Monday 31 August:

Despite it being a Bank Holiday, I went for my normal dawn walk – on a beautiful, clear, still morning. It felt surprisingly Autumn.

Messaged both Ian (regarding the care of his mother) and Pete (regarding his health – he needs open heart surgery early next year).

Moira and I had coffee indoors before I prepared stuff for Iris+Rosa’s painting project… They’d ‘agreed’ to paint the railings at the front of the house! Quite a lengthy and awkward process and, as you might imagine, they were very good, determined artisans!

They stayed for lunch and early supper and, in between, also enjoyed watching one of the ‘Portrait Artist’ episodes. Both girls are incredibly creative: Iris had made two amazing doll characters (one based on herself) and Rosa had made a wonderful cage and some funny, furry creatures. As ever, they were very funny and it was great to be in their company.

In the evening we had another zoom session with Ken+Debby, Steve+Diane and Ian+Gail… very good to see that Ken was in good spirits and that he seemed to be making a steady recovery after his various operations. Good for us all to ‘get together’ again.

Image: artisans at work…

Sunday 30 August:

Moira and I did our ‘usual’ Sunday morning walk to the harbourside… bright, sunny weather but with a hint of Autumn in the air?

We logged on to ‘streamed church’ again (for the first time in over a month – we gave up last week’s, led by Frances!)…

Han+Fee returned safely from Scotland yesterday (“epic 12 hour drive”)… and Hannah messaged saying it was lovely waking up to Autumn sunshine this morning – which suggests they’ve had their ‘unfair’ share of rain over the past fortnight.

Lovely to see some great photos (via Moira) from R+S+I+R’s 10 mile walk (via a very wet waterfall!)…

Although I’m very happy with my non-internet phone, I frequently feel frustrated that I don’t see various things (usually photographs) posted by the family… and generally feel ‘out of the loop’.

Chris Heaton messaged me to suggest a meet-up at Bedminster Cricket Club to watch some of the action (and maybe drink the odd glass of beer)... which turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon (and Lal joined us later). Two Twenty20 games and, on an adjacent pitch, another junior game. Pretty high standard of batting and fielding, but ended up feeling a bit sorry for the bowlers! The cricket club seemed pretty organised as far as coronavirus precautions were concerned and, on the whole, spectators took due account of social distancing… but, somewhat predictably, there was a group of a dozen or so young drinkers directly outside the pavilion who clearly thought that any precautions were ‘over the top’ and completely unnecessary… and so they ignored them!

Later watched another ‘Portrait Artist’ episode plus the second Mortimer+Whitehouse fishing programme.

Image: Cricket at Bedminster CC (after five overs, the run rate is a mere 17.6 runs/over!).

Saturday 29 August:

As tradition now demands, no dawn walk on a Saturday!

I bought a newspaper and a few odds and ends for Iris+Rosa’s tea/supper on Monday.

Spent the rest of the morning rubbing down the old paintwork on the front railings (not very effectively, but hey!).

Collected the new Raynor Winn book from Storysmith.

Cooked lasagne and macaroni cheese meals for I+R in the afternoon (listening to Ricky Ross music), then finished my Tom Sharpe book.

Moira and I enjoyed wine and olives (outside) before supper.

Another ‘Portrait Artist’ after supper… and also ‘Total Wipeout’ (brings back memories!).

Started my Christopher Brookmyre book (‘The Secret Art of Stealing’) in bed at the end of the day.

Image: quick selfie (purely a space-filler in the absence of other stuff).

Friday 28 August:

Strangely, I just didn’t feel like dawn walking this morning (it wasn’t that the weather was unreasonable, just couldn’t be bothered – which is very unusual).

Wrote a note on the Drawing Group facebook page in response to Charlotte’s post indicating that C+A were going to step back from organising Group stuff for a while… and also another note on Alan’s post about the changing nature of our cities… and also more Blurb book stuff (virtually finished?).

Immediately after lunch, I went out sketching for the first for several weeks… despite the pretty heavy rain (I even used my umbrella!), Ana and I got together under the flyover next to the Avon Lock.

Ended the day watching yet another ‘Portrait Artist’ episode (this time from 2019) and even part of ‘Antiques Roadtrip’ (or something along those lines).

Image: Quick draw+chat sketch from this afternoon.

