Thursday 30 July:

Decided NOT to go dawn walking this morning (despite beautiful weather) as I would be meeting up with Tom at Ashton Court later (up at the golf course end – so quite a lengthy walk!).

Discovered two things: firstly, that ‘blogger’ had changed the ‘rules’ – which seem to have made it far more difficult to share blogposts (or at least to share accompanying images) and, secondly, my DNA Heritage results! Somewhat predictably, I’m VERY English!! English 86.4%; Scandinavian 10.5%; North+Western European 2.1%; Middle Eastern 1.0%.

Collected fruit+veg boxes from Hugo (always makes me happy!)(when we spoke with Gail+Ian later, Gail admitted that her results revealed she was 97% English!!).

Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden.

Met up with Tom at Ashton Court immediately after lunch… next to the ‘upper’ car park café by the golf course. Lovely walk through Leigh Woods and we ended up sitting on a grass bank with lovely views to the horizon. Very good to get together… and we had a lovely natter.

After supper, we had a lovely zoom ‘conversation’ with Gail+Ian and Cara+Carolyn… after which we both felt quite whacked and both had early nights.

Image: oh deerie me (Ashton Court Red Deer – he has 16 ‘points’ which, I think, makes him a monarch stag)!

Wednesday 29 July:

Beautiful morning and more beautiful skies. Usual dawn walk… and spent some time at the marina, just staring at the sky and the water.

Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden… somewhat frustratingly, I’ve only noticed one or two balloons so far this year/lockdown – although there have been various references to people seeing them (eg. this morning!).

Spent part of the morning trying to put stuff together for my Blurb book and also reading ‘A Year In Provence’ (first read 19 years ago).

Completed my Drawing Group sketch – a Venetian façade (albeit froma photograph!) – and also endeavoured to find a suitable viewing location for the urban sketching trip to Hong Kong on Saturday.

The plumber came and completed fixing the hot water system (and Moira duly celebrated by having a bath!). I also received my new oclock watch in the post (ridiculous how much I’ve missed being without a watch over the past few days)!

Watched a documentary on Botham (summer of ’81 etc)… which brought back a lot of memories.

Image: yet another Marina view (same view, but I particularly waited for the pigeons to come into view, so I’m quite pleased with the resulting photograph).

Tuesday 28 July:

In contrast to yesterday, fine weather for today’s harbourside walk (extended around Bathurst Basin).

Moira and I had morning coffee inside.

Finished my crime thriller (mixed feelings – entertaining and readable, but not brilliant?).

Listened to some cricket on the radio – England duly won the final Test Match (and thereby won the series 2-1).

Did some sketching, briefly (Drawing Group’s weekly theme is ‘architecture’!).

Bloke from Bristol Boilers came round in the afternoon to check out our hot water system… and it seems to be good news: the ball cock had seized up (and needs replacing). He hadn’t got the right size with him, so hopes to come back tomorrow. Feeling a mixture of relief (we’d feared it might be quite complicated and expensive) and slightly silly that we hadn’t try to get it fixed before now. Hey ho!

Image: this morning’s pink dawn sky from the bathroom window.

Monday 27 July:

A pretty miserable Monday morning weather-wise. I went for my usual harbour walk in steady rain and under leaden skies… saw one person (who ignored me). Actually, I enjoyed the walk – suitably dressed, walking in the rain suits me well on occasions.

Given the weather, morning coffee with Moira was inside!

Set up the urban sketching event on the facebook page.

Also, at long last, following a request for plumbing recommendations on our local neighbourhood facebook site, I’ve managed to get Bristol Boilers to come and look at our hot water system on Wednesday!

Rain washed out the 4^th day’s play in the Test Match.

Sketched briefly and read more some more of my ‘crime thriller’.

Had a lovely two hour zoom chat with Alan in the evening (together with the odd glass of red)… wide-ranging, very enjoyable discussion.

Image: wet walk (actually not taken this morning… but similar!).

Sunday 26 July:

Just as Moira and I set out for our Sunday morning walk, it started to rain… but we persisted (brief walk down through Bathurst Basin/harbourside/Gaol Ferry Steps), before returning home for pre-church coffee.

Streamed church (led by Maria, with talk from Adrian) seemed to be attended by only a few – perhaps 17-18 people?

