moira's spud crop (and the original potato)!

Saturday 27 June:

A somewhat bizarre day… no walking (I’ve resolved to avoid ‘weekend walking’ – apart from our regular, brief Sunday walk before church). In fact, although it’s still pretty hot and muggy, it rained quite hard during the morning – although Moira did manage to get out for a walk between the rain.

I spent virtually all day continuing to try to sort out our books. We’ve now finalised our ‘de-selected’ books (which are now stored in 25 veg boxes, ready for collection by a local charity, hopefully, next week – that represents perhaps 600-700 books in total?)(maybe a quarter of our total books?). These have also been sorted into separate boxes depending on whether they’ve been written in or not. All that needs to happen now is: a) contact Emmaus and get them to agree to collect the ‘unmarked’ books, b) contact another charity that hopefully will accept ‘marked’ books, and c) begin the process of relocating the various books currently located on landings etc on to bookshelves (and updating the database accordingly!). It’s a very long old process.

Villa managed to lose again (at home to Wolves 0-1) and looked doomed to be relegated.

We watched the second episode of David Olusoga’s ‘British and Black’ documentary – extremely good and quite humbling/moving.

Image: yet another dawn walk photograph (marina/SS Great Britain)… from Friday.

Friday 26 June:

Usual harbourside dawn walk on a somewhat cloudier start to the day (but still warm and no wind). Two photographers (proper ones with actual tripods!) were at the marina – and I wanted to tell them that I did this most days at this time and ‘where on earth have you been?’ (but didn’t)!

Continued sorting out and boxing our ‘de-selected’ books – I think we’ll end up with something like 600 of them! We’ve just got the dining room and basement to do now. Have been in touch with Antonia at Emmaus and it seems they’d be delighted to have our ‘rejects’ (and, hopefully, they can collect) – but they’ll only take books that haven’t been written in (so yet more work for us to do!). Apparently, Amnesty Books (Gloucester Road) will take the rest… if we can get them there.

Charlotte set up a mini urban sketchers’ virtual meet-up in the afternoon (‘attended’ by Ana, Judith, Sara, Charlotte and me) – vaguely located around Royal Fort Gardens – which was good.

Alan had returned my Megan/Adam drawing and asked if I could sign it(!)… I should have checked. Anyway, now done – and awaiting Ruth to take down to the post office.

Watched another Montalbano episode and then read some more Wodehouse.

Image: the seagulls are enjoying themselves now that there are more people eating+drinking on the harbourside again… and leaving the litter bins overflowing (*sigh*).

PS: BBC website has photographs of a massively crowded Bournemouth beach (social distancing seems to be a thing of the past)... hugely depressing.

PPS: The government has now ceased its daily television conferences (probably to avoid being asked embarrassing questions that they can't really answer).

Thursday 25 June:

Moira and I have been in ‘lockdown’ for 100 days!

Morning coffee in the garden (both in our jimjams!)… another VERY hot day!

I’d be up early continuing to sort out our books into boxes for passing to charity (and to update the database) – long, time-consuming task… and we’ve still got the downstairs and basement bookshelves to go through yet.

No early morning walk today as I was meeting up with Mike Levine at Royal Fort Gardens (or nearby at the top of Elton Road – in the shade) to enjoy the odd glass of wine and compare our respective lockdown experiences. Despite living on his own and not having internet connection(!), he seems to be coping well.

Read some of my Wodehouse towards the end of the afternoon – too hot for much ‘activity’!
Received another online supermarket delivery... which is always good.

Last night, Bloke’s Books selected David Olusoga’s book “Black and British: a Foreign History” for discussing ‘next time’. Thanks to StorySmith, Dan duly delivered a copy to me this afternoon… and so it also seemed a good idea to check out the TV programme that was a spin-off from the book (or vice versa). So we watched the first of four episodes this evening – and very good it was too.

Image: Ashton Court parkland from two days ago.

Wednesday 24 June:

We’ve now been in ‘lockdown’ for 14 weeks! Stu’s 50^th birthday!