Thursday 27 August:

A pretty wet day (the forecast was correct!), but I did manage a dry and pretty bright dawn walk (the usual harbour route). Very conscious that the timing of my dawn walks are largely related to sunrise times but that, as these have got progressively later, I’ve become aware of a few more people about – who clearly are walking, cycling and jogging at times that are probably dictated by the hours of their working day.On my dawn walks, I often see a particular fisherman alongside the marina (he always fishes standing up). We often exchange early morning greetings and, over the past few months, it’s been quite remarkable how often I’ve actually seen him catch as I pass by (ridiculously, he almost seems to catch a fish virtually EVERY time I’m watching him!). Even he has noticed these coincidences and now very much sees me as his “fisherman’s friend” (literally). This morning, in the space of three minutes, he caught two fish in my presence (much to his and my amusement)! I think I might offer to hire myself out to the Mortimer+Whitehouse ‘Gone Fishing’ programme makers (M+W seem particularly good at NOT catching fish!).Spent the rest of the morning mainly reading and changing bed linen.Worked on more of my Blurb book after lunch (maybe 3 weeks before I get it printed?).Another ‘Portrait Artist’ episode in the evening.Image: My fisherman friend.

Wednesday 26 August:

No dawn walk today because I was meeting up with Robin, Jeff, Dave and Dru at the Society Café at 8am for Bloke’s Prayer (very good to get together again).

Then had a proper ‘meeting’ with Charlotte, Alice, Ana and Brian in Queen Square to discuss how we might organise the Drawing Group over the coming months. Hopefully, we’ve come up with what seems like a reasonable ‘formula’ (although Charlotte remains guilty that she’s needing to ‘step back’ a little). Great to see the others though.

Collected a book from Storysmith on my way home.

Read a bit more of my Tom Sharpe in the afternoon (and in bed at the end of the day), but also started ‘rubbing down’ our front railings – Iris and particularly Rosa have expressed an interest in re-painted them.

Watched ‘Portrait Artist 2018’ final and ‘Repair Shop’ in the early evening.

Image: Queen Square leaves (blimey, it’ll soon be Autumn!).

Tuesday 25 August:

Another wet dawn walk today – in fact, very wet, wild+windy together with a backdrop of rumbling thunder. Well wrapped up, so I was fine… and, if suitably equipped, I love walking in the rain.

Morning coffee inside (somewhat predictably!).

Bought some paint and stuff from Wilko in advance of redecorating our front railings (with help from Iris+Rosa hopefully).

Did a little sketching before lunch (Drawing Group’s theme this week: musical instruments).

Liaised with Jane regarding forthcoming ‘live’ urban sketching meet-up on 6 September (she didn’t sound in a particularly good way… struggling somewhat?). Think it’ll be down to me to try to sort something out.

Frustrated trying to listen to the cricket (no play until 4.15pm)… but good that Somerset managed to take the final two Gloucester wickets to win their game.

Bristol Bears played Exeter in the evening and lost 22-25 after an Exeter try in the final minute.

Image: more harbour lights at the marina.

Monday 24 August:

Went for my ‘usual’ dawn walk around the harbour (first dawn walk since before Eastville ‘break’)… on a pretty murky+moist morning.

Put together a quick breakfast using leftover beans, broccoli and a couple of eggs on toast.

Spent some time reflecting on the number of our friends who seemed to be ignoring social distancing and generally getting together ‘normally’ with their families… felt a real sense of annoyance and frustration. I’d asked a question on facebook about current guidelines and, clearly, there were some people who felt that using a bit of common sense was all that was needed. I beg to differ! I’d originally planned on writing a post on my regular blog, but ended up deciding that I didn’t want to hurt people’s feelings and what, clearly, some regard as a very sensitive issue. In the end, I just posted it on to my private ‘reflection’ blog.

Ru+Iris+Rosa popped in to see us after lunch – and it was so lovely to see them.

Spent the rest of the day either reading, listening to the cricket (shortened day due to rasin/bad light) and finishing a St Ives sketch of Upper Saltings via google/streetview.

Watched an excellent lecture by David Olusoga (James MacTaggart Lecture at Edinburgh TV Festival 2020) via YouTube Live.

Image: harbour lights (unusually, they were still lit when went walking this morning).