Listened to Fleetwood Mac music via Spotify (Peter Green had died the previous day) while catching up with various bits and pieces.

‘Explored’ potential Hong Kong ‘virtual’ locations (thanks to Gary’s suggestions) in advance of Saturday’s forthcoming urban sketching ‘trip’… and ended up starting a (complicated) sketch of some shops and apartments.

Listened to a fair amount of cricket on the radio (3^rd day of Third Test v West Indies) and also endeavoured to keep track of the latest football scores via the BBC website… all very tense! Villa drew 1-1 against West Ham – which was enough for them to avoid relegation by ONE point (image from the Villa website)!!

Saturday 25 July:

One of those rather sleepless nights… woke up just after midnight and, apart from a few snatched minutes, that was it! Had hoped to see some balloons in the sky (it being Saturday etc), but nothing spotted – perhaps a little too windy/drizzly?

Tried to have a proper bath/wash hair… but no chance, hot water ceased after maybe 20 seconds (our HW system needs sorting!)... so cold shower it was then… oh, and my watchstrap broke (I ordered a replacement watch online)! Hey ho!

Pretty gloomy day (and no walking) – and rain for much of it. Spent time reading (finishing my excellent Evaristo book) and starting my Brookmyre detective story… and keeping up with the Test Match.

Watched  a fascinating 'Imagine' programme about poet Lemn Sissay and another ‘Young Mantalbino’ episode in the evening.

Image: BLM and coloured houses window decoration, Merrywood Road.

Friday 24 July:

Rosa is Eleven!!

Usual dawn harbourside walk… cloudy, overcast start to the morning but quite a dramatic sky as I watched the emerging sun at the marina… an hour later, it started to drizzle (briefly).

Read briefly before Moira and I had coffee inside.

Sketched some harbourside boats – from one of my photographs (don’t enjoy working from photographs, but I’m still not feeling particularly confident about people keeping their distance) – and listened to music.

Went round to Ruth+Stu’s to help celebrate Rosa’s birthday over burger+chips+drinks in the garden (before moving into the house when it started to rain!)… R+S had bought her a new ukulele and we’d bought her a new dress (+some books)… and Iris had made the most wonderful, delicious chocolate ukulele birthday cake! It was a really lovely time and we felt very fortunate that Rosa had decided (given the lockdown circumstances) that she wanted to celebrate her birthday with grandparents (Wells in the morning; Bristol in the afternoon).

Image: Rosa+ukulele+dress!

Thursday 23 July:

Dawn walking as usual (and the weather was very much like early morning yesterday – broken cloud). As I set out of the house, I immediately came across fox with a bird(?) in its mouth walking towards me – before turning tail and running back to the end of the street. After last week’s sparrowhawk encounter, the top end of Mount Pleasant Terrace is clearly some sort of wildlife reserve!

Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden as the day brightened.

I’d ordered a book from StorySmith and actually went to the shop to collect it (duly face-masked)!

We had our ‘regular’ fortnightly Asda delivery – which is always good to receive.

Finished a marina boat sketch… still feel reluctant to sit outside and sketch insitu, which is a little sad.

Had a nice longish telephone call from Tom and we’ve provisionally agreed to get together next week(?) – perhaps at Ashton Court – for a social-distanced chat which will be very welcome.

Stu and Rosa came round to deliver stuff to Ruth’s studio and I chatted to Rosa on the stairs (while Moira+Stu talked in the garden about M working towards giving up dealing with Stu’s accounts – perhaps at the end of the financial year?). Rosa, as ever, was very amusing… and very excited at the prospect of becoming 11 tomorrow!

Read another chunk of Bernardine Evaristo’s really excellent book in the afternoon.

Put washing out on the line in the sunshine… but didn’t notice the rain at the end of the afternoon! Doh!

Watched another heat of ‘Landscape Artist of the Year 2019’… as you do.

Image: Flags celebrating 50^th anniversary of SS Great Britain’s return to Bristol (great shame that coronavirus has hugely dented its plans).

Wednesday 22 July:

Went dawn walking as usual (very still, somewhat overcast first thing but brightening up by mid-morning)… then home for poached eggs+toast+espresso before Bloke’s Prayer get-together.