Didn’t go walking today – too many bits and pieces to deal with… and Bloke’s Prayer at 7am (which was good).

Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden on what proved to be probably the hottest day of the year so far.

Spent some of the morning sketching – a quick cricket scoreboard for Drawing Group (‘non-cricket season’ based on this week’s ‘Seasons’ theme!) and also a sketch of Mary Beard (last weekend’s ‘Portrait of the Artist of the Week’ challenge). The result was a pretty poor portrait of Mary Beard, but a lovely scribble of her bookshelves! (see image). Never mind.

Finished working on the ‘package’ of files to be sent to PCC members in connection with the re-ordering proposals (something of a relief that none of the group members wanted things modified at the last minute).

Spent the rest of the afternoon recording/updating our book database to take account of all the books we’re proposing to pass on to charities. It’s a bit of a chore: deciding what books we no longer want to keep; record them and stack them in boxes for disposal; and then, ultimately, transferring the piles of books currently ‘located’ on landings and suchlike on to the vacant spaces on the bookshelves (and logging their locations!). I’ve really only just got through about 25% of the process thus far… so a LONG way still to go!

Moira and I ate supper in the garden which very nice.

“Bloke’s Books” meeting in the evening (via zoom) – discussing Simon Armitage’s “All Points North” (which was very enjoyable).

Villa played Newcastle away and... drew 1-1 (they DESPERATELY lack a goal-scoring striker!) - but better than a loss.

Tuesday 23 June:

Went on a long dawn walk this morning… beside the Avon, up through Leigh Woods to the suspension bridge and then back home via Ashton Court (through woodland). Absolutely beautiful (in gorgeous weather)… and so pleased I did it (I’d undertaken a somewhat similar walk at the beginning of lockdown). Home by 7.05am for coffee+breakfast. Great start to the day.

Spent the rest of the morning a) trying to get my head around the government’s latest rules (some lockdown rules are being eased at the beginning of July) and b) putting together a draft statement for issuing to the PCC alongside the consultants’ report on the church re-ordering.

Then, somewhat weirdly, I received a letter from the Health Secretary. It seems I’m clinically regarded as ‘extremely vulnerable’ and, as such (unlike mere ‘vulnerables’), our situation – Moira is in the ‘vulnerable’ category, but we’ve decided to adopt a single lockdown strategy! – will remain more or less unchanged, even from the start of August (when some people will be allowed to create ‘support bubbles’ with one other household). Sadly, it means that we won’t have any opportunity to hug family members, other than each other, for the foreseeable future… which is very sad.

Ruth called in to collect stuff for posting at the post office (so we had a brief chat with her and the girls on the pavement).

Read a bit of Wodehouse before watching the second episode of “The Art of Persia”.

Image: suspension bridge in the early morning light.

Monday 22 June:

Dawn walk around the harbour on a beautiful, sunny, still morning.

Poached eggs on toast+coffee breakfast.

Morning coffee with Moira in the garden.

After much deliberation (and having completed perhaps a quarter of the overall drawing), I decided not to continue with Megan/Adam’s ‘second option’ for the Brum drawing – I just didn’t that my ‘alternative’ approach provided any real improvement over the initial version.

Having made the decision (in my head), it feels the right thing to have done.

Hugo delivered his fruit+veg boxes, including two loaves, which was good news.

Spent a fair amount of the day dealing with church re-ordering business (need to forward the consultants’ report to PCC members and it needs to be accompanied by various background documents).

Having ‘chickened out’ of starting to read a suitably ‘worthy’ book (eg. ‘Middlesex’ by Jeffrey Eugenides or ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote) in favour ‘comfort’ reading (another PG Wodehouse!)!

Part of the afternoon was spent ‘frankly/stamping’ three packages (prints to Alice and Eleanor; tube of Megan/Adam’s drawing to Alan) and then Moira and I went through a bookshelf deciding which books to get rid of… it’s a fairly long process: choosing the books and packing them into cardboard boxes… then (and this is a job that’s still outstanding!) updating the book database! How radical will we be?