Sunday 23 August:

Wrote a brief book review of the ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ book.

Just a little concerned about an area on my right foot (ankle instep) and so have decided to try to protect it as far as possible with a ‘sponge plaster’ covering (and I’ve ordered extra plasters online as a precaution). It’s very reminiscent of the similar, tender area on the outside of my right foot a couple of years ago… and I’m desperate to avoid the skin being ‘broken’ – because I know that, if it was, it would take an absolute age to ‘mend’. Fingers crossed.

Moira and I went for a walk around the harbour before tuning in to ‘streamed church’ (for the first time in perhaps 4 weeks?). The service was being led by Frances (whose manner and prevarications rather irritate both of us at the best of times) and the ‘address’ given by Alex… and, I’m afraid, we only lasted 10 minutes before we both decided, somewhat guiltily, that it made sense for us to ‘drop out’.

I wrote an email to Lee (as requested by him) with my thoughts on church re-ordering.

Did my final ‘ink-sitting’ session at R+S’s… he’s a happy cat.

Watched first episode of the new series of ‘Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing’… which I loved.

Started reading Tom Sharpe’s ‘Ancestral Vices’ in bed.

Image: Ink and me!

Saturday 22 August:

Weekend, so still no dawn walks. Having our new washing machine meant I spent pre-breakfast sorting out washing/backlog etc.

Went to Tesco’s first thing to buy get newspaper, cheese, food caddy bags (and Magnums!).

Generally read newspaper before Urban Sketching virtual ‘meet-up’ in St Ives – which was good fun (maybe 12 of us?).

Rosa phoned from Penzance… and in very good form.

Moira was on cat duty in the afternoon at R+S’s and I read and listened to the cricket online.

Watched yet another ‘Portrait Artist’ episode… and also the cricket highlights.
Read into the night (well, for me!) and finished my 'All The Light We Cannot See' book (absolutely brilliant).

Image: Urban Sketching St Ives’ drawing.

Friday 21 August:

Decided not to go for my dawn walk… decided instead that I should prepare for the delivery of our new washing machine later! Wasn’t quite sure whether the installation people would prefer using the outside steps or the basement stairs… so a) weeded the steps to provide a ‘clear track’ and b) cleared boxes and bits+pieces from the of basement stair half landing. The installers opted for the external route… and, having been without a washing machine for more than a week, two loads were completed without any issues!

We also had an Asda delivery, which was also very welcome (especially as we’d more or less run out of food!).

After lunch, I went over to Ru+Stu’s on cat-sitting duties… and he seemed very pleased to see me. Listened to Test match cricket (first day of third and final Test) on my laptop – England batting first and Crawley scored a fine maiden century (171* at the end

Watched another episode of ‘Portrait Artist 2018’ and also the last half hour of the cricket highlights.

Image: Ink posing in the garden.

Thursday 20 August:

Hannah and Alan’s birthdays!

Last morning waking up in Eastville (before Jodie takes over house-/cat-sitting duties). Busy start to the day… changing and washing bed linen plus general cleaning/tidying. Departed by 9.45am and walked across town on a pleasant, sunny morning (thank goodness, given that we were obviously carrying our ‘luggage’!). Stopped for a brief coffee outside Society Café (very good to see that the café were very organised from Covid perspective – although we weren’t altogether impressed by the family gathering on the next table… with LOTS of hugging and certainly no social-distancing from at least three different ‘households’!).

Good to be home (although we’d really enjoyed our time at H+F’s). I went over to Ru+Stu’s in the afternoon (they’re away in Penzance for 4 days) to chat to Ink! He seemed very pleased to see me… Spent most of my time there reading. R+S left us a lovely box of vegetable goodies from their allotment, which was lovely.

Later watched another old ‘Portrait Artists’ episode, before taking an early night.

Image: colour from Ru+Stu’s garden.

Wednesday 19 August:

Last full day in Eastville… and it started in heavy rain and oppressive clouds (and stayed that way until lunchtime).

Coffee+cake indoors and Moira went back up to bed to continue reading. I ended up sketching (quick and pretty boring), putting together photographs and generally catching on news etc.

Went another local walk after lunch (in the break in the weather): via Muller Road, Watercress Farm (smallholding growing and selling vegetables), Boiling Wells Lane (past the eco-/self-build houses) and then back ‘home’ along the track next to the ‘climbing church’.