Last day of parliament before the summer recess… I’m a little fearful that the government will be hoping for something of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality from the electorate and general avoidance of scrutiny. Starmer yet again wins the PMQ exchanges.

Bitten all over by some insect or other… not nice!

Did a little sketching (listening to Lorde) and a little reading (‘Girl, Woman, Other’).

Moira and I enjoyed a mug of mid-afternoon tea together in the garden.

Watched another of Alan Bennett’s excellent ‘Talking Heads’ monologues.

Albion secured promotion to the Premier League (but needed their closest rivals to lose!)… Dad would have been pleased.

Image: stripy water.

Tuesday 21 July:

Started the day with my regular harbourside dawn walk – except that, this morning, I ended up going back to sleep after initially waking up at my ‘normal’ 4.30am, so set out perhaps 25 minutes later than usual… and there were a significant number of extra joggers etc around by that time. In fact, I came across a group of seven 14/15 year-old girls sitting on the Wapping Wharf jetty eating a picnic breakfast watching the sunrise (and, fortunately, it was a stunningly beautiful morning).

Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden and then I briefly sketched outside for a while.

Lee rang to check on how we were getting on (they’re off on holiday at the weekend for a few weeks) and we had a useful chat.

Drawing Group sketching theme this week is ‘Moon’… I put something together this afternoon (but not really inspired).

Watched another ‘Talking Heads’ ‘episode’.

Villa (v Arsenal) and Watford (v ManCity) both played tonight (Villa 3 points behind). Watford lost 0-4… and Villa won 1-0! So, technically Villa are out of the relegation zone - one game to go and still anything can happen.

Image: yet another early morning Marina picture!

Monday 20 July:

No dawn walk today… but Moira and I joined the rest of the family (or at least those available on a Monday in Bristol!)(Alice; Hannah+Felix+Ursa; Ruth+Iris+Rosa; Moira+me) at Ashton Court for a social-distanced, picnic lunch. The weather was perfect and it was a very special time for all of us (see image). Alice drove straight home from the picnic and arrived home safely just before 5pm.

Collected Hugo fruit+veg boxes from his outside his shop – good to get new supplies in (albeit a bit pricey – but we’re not complaining).

Watching another old episode of ‘Landscape Artist’ before another early night with my book.

Sunday 19 July:

As usual, Moira and I went walking before streamed church (regular harbour circuit)… too many people about for my liking! Was greeted by Shaun outside ‘Wild Beer’ – he’s been struggling a little during pub/bar-lockdown and sleeping on the streets again; good to see him in ‘good form’ and pleased to be back working again.

Laura led and Lee preached at streamed church… not many people ‘there’ (perhaps 22?).

Did some sketching briefly (finishing an old drawing) before bacon sandwich lunch.

Read some more of my book (and also changed my bed linen!).

Watched a bit the second FA Cup semi-final (but got bored); also watched ‘Landscape Artist of the Year 2019’ winner’s trip to Venice (rather lovely).

Had a lovely phone call from Rosa – telling me about her camping adventures in her friend’s back garden (in two tents) as a celebration of the end of her time at Luckwell School… and also thanking me for their macaroni cheese!!

Image: Marina ripples…

Saturday 18 July:

No walk day (as usual for a Saturday)…

Urban sketchers met in India for a ‘virtual’ sketching session… which was very enjoyable (15 of us in total, I think). Image: the Red Fort, Delhi.

Alice is down for the weekend on a whistle-stop tour (staying at Hannah+Felix’s). She dropped in to see us at lunchtime and we were able to sit in the garden for some two/three hours chatting, which was lovely. Really frustrating that we can’t hug each other!!

Spent some time trying to adjust images on my Blurb book – without really making much progress (a little frustrating).

Watched an old episode of ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’, but went to bed quite early to read ‘Girl, Woman, Other’… feeling pretty bushed.

Friday 17 July:

28 years since Dad died; 9 years since I finally retired!

Reverted to my ‘normal’ dawn routine walk… but it was a disappointing start to the day weather-wise, with blanket greyness everywhere. It was only at the very end of my walk that there were any signs that things might brighten up later (and it did!).

Moira and I had coffee inside (Moira up a little earlier than usual, so the morning seemed to extend). Posted my book blog - 45 books read so far this year(!).