Image: (yet) another marina view (actually, same view but different day!)… from this morning’s walk.

Sunday 21 June:

No walk in the morning. Finished my Will Dean book in bed instead (excellent).

Morning coffee inside before streamed church (Lee was having Sunday off and we sorely missed him!).

Added stuff to Megan/Adam’s drawing before lunch and then met up with Ruth at Ashton Court (Iris and Rosa were with Stu, who was visiting his Dad on Father’s day – which seemed appropriate. We enjoyed a lovely chat on beautifully sunny (albeit windy) afternoon… and even touched each other – and STILL managed to comply with the social distance rules (we sat on the floor with our feet touching!!). Silly, but it felt very special.
Also had a lovely phone call from Alice.

Also saw Maria at Ashton Court – on our way home – which was lovely too.

Villa lost to Chelsea at home… relegation looms!

Image: Touching experiences at Ashton Court.

Saturday 20 June:

No walk day. Morning coffee inside (weather not brilliant)…

Made a tentative start on the second Megan/Adam drawing in the morning and, later, read a fair amount of my Will Dean book.

The central part of the day revolved around the urban sketchers ‘virtual’ meet-up in Alhambra, Granada. I think there some 14 of us linked via zoom and a few others who simply sketched. As always, very good fun (and some excellent sketches, by others)… good to compare ‘notes’ on equipment and styles.

Moira and I enjoyed a glass of wine (+olives) in the garden before supper which was lovely.

Ended up watching yet another Montalbano episode in the evening (I think there are only three un-watched episodes left!).

Image: one of my Alhambra sketches.

Friday 19 June:

Regular harbour dawn walk on a drizzly day… despite the weather, I still like my early morning explorations.

Morning coffee with Moira (a little later than normal)… inside!

Received another email from Lee suggesting various alternative re-ordering  responses (for the PCC). I’m afraid I’ve got to the stage when I “just don’t want to be bothered anymore”… or fairly close to that. I emailed him back and said I was involved in dealing with ‘other stuff’ at present and would endeavour to respond on Monday.

Received a lovely ‘thank you card’ from Darling Fay in response to our presents on her 80^th birthday.

Ruth popped in briefly (with medication for Moira from the pharmacy) and we’ve arranged to ‘get together’ (at suitable distancing) on Sunday – weather permitting.

Spent a fair amount of the day getting my head around a possible alternative drawing for Megan/Adam – essentially, with a view to giving Megan the option to choose her ‘favourite’ version.

Read more of my Will Dean book and watched another Montalbano episode in the evening.

Image: steam crane+other harbour cranes.

Thursday 18 June:

Went for my regular harbourside dawn walk but, unlike the amazing weather we’ve enjoyed for most of lockdown to date, this morning’s weather was miserably wet… and it continued to rain throughout the day. Having said that, I really enjoyed my walk; I was dressed in all my waterproofs and therefore remained perfectly dry.

Morning coffee with Moira inside (obviously!).

The Premier League football games re-started last night – teams playing in empty stadiums. Villa fought out a goalless draw against Sheffield United (who had an obvious goal disallowed, despite having crossed the goal-line; VAR failed to spot it!). Although Villa probably should have won the game, the point might be important at the end of the season.

Spent a brief time checking out another ‘virtual’ urban sketching location for Saturday’s session in the Alhambra and then wrote some more H+C notes in advance of July’s PCC meeting (Lee and I also exchanged ideas at the end of the afternoon).

Read some more of my Will Dean book and then sketched out a grid for another possible version of Megan/Adam’s Birmingham drawing (I’m still not convinced).

Had a very nice email from Jeff (Bloke’s Prayer) and also one from David Shorey (Sally hasn’t been at all well – ‘deep drain bleed’ which is effectively a stroke). I responded to both.