Have been quite aware, over the past three days or so, that I’ve been quite breathless walking uphill (even quite gentle slopes, especially if I’m carrying something). Just a little concerned that this mirrors some of the ‘background’ to my interstitial lung disease/fibrosis concerns of 3 years or so ago. I think I need to monitor things.

Read more of my impressive ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ book (based in Paris/St Malo during WW2).

Image: Heron from yesterday’s walk.

Tuesday 18 August:

Quite a bright early morning, despite overnight rain… even had a colourful sunrise, despite the clouds. Had morning coffee inside prior to going for a really lovely walk to Eastville Park and along the Frome. Perfect weather (not too hot etc)… and we watched a heron for a while. Very enjoyable and, yet again, we remarked how well-provided for Bristol was in terms of green spaces.

Had lunch at the garden table, then read for a while.

This week’s Drawing Group theme is ‘pattern’ and so I dabbled with a couple of quick sketches (garden table pattern and cushions).

Decided to finish my email David Shorey and send it off… just to keep in touch (at arms length, as it were!).

It rained at various stages of the afternoon – so we were very lucky to have walked when we did… but still warm enough to sit at the dining table with the ‘French doors’ open.

Watched University Challenge, last episode of ‘Staged’ and even an old episode of QI!

Image: sunrise from the bedroom window.

Monday 17 August:

Something of a surprise this morning to see reasonably bright skies at dawn - no magical sunrise, but a rather lovely, albeit misty, start to the day.

I sketched a little after my breakfast.

We had coffee (+Moira had her breakfast) outside, which was very good.

Then we went for a lovely walk over the railway bridge and down through the woods, past the allotments and St Werburgh’s Farm and then back home via the footpath beside the ‘climbing church’. A really beautiful walk… and in bright sunshine too! Like us having the harbour so close at home, H+F are very fortunate to have such a diverse and lovely landscape on their doorstep.

We had more coffee under the garden canopy after lunch and then both enjoyed a rather gentle afternoon (Moira reading and me reading a starting to draft an email to David Shorey and playing with photographs).  Good to be able to sit inside with the doors opening on to the garden.

The government finally succumbed to public pressure and carried out a U-turn on last week’s A-Level results (and the imminent GCSE results) in England. Students will be given grades estimated by their TEACHERS, rather than by an algorithm. It follows uproar after about 40% of A-level results were downgraded by exams regulator Ofqual, which used a formula based on schools' prior grades. What an utter farce.

Moira and I sat outside and drank wine after supper… and then watched a couple of episodes of “Staged” (David Tennant and Michael Sheen).

Image: Misty early morning view from the bedroom (a bit like a painting by one of those Japanese old masters?).

Sunday 16 August:

Another very cloudy, murky start to the day. Sadly, the forecast didn’t really get any better – cloudy all day, with occasional light rain, and thunder storms at the end of the day. Hannah had mentioned how lovely it’s been (from the comfort of her bed) to watch the early morning sun through their new bedroom at the top of the house. Checking the weather forecast for the rest of our time here, it seems we may not have this privilege!

Anyway, we did manage to get out for a ‘dry walk’, which was lovely. We walked over Purdown (towards the Stoke Park Estate)… we probably only did about three miles, but it was good to be covering ‘different ground’. Back in time for lunch (in fact I took a detour via Tesco – first supermarket – to buy a newspaper and get myself some underwear!).

Gentle afternoon… Moira had a bath and read; I sketched and read.

Bed reasonably early to read.

Image: Moira (+bench) on Purdown.

Saturday 15 August…

First day of ‘holiday’ in Eastville. HUF managed to get to Drimnin without any hitches and were picnicking on the ‘beach’ at 2.30pm! Weather in Bristol pretty grim – wet for most of the day. I stayed in and sketched and read some of my (long) book ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ (Amazon were apparently due to deliver cat food… and eventually showed up at 6.30pm). Moira had left her phone and her nasal/mouth medication at home(!), so went out and bought she ‘make-do’ equivalents (and a Saturday newspaper).

A very lazy day, but enjoyable nonetheless in different surroundings… and it certainly didn’t feel like a Saturday!

Bristol Bears beat Saracens 16-12 (to go second in the table) as the rugby season re-started.

Managed