Cooked some macaroni cheese for the Low/Broadways (although it was made with other pasta – macaroni is hard to come by these days!)… and then endeavoured to wash the kitchen floor – not easy when the kitchen mop is broken! Anyway, it now looks much better than it did – and it’s certainly cleaner!

Ruth popped after her morning’s work at the Southville Centre… and stayed for a cup of tea in the garden (which was lovely).

Found myself watching (again) an old ‘Imagine’ about the London Olympics, called ‘One Night in 2012’ – about the making of the Opening Ceremony. So lovely that it made me cry!

We watched another ‘Young Montalbano’ episode in the evening.

Image: Marina dawn greyness.

Thursday 16 July:

A somewhat strange day. The very early hours of Wednesday morning had seen an ‘unofficial’ (and unauthorised) replacement statue installed on the Colston plinth in the centre of town. Marc Quin’s rather beautiful black resin statue of BLM protester Jen Reid (based on a photograph of Ms Reid when she stood on the plinth in the June protest) was creating quite a stir (in a good way) and so, first thing this morning, I decided to go and look at it (it seemed inevitable that it would be removed relatively quickly by the powers-that-be). I arrived just before 6am – only to find that the plinth was empty (the ‘replacement’ statue had been removed less than 24 hours after installation)(see image). It turned out - according to the Guardian newspaper - that it had been removed at 5.20am – so I’d missed it by little more than 30 minutes!

Spent much of the day reading my ‘Lockdown’ book (certainly a ‘thriller’ – which I finished at the very end of the day) and exploring possible urban sketching locations in Inday (as you do) in advance of Saturday’s ‘virtual’ meet-up.

Got together with Gail+Ian, Carolyn+Cara and Mags+Jeremy via zoom in the evening, which was very nice. Today had originally been planned as a get-together lunch with Fay to celebrate her 80^th birthday so, instead, Cara had suggested the zoom get-together. Sadly, in the end, Fay backed out… I think the prospect of having to deal with technology on her own was too much for her. Hopefully we’ll get to meet up for lunch sometime reasonably soon instead?

Wednesday 15 July:

17 weeks in lockdown.

Didn’t go for a walk today – it was very grey+cloudy first thing and really didn’t get any better throughout the day. Bloke’s Prayer at 7am, so just scribbled some notes before then.

People seemed to be in good form (although no Jeff)… Robin complaining it was much too hot in Spain!

Somewhat predictably, Moira and I had morning coffee inside… we reflected on our daily routines (lots of positives), but also acknowledged the things we were missing (pottery workshops, cinema, Watershed lunches, bus travel etc).

Spent the rest of the morning adding various things (comments and photographs) to my ‘pandemic’ Blurb book. I think I’ve now decided to bring it to an end on 18 August (after exactly 5 calendar months in ‘lockdown’)(22 weeks).

I emailed Lee to thank him for all his hard work and to wish him a ‘happy holiday’ (I think he’s off for 3-4 weeks in a week’s time… I think he’s badly missed not being at Glastonbury!

Ruth popped in briefly after work to collect some things from her studio (she seemed a little sad). Later, I rang Rosa and Iris (separately). Rosa finishes at Primary School TODAY; she seems to have missed out on various ‘celebrations’ but is camping (in separate tents) in her friend Ruby’s back garden tomorrow night… and seems very excited, which is nice. Iris finishes school tomorrow… and seems to have coped pretty well with home-schooling over recent months (dealing and keeping up with the work teachers have set); she sounded in good form (and had met up with one of her friends at the weekend at College Green (in the socially-distanced hearts painted on the grass!).

Continued reading my ‘Lockdown’ book… and have been impressed that a number of measures May wrote about in 2005 quite closely reflect those we’ve been facing over the past few months. Maybe he should have been advising the government!?

Watched another ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ episode and ‘Talking Heads’.

Image: juvenile moorhen (I think) playing on the harbourside.

Tuesday 14 July:

Grey and drab morning (but very still/no wind) for my usual dawn walk.

Fresh tomato on toast and espresso breakfast.

Morning coffee with Moira inside.

Finished by “An American Marriage” bookgroup book – slightly disappointed, I expected to be far more impressed. Scribbled up usual book review update.