Tried to ring Iris, then Rosa (but got voicemails), but DID manage to get to speak to Dan (in advance of ManU’s game on Saturday). Football seems to be the only thing he’s really interested in/prepared to chat about!

Received a lovely Father’s day card from Hannah (for this Sunday).

Watched the first episode a rather lovely documentary “Art of Persia”.

Image: Harbour rain from today’s dawn walk.

Wednesday 17 June:

Moira and I have now been self-isolating for 13 weeks!

Bloke’s Prayer as usual at 7am… wide-ranging conversations and laughter.

Finished my short story book (scarily good!)… and have ordered Peter May’s book “Lockdown” (originally published in 2005, I think?) – which seems appropriate in these strange times!

Morning coffee in the garden after Moira had done her daily walk (no walking for me today, which is unusual).

Did some exploratory checking on The Alhambra location for Saturday’s urban sketching meet-up… and ended up doing a quick sketch of a raised walkway, as you do.

We’ve now received H+C’s updated Final, Final(!) Report on Saint Stephen’s re-ordering… which is essentially the same as their February 2020 version, but with some ‘protective caveats’!

Heavy rain, thunder and lightning late afternoon – which, after all the amazing weather of the past three months, cam as a bit of a surprise!

Evening television ofRepair Shop and Sewing Bee.

Image: the garden gutter flowers are quite colourful…

Tuesday 16 June:

Dawn walk around the harbour… a walk I do most frequently, but there’s always something new/different – whether it’s the weather, sky, quality of the light, water, the odd fisherman or just some incidental event. Pretty overcast and just a couple of people about (plus three fishermen).

Morning coffee inside, followed by some more of my short story book.

Spent most of the morning preparing stuff on church re-ordering (for circulating to PCC alongside the consultants’ report).

Listened to the Resonate podcast in advance of tonight’s ‘meeting’ (on ‘reading during lockdown’)(and very good it was – although a little too long perhaps at 65mins?).

Resonate via zoom after supper (on the same subject). Interesting evening but I’m always left feeling that ‘zoom discussions’ tend to result in a handful people dominating things too much. All a little frustrating.

Finished the evening with us watching ‘A House Through Time’ on TV (the last episode).

Image: harbour sky reflections from yesterday’s dawn walk.

Monday 15 June:

Dawn walk around the harbour – beautiful blue skies, wispy/watercolour white clouds and utterly still water. Very lovely.

Morning coffee with Moira indoors.

Somewhat bitty day thereafter… I read three or four short stories and then attempted to check out family history for the Irvines. Moira didn’t the names of Jack’s parents, so all I was able to confirm was his birthday, when he and Betty got married (1943) and when he died. All a little frustrating.

My ‘Zig’ pens arrived at last… pack of six, from USA (even though I’d ordered from a UK firm and there had been no indication they were going to be shipped in!). Again, frustrating – but I hadn’t been able to buy any of these pens for several months now (company have been bought by another firm?), so at least I’ve got a supply!

Today, ‘non-essential’ shops were allowed to open and it produced huge queues countrywide (ridiculous!). Under the rules, retailers have to ensure customers maintain 2m distancing and, clearly, from various online photographs, lots of people are complying… BUT, shamefully, there are also large numbers of people (mainly young people, it has to be said) who are completely ignoring the rules and just see it as a wonderful opportunity to meet up with their mates. No words.

Spent some time continuing to get my Blurb book together. I’ve decided to take it up to mid-July (which would 4 months of ‘lockdown’ as far as Moira and I are concerned).

I’ve decided to drop down from B.Friend. I’ve been doing it for over a year – and what with me choosing not to use buses or cars for the foreseeable future – and so it seems like a sensible time to do so. I telephoned Zabiullah to explain the situation (difficult/awkward phone call).

Moira picked some black currants from the garden (see image)!

Sunday 14 June:

Moira and I went for a harbour walk (in slight drizzle) before coffee at home and streamed church.

For the first time, I logged into SkyArts ‘live’ Portrait Artist of the Week programme via facebook. I do SO like the programme (and particularly the quality of the presenters). I think artists (in this case Tom Meads) have four hours to produce a portrait (today it was rapper Professor Green)… and I made my own 30minute sketch with my fineline pen (see image). Mine was certainly not wonderful quality, but it was good to listen to the dialogue between artist, sitter, presenter etc.

Spent some more time trying to explore the ‘Hamilton’ family history (traced back to 1706 – birth date of Andrew Hamilton (of Avondale, Lanarkshire)(farmers, I think).

Read a couple more short stories from scary book!

Had a phone call from Rosa (I love chatting to her – she was in very good form!)… she was about to make biscuits for the family.

Demonstrations in London (and elsewhere) over the weekend in connection with ‘Black Lives Matter’… unfortunately they were accompanied by violence from right-wing groups apparently taking action to ‘protect statues’! Utterly depressing.

Number of reported daily deaths given as 36 (lowest since mid-March), which is very good news. Sadly, there are lots of reports of people abusing the social distance rules etc (reports of raves in Manchester attended by 6,000 people – and resulting in one death, one rape and three stabbings. There are no words…

Roast pork for supper! How lovely was that!

Saturday 13 June:

No walking today… overnight rain, followed by a grey start to the day and remained pretty dull for the rest of the day. Morning coffee inside.

Had another Hugo delivery today, which is great (despite the expense). We’ve now acquired something like a dozen cardboard fruit boxes (which, thus far, we’ve failed to persuade Hugo to collect them back!)(see image). They’re actually perfect for storing books that we’ve decided to give to charity… but we’ll definitely have LOTS of boxes still leftover!

Set up our next ‘virtual’ urban sketchers meet-up (next Saturday at Alhambra!).

I ordered Will Dean’s latest book at the start of the day and Emily (from StorySmith) duly delivered it in the afternoon… lovely to see her (at appropriate social distance) – first time in over three months!

Read some more of my bookgroup short story book…

Spent some of the afternoon absorbed in more family history (well, desperately trying to find family members on Moira’s side)… with the inevitable frustrations!

Disappeared off to bed quite early to read my new book (not the scary short stories – those are reserved for daylight hours!).

Image: Just some of the ever-increasing pile of veg boxes that are gradually taking over our kitchen!

Friday 12 June:

Dawn walk (on a VERY grey morning) covering Avon Lock/harbourside/Gaol Ferry Bridge.

Morning coffee inside with Moira.

Sent off one of sketchbooks to Fay (her 80^th birthday is Sunday/Monday) as a ‘gesture’ present (we’ve actually donated money to the Woodland Trust for tree planting at her suggestion). Ridiculously wrapped up my black A5 diary in error (instead of sketchbook) but, very fortunately, discovered my error before it was posted and sorted things out! Oh, how we laughed!

It turned out that my second email to Alan was undeliverable too (I received an email to that effect at 10am today!). I suppose the file might have been too large (3 photos), so have ended up sending three separate emails. Fingers crossed!

Things did get through in the end… and it seems that Megan is very happy. I’ve told her I’d be happy to change stuff if necessary.

I did a quick Drawing Group sketch (this week’s theme: ‘Breakfast’) and posted it on the FB site.

Made a start on my short (ghost) story book and also did a very quick experimental wax/watercolour self-portrait (not a success).

Watched another Montalbano episode later.

Image: Avon Lockgate from this morning.

Thursday 11 June:

Weather forecast for today wasn’t good… and that’s how it turned out.

I didn’t go for a dawn walk – although that wasn’t due to the poor weather (I actually like walking in the rain if I’m dressed appropriately) – I just wanted to carry on working on Megan/Adam’s drawing. It’s quite big (1070x400mm), so takes up a lot of space! Well, I managed to complete a ‘first bash’ by mid-afternoon and emailed some quick (pretty awful) photographs off to Alan for some initial feedback (my first attempt was returned ‘undeliverable’!). I’m really not quite sure what Megan’s expecting, so I’m fully prepared to have another bash in due course (Adam’s birthday’s not until October).