Drawing Group theme for this week: “Illustrating a Book, Song or Poem”. As I have literally just started Peter May’s “Lockdown” book and produced a pretty rapid mock-up cover.

Spoke to Zabiullah on the phone and sent off his email address to the college (for registration purposes) and also reminded Sam that she needed to contact him about money issues.

Agreed details with Karen regarding this weekend’s Urban Sketchers ‘virtual’ trip to India and posted details on facebook events (no google streetview in India). Too much to choose from!

Watched one the Alan Bennett ‘Talking Heads’ programmes – always very impressive.

Image: Underfall Yard from the water’s edge on a bright sunny early morning (from yesterday).

Monday 13 July:

Rather beautiful early morning… dramatic pre-dawn skies viewed from the bathroom window. Did my usual dawn walk, which was rather lovely (very still/windless). ‘My’ fisherman was already on the marina jetty as I arrived and, AGAIN, he caught a fish within 30 seconds of my arrival (REALLY!… only perhaps 15-20cm this time)!

Cleared the weeds from the basement steps at the front of the house and, after that, I went to collect our fruit+veg boxes from Hugo’s (he’s no longer delivering). I have to admit, not having been into a shop (apart from the post office) for the past 4 months, I did so with some trepidation… but needn’t have worried, because they’d lined up the ‘home delivery’ boxes outside for collection.

Also for the first time in four months, I went outside (ie. beyond our tiny garden) sketching this morning. I went to draw some boats in Bathurst Basin – where, in the past, I’ve always been able to draw completely uninterrupted. Not so today. Within the space of 30 minutes, I had THREE people from the boats come to check out my sketches… and EACH of them totally ignored social distancing rules. I was not amused, gave up and returned home.

Had a phonecall from Rosa immediately after lunch and had a lovely amusing chat (she also told me that she and Ruth were about to start reading ‘Ink’ together – and seemed quite excited at the prospect!).

Read more of my ‘An American Marriage’ (not quite sure what to make of it)…

Watched a random 2018 episode of ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’.

Image: This morning’s pre-dawn sky from the bathroom window.

Sunday 12 July:

Moira woke a little later than usual and hadn’t got time to walk before streamed church, so I undertook my usual harbourside walk – although it was a little strange to be doing so three hours later than I usually do it (beautiful weather).

In fact, I decided to miss streamed church today because Bristol urban sketching were on a ‘virtual sketching exchange’ with Leicester urban sketchers. It felt a bit weird to be fitting in with how another group was handling sketch meet-ups during lockdown (they only zoomed at the start and finish), but it was all very enjoyable.

Caught up with various chores around the house and then watched another of the David Olusoga programmes.

Roast lamb for supper – and it really was VERY good!

Later watched an episode of SkyArts’ “Landscape Artist of the Year” (first time). Didn’t enjoy it as much as ‘portrait artist’, but still very good.

Villa won a game of football (AND actually scored two goals!)(sadly, all their rivals also won over the weekend).

Image: the single scull rowers are back in the water!

Saturday 11 July:

Saturday is always a ‘no-walking day’ (to avoid people as far as possible!), so read in bed first thing.

Moira and I had morning coffee AND lunch AND supper in the garden today, which made a very nice change.

A non-event day really… drew a ‘virtual’ sketch of the roof area at St Nick’s Market and chose a location for my Leicester urban sketching get-together tomorrow. I misunderstood the arrangements for the day… it’s an exchange session, with Leicester urban sketchers ‘coming’ to Bristol and us ‘going’ to Leicester – but also linking should be interesting!

West Ham and Watford both won their games today – which effectively ensures Villa’s relegation. It’s the fourth day of the first Test Match in the England v West Indies series (England struggling somewhat)… the match is being played at Southampton and no spectators are allowed in to watch!

Finished the day by watching two excellent TV programmes: “This Beautiful Fantastic” (had a lot of similarities with ‘Amelie’) and “Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners” (another David Olusoga programme).

Image: noticed these travel books on our bookshelves (obvious, in these coronavirus days, we’re “going nowhere fast”!).

Friday 10 July:

In sharp contrast to yesterday, this morning’s harbourside dawn walk was taken under clear skies and bright early morning sunshine. While I stood beside the marina, one of the fishermen I regularly see walked on to the jetty in front of me. As usual, we nodded our ‘good morning’ greetings. He always stands to fish; his equipment is very simple: just one rod and one net. I watched him cast his first line into the water… and within 30 seconds, he’d caught his first fish (some 25cm?). We looked at each other… and we both smiled.

Morning coffee indoors (despite the nice weather)…

Finished my excellent ‘Black+British’ book (and scribbled up a blog summary review, as usual). My next book (‘An American Marriage’) is the StorySmith bookgroup book.

Spent much of the morning writing emails to Tom and Richard – commenting on last night’s PCC meeting… and received nice replies from both of them (with Richard urging me to ‘stay on’ the re-ordering group for a little while longer so I can ensure a decent ‘handover’ – and he’s probably right… although I seriously wonder if there will be a re-ordering group beyond the Autumn).

Ruth popped in on her way home from her long morning’s work at the Southville Centre… and it was lovely to see her.

Watched another ‘Young Montalbano’ episode in the evening (although, according to Moira, I nodded off a couple of times!).

Image: oranges from the fruitbowl.

Thursday 9 July:

Another drizzly start to the date (and it stayed overcast for the remainder of the day). Usual dawn walk – I quite like walking in the rain, as long I’m suitably dressed.

Coffee indoors (it seems ages since we did this in the garden).

Supermarket delivery – always good to receive (although Moira forgot to include bread on the shopping list!).

Received a phone call from Zabiullah… asking if I could contact the college about his re-registration for next term (I’ve duly emailed the college contact I liaised with last year, so fingers crossed) and also if I could contact Sam about getting money so he ‘could buy food’ (Idon’t know how he receives his money… but duly emailed Sam asking her to contact him).

Spent much of the rest of the day reading my ‘Black+British’ book and also doing some more preparation for the evening’s PCC meeting. In the event, the meeting was unremarkable… leaving me feeling somewhat frustrated by the sense of detachment/disinterest(?) that PCC members seemed to have about the re-ordering stuff. Decisions made to only pay half of H+C’s final installment and to ‘take stock’ of things again in September/October.

Villa lost to ManU at Ville Park 0-3 and look 'doomed'!

Image: drizzly marina from this morning’s walk.

Wednesday 8 July:

Wet and murky start to the day (and it stayed that way). Went for usual dawn harbourside walk, but didn’t take a single photograph.

Bloke’s Prayer with Ed, Dru, Nick and Robin (from Spain).

Later chatted to Jeff by phone.

Morning coffee inside.

Read ‘Black+British’ at various times of the day.

Also prepared for tomorrow’s PCC meeting… another pretty full agenda and not very much time (maybe 30 minutes) allowed for considering church re-ordering… but we’ll see.

Watched ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ on DVD (and somewhat surprised to have enjoyed it) and then later watched Benjamin Zephaniah's 'Treasures of the British Library' on SkyArts.

Image: steam crane (it wasn’t quite like this today!)

Tuesday 7 July:

Another day and another starting with a dawn harbour walk. Actually, weather-wise it was a slightly disappointing start to the day… the sun was just emerging as I made my way to harbour but, by the time I got there, cloud cover had taken over and so my walk finished on a fairly dull and overcast note. Of course, a little frustratingly, the sun re-emerged within a couple of hours!

It’s noticeable that there’s a lot more traffic about when I’m on my dawn walks these days. There are also three people I regularly see most mornings (all walking along the harbourside in the opposite direction to me). I always exchange a smile and a greeting with a woman in her 50s/60s (and she duly reciprocates), but there are two other men (one in his 60s, the other in his 30s) who almost seem to go out of their way to avoid any eye contact with me! 

Fresh tomato on toast and espresso breakfast then, sometime after 9am, coffee with Moira indoors and I spent much of the morning continuing to experiment with wax/watercolour patterns (the results were colourful, but uninspiring… but good fun!).

This week’s Drawing Group theme is ‘Birds’ – so I ended up finding a photograph of a puffin online and producing a quick sketch of that (again, not particularly inspiring, but I was keen to ‘show willing’).

Read more of my ‘Black+British’ book (it’s a very long book and I’m just half way through).