I finished my Wodehouse book over breakfast and am about to start our bookgroup’s latest book - short (ghost) stories… so, going from what it written on the book’s cover, I might decide to only read it during the day – and not just before I settle down to sleep!

The Colston statue has duly been ‘rescued’ from the harbour by the Council (in the small hours, apparently) and taken away for eventual re-location in a local museum.

We got an online supermarket delivery at lunchtime, which was good (our stocks were fairly low – no bread, no savoury biscuits etc).

Hannah emailed us a video (put together by ‘HUF lockdown productions’!) – ‘An Interview With An Alien’… which, as you might imagine, is quite funny!

Image: a pretty awful photograph of my 'draft' Brum drawing.

Wednesday 10 June:

Sorry… another rather unremarkable day!

Into our 13^th week of lockdown.

No dawn walking (grey clouds), but Bloke’s Prayer met via zoom at 7am as usual… which is always good.

Moira and I had morning coffee inside today (no surprises there, given the weather).

Read a little after Bloke’s Prayer, then spent most of the rest of the day working on M-A’s picture – slow, but study, progress. I don’t think it’s going to be anything ‘special’, but I am very conscious that drawing every day has hugely improved my ability (and confidence) simply to ‘draw what I see relatively quickly (and reasonably accurately). Given that I’m having to utilise google images/streetview’, that’s a huge positive!

Watched the 30 mins SkyArts programme on catch-up (in lockdown, they’re a weekly opportunity for artist (and viewers) to draw/paint a celebrity model every Sunday (I really do need to give it a try!)… they get well over 2,000 artists from around the world submitting their images every week – hugely impressive.

Wednesday evening tv is very good at present: ‘Repair Shop’ and ‘Sewing Bee’!

Image: marina ripples and reflections.

Tuesday 9 June:

Dawn walk down to the harbour… beautiful morning again, followed by some reading.

Moira and I had coffee in the garden.

Stripped the bed linen (and washed and dried everything).

Spent most of the day continuing with M+A’s drawing. It’s quite complicated and big(!)… probably 1050x400mm (landscape) and they want it to include various significant Birmingham landmarks (well, memorable from their point of view). So it’s a case of trying to sketch out a basic concept and then to adapt as I go along (definitely not my way of doing things!). But today, at least, I DID make a start drawing in ink! Just hope my pen lasts out (replacements aren’t due to arrive in the post until perhaps the end of the month!!).

Watched the third episode of “A House in Time” (Karen+David’s house in Guinea Street, Bristol).

Image: Mast reflections… from my morning walk.

Monday 8 June:

A fairly unremarkable day… dawn walk around the harbour, followed by some reading (I’ve resorted to PG Wodehouse for more ‘comfort’ reading!).

Morning coffee with Moira (inside).

I spent much of the rest of the day trying to draft out a full-size version of Megan/Adam’s Birmingham drawing. Good to get something ‘concrete’ on paper (albeit only in rough pencil), but there are still lots of areas that I’m unhappy with, so… only time will tell.

More reading at the end of the afternoon.

Another Montalbano episode on catch-up tv in the evening.

Bristol mayor, Marvin Rees, clearly had a very busy day on interviews (following the anti-racism protest and pulling down of the Colston statue yesterday). I thought he handled things pretty well – decrying the criminal actions, but understanding the motives behind them.

Image: Marina… from my morning walk.

Sunday 7 June:

Moira and I went walking before streamed church (Greville Smyth Park/Metrobus Bridge/harbourside/Vauxhall Bridge).

Produced various rough scribbles for Megan/Adam’s drawing (but still really struggling)… it would be SO much easier if I was able to use photoshop to introduce/manipulate/cut+paste and arrange images (but, sadly, I can’t!).

Rather than get too frustrated, I ended up finishing my ‘Lowborn’ book (excellent).