Resonate ‘virtual meet up’ in the evening (‘The Church: What’s Next?’)(the final one of term)… interesting but also somewhat frustrating (virtually impossible to get anything like a ‘proper’ exchange of views – some interesting people dominate the evening, while other interesting people don’t get a chance (or simply decide not) to contribute. Think I’m lacking the necessary energy and passion!

Watched the last of the ‘Black+British’ documentary series… very powerful, depressing and encouraging (all at the same time!).

Image: early morning fisherman at the marina.

Monday 6 July:

A much brighter morning weather-wise today for my regular harbour dawn walk. I even saw an elderly couple in their boat preparing to ‘catch the high tide’ at the Avon Lock – the first movement of any boat on the water I’d seen during the entire lockdown period (obviously, there could have been others, but it was definitely my first in nearly 16 weeks), see image.

After ‘indoors’ coffee with Moira, I spent some time reading my ‘Black+British’ book (exceptionally good thus far – I’m probably half way through – although it concentrates on the slave trade far more than I’d anticipated).

Rang Emmaus and left a message about all our de-selected books; they got back to me almost immediately but regretted that they would be able to make a collection (due to my ‘shielding’) until the beginning of August at the earliest… and even then, pending government ‘rules’… which was a little disappointing.

Received the weekly delivery from Hugo, which was good.

Had a very good zoom chat with Alice (+Jemima+Dan+Mikey). It sounded as if she’d had a nice birthday and they all sounded in pretty good form.

Listened to another ‘Resonate’ podcast on ‘The Church: What’s Next?’. Some good stuff, but it also rambled on a bit and rather lost its way (in my view)… it’ll be discussed at tomorrow evening’s ‘meeting’.

Spent a little time after lunch experimenting with pattern-making using wax and watercolour – not rocket science (and the results weren’t particularly interesting), but good to experiment using a tjanting paint tool and watercolours.

Watched the RSC’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (with our friend Sam in the cast)… enjoyable, but not one of my favourite plays.

Sunday 5 July:

Alice’s 40^th birthday! She’s gone on a Forest School day… sounds different!

Read some more of my ‘Black+British’ book immediately after breakfast.

Pretty miserable start to the day weather-wise (drizzle, overcast and windy)… but brightened up enough for Moira and I to go for a walk to the park.

Coffee inside then streamed church Laura, Dru+Liz (Lee ‘absent’ for the third Sunday running… I’ve missed him).

Wrote a brief reflection post (feeling a bit sad that at a time ‘everyone else’ seems able to whisk off somewhere, we’re limited to Bristol locations within walking distance of the house).

Ruth+Iris popped in with the Sunday newspaper (plus hearts and two cards from Rosa). Lovely. We ended up agreeing to ‘meet up’ for a zoom art get-together in the afternoon – chatting, scribbling and stuff – which, again, was rather nice. I did a somewhat strange wax picture of the houses opposite (see image).

Villa predictably lost to Liverpool… 0-2 (not quite as bad as I’d feared, but…).

Roast chicken for supper (Moira+I shared another huge Asda chicken breast!).

Saturday 4 July:

No dawn walking (as you now know, I try to avoid weekend people!), despite the fact that I could have been queuing outside a pub waiting for the 6am opening (pubs re-open today).

First thing, I finished off and posted my thoughts on the various government mixed messages about coronanvirus ‘rules’… somewhat ironically, I later read a report in the Guardian saying that Downing Street posted a tweet at 9am which contained incorrect coronavirus rules – my blog post had been making similar comments (the tweet was subsequently deleted). Hey ho!

Another ‘virtual’ urban sketching meet-up – this time in Istanbul. Another excellent zoom ‘turn-out’ (15 people) and another really enjoyable get together.

Continued to read my ‘Black+British’ book – which, unsurprisingly, goes into far more detail than the accompanying TV series.

Dan, from StorySmith, delivered two books for me – ‘An American Marriage’ (our bookgroup book) and ‘Lockdown’ (by Peter May, published February 2020 – which he wrote it in 2005, about a pandemic that hits London, but his publishers felt it was too far-fetched and declined to publish it!).

Watched the first episode of ‘The Young Montalbano’ (and was quite impressed).

Image: one of my ‘virtual’ sketches from Istanbul (Hagia Sophia Museum).

Friday 3 July:

Another harbourside dawn walk (and fortunately it didn’t rain today!), then home to an omelette for breakfast (+coffee!).

Morning coffee with Moira inside, then sketched the final ‘Heap house’ drawing (embarrassingly poor sketches – mainly thanks to really awful photographs, but hey!).

Read some more of my ‘Black+British’ book.

I’ve decided to get my DNA tested (to see if I’m related to dinosaurs!) and the kit duly arrived in today’s post. I took my swabs and duly posted the stuff off to Houston, Texas (several weeks before I hear back, apparently) together with Heap sketches. It meant going to the post office (complete with face mask!) and it was the first time I’ve been in a shop since the beginning of March. Very strange, uncomfortable feeling… and something I’ll endeavour to repeat VERY infrequently.

Watched the third episode of ‘Black+British’ on catch-up.

Later, I scribbled down some thoughts about the imminent relaxed coronavirus  rules (the pubs open tomorrow from 6am!), while Moira had her bookgroup zoom meeting.

Image: It didn’t rain on my dawn walk… but it threatened to!

Thursday 2 July:

Went for my usual harbourside walk – but it was another very overcast sky and drizzly morning (which eventually developed into quite heavy rainfall). Third consecutive day of dawn walk rain!

Responded to a bit of an email political rant from Les Allen (probably brought on by my frequent posts criticising his beloved PM on social media!); I was firm but comparatively gentle with him!

Spent most of the morning sending a further lengthy email to Mary Orna (on church re-ordering). She’s incredibly supportive, but I felt I needed to clarify a few points (apparently no one else has responded to her thus far).

Moira went into town to collect some of her pottery – and brought home some lovely stuff.

Received six bottles of wine from Majestic Wines(!)(see image)… later discovered they came from Megan as ‘payment’ for my recent sketch (quite unnecessary, but very nice of her).

Spent some of the afternoon reading more ‘Black+British’ and considering another house for the Heaps (Joe sent more some more photographs – but actually they’re not much an improvement on the previous lot).

Watched another episode of ‘The Art of Persia’ in the evening (the last of the series).

Wednesday 1 July:

Went for my usual harbourside walk, despite another drizzly/overcast start to the day (another no-photo day!).

Quick coffee and breakfast before “Bloke’s Prayer”… everyone in pretty form (no Jeff today)(and somewhat difficult for Nick and the rest of us, given poor mobile reception/bus rides/general background noises). Dave+Sarah are off on a ‘family holiday’ next week to Sussex (not quite sure of the arrangements – perhaps two houses? – but they’ll all be trying to maintain social distancing!) and Robin+Sue are hoping to get to their Spanish house next week too (provided that safe ‘air bridges’ have been set up?).

Moira+I had morning coffee inside again (we’re missing those sunshine days!).

Did a little sketching and also read more of my ‘Black+Bristish’ book.

StorySmith bookgroup discussed the somewhat scary ‘Things Lost In The Fire’ book… good discussion (most people liked the book) and good to ‘see’ everyone again.

Watched ‘Repair Shop’ before bed.

Image: Harbour train tracks.

Tuesday 30 June:

Usual harbourside dawn walk (in the drizzle).

Morning coffee with Moira, inside… and then I looked at potential urban sketching locations in Istanbul (and was so ‘engrossed’ that I ended up drawing one of them, right then!).

Ruth, Iris and Rosa dropped off some pork curry for us (excellent!) and we all ended up sitting in the garden (at appropriate distances). So nice to sit and chat to them all. They all seemed in very good spirits.

Spent a little time in the afternoon preparing a Drawing Group sketch (theme: favourite artist or piece of art)… I ended up doing a drawing of some Mackintosh glass – much easier to do than paint a landscape or whatever (see image).

At the end of the afternoon, I wrote emails to Jonny+Lou (who are moving to Denmark at the end of August) and to Mary Orna (in response to an email she’d written regarding church re-ordering). Had immediate responses from each of them (and also from Tom – who sounds as if he’s struggling a little… no energy… “far less than I normally have”).

Watched the final Montalbano episode (there are 34 in total!)… someone has pointed out that there are three or four “Young Montalbano” episodes now available on iPlayer. Phew!