There were more anti-racism protests throughout the UK today, including Bristol (I’ve previously voiced my ‘social distancing’ concerns). This city’s demonstrations proved highly significant as the protesters pulled down Colston’s statue, then dragged it and dumped it in the harbour (next to Pero’s Bridge)! A significant, highly-symbolic moment methinks.
Had a lovely phonecall from Rosa... and then I rang Jemima to wish her a happy happy 10th birthday!! It sounds as if she's had a very nice day.

Watched ‘Antiques Roadshow’ then early to bed.

Image: Colston’s statue pulled down… and dumped in the harbour.

Saturday 6 June:

No walking today… bright start to the day but became increasingly cloudy (and colder) by mid-morning.

Morning coffee indoors. Spent some time trying to get my head around Megan+Adam’s ‘project’ (quite tricky, but I feel the need to commit a few things on to paper!).

Urban Sketching ‘virtual’ meet-up at 12 noon at Liverpool. Another very successful session – with 18 of us connected via zoom and at least a couple of others sketching remotely too.

With urban sketching happening in the middle of the day, the ‘timings’ for the rest of the day felt a little strange… spent some of the afternoon reading my ‘Lowborn’ book.

Early evening: watched ‘Capote’ on DVD (Phillip Seymour Hoffman pretty amazing in Capote role).

Thousands of people in the UK took part in large nationwide anti-racism protests (following the death of George Floyd in the US)… great that so many people felt motivated but also frightening, given the ‘distancing’ rules – which, from footage of the scenes, people were largely ignoring.

Image: Experimental, very rapid image drawn in wax with batik tjanting tool on to watercolour paper and watercolours added (it’s probably more than 10 years since I last tried this!).

Friday 5 June:

Went for a dawn walk, even though the skies looked a little threatening.

Morning coffee inside again today.

I recently came across my wax and batik tjanting tool so spent a little time in the morning experimenting,  and produced a couple of very rapid images drawn in wax on to watercolour paper and then watercolour added (it’s probably more than 10 years since I last tried this!). Enjoyable and I’ll definitely try it out again.

Immediately after lunch, we met up with Ruth, Iris and Rosa in Greville Smyth Park for a natter (keeping fingers firmly crossed with the weather – but it was fine and sunny). We’d originally planned to meet up for a picnic but overnight rain/uncertain weather forecast meant we decided to defer this to another time. So lovely to see them all and to be able to chat ‘properly’ (at suitable distance, of course!).

Started reading ‘ Lowborn’.

Watched ‘The Big Lebowski’ DVD and another episode of Montalbano in the late afternoon/evening.

Image: Iris, Rosa+Ruth.

Thursday 4 June:

Dawn walk around the harbour (ie. my regular route). Fairly dull start to the day after the rain of the previous evening – but very quiet, peaceful and still (and, noticeably, very little rubbish/bottles/cans left lying around the harbourside as a result of the rain).

Coffee inside this morning (Moira didn’t think it was warm enough for the garden)… and, during the course of the morning, we received three deliveries (big box of Isle of Wight tomatoes; two fruit+veg+bread+cheese boxes from Hugo; a package of goods from Boots); and then, at the end of the afternoon, Moira’s book from StorySmith!

Spent much of the afternoon reading (finishing my Armitage book) and reviewing Megan+Adam options… as well as starting to list various positives and negatives in connection with lockdown life – perhaps for inclusion my Blurb book?

At the end of the afternoon, I even did a bit of ‘book sorting’!

Sky Arts’ “Portrait Artist of the Year” are doing weekly Sunday sessions for artists to paint online/live… and watched a 30 minute summary programme.

Also rang Catherine P and had a nice chat… she seems fine, worked hard from home.

Image: Tomato+Hugo deliveries!

Wednesday 3 June:

Eleven weeks of ‘lockdown’ duly completed, now into Week 12.

Didn’t go for a walk today… Bloke’s Prayer at 7am. It’s been brilliant to keep in touch with one another during lockdown and everyone seems to be in good spirits (except that Jeff has decided to opt out for a ‘few weeks’ – I think he thinks we chat too much and should do more praying!).

Weather rather dull, so morning coffee inside today. Spent some time during the morning preparing (or at least reflecting) for our bookgroup meeting tonight.

Followed up several of the potential locations for Megan/Adam’s large Brum drawing I’ve promised to do (not easy to plan – almost a collage). Exchanged emails with Alan… he and Lesley are clearly struggling a little in lockdown and feel somewhat restricted (even though they’re now allowed to jump in their cars and drive to some local beauty spot).

Interesting to read about the exchanges in Parliament at today’s PMQs. We’re now getting used to Starmer always getting the better of the PM (who frequently appears ‘out of his depth’), but disappointing that the Cummings saga seems to have been kicked into the long grass (at least for now).

Early evening bookgroup to discuss ‘Purple Hibiscus’ (‘attended’ by a dozen of us, I think). As usual, a really good discussion… and we ALL loved the book!

Quite heavy rain early evening which, although forecast, took us by surprise.

Evening television: ‘Repair Shop’ and ‘Sewing Bee’.

Image: I do love cornflowers. These were in a planting box in front of the ‘Grain Barge’.

Tuesday 2 June:

Dawn Walk via Ed’s house in Stackpool Road (to check a couple of details for my drawing) and then across Prince Street and Pero’s Bridges and along Hannover Quay, past the Pump House and then back via Ashton Avenue Bridge (Metrobus Bridge), Clift House Road and ultimately Upton Road. Another lovely morning and walking anti-clockwise around the harbour (with my back to the sun) felt somewhat strange.

Morning coffee with Moira in the garden, followed by reading some of my Armitage book.

Managed to finish my sketch for Ed Hodge (10^th anniversary present for Helen) – in the end, I decided against trying to give it a watercolour wash (I chickened out… didn’t want to mess it up and have to start again!).

I listened to the second Resonate podcast (‘The Church in Lockdown’) while sketching – very interesting, albeit it quite long – some 75 minutes.

This week’s Drawing Group theme was ‘Bristol’… and as I like to try to set aside part of my Tuesdays for Drawing Group, I made a pretty rapid sketch of some buildings on Lower Park Street, via google/streetview.

A black American, George Floyd, was recently ‘murdered’ by a policeman (well, he’s been arrested following release of a video of his actions)… it’s resulted in a world-wide outcry (‘Black Lives Matter’) and extensive rioting in the States – not helped by Trump’s threatening and intimidating comments of retaliation (“when the looting starts, the shooting starts”)… and then, today, he gets police to tear gas peaceful protesters to clear a way for a photo opportunity (with him posing holding a Bible in front of a church)... the local Bishop wasn’t happy: “The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for. To do so, he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard. I am outraged. The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country…” *no words*.

A ‘gentle’ evening leading up to part two of “A House Through Time”, featuring Karen+David’s house.

Image: Somebody brightened up the skies of Bedminster today… (we needed this today).

Monday 1 June:

My Mum would have been 92 today!

Another dawn walk… the ‘usual’ harbourside circuit. Only people I saw were: two fishermen and two joggers. Some primary schools re-open today – I noticed that Ashton Gate Primary School, down the road, had painted 2metre distance markers on their perimeter walls (not sure if these were for pupils or parents!).

Read a little of my Armitage book after breakfast… then coffee in the garden with Moira.

Started a couple of sketches… Ed’s house (which I’m finding quite tricky – but at least I’ve made a start) and have also been looking for possible drawing locations for this coming Saturday’s ‘virtual’ urban sketching meet-up in Liverpool.

Wine and olives in the garden with Moira before supper!

Watched a documentary on Tintoretto on SkyArts and the final programme of Grayson Perry’s Arts Club (which is sad… it would have been good for it to have continued).

Image: Whenever I go for one of my ‘dawn walks’, I always leave a postcard (this one!) for Moira just confirming where I am… they’re hardly necessary really as she’s usually still asleep by the time I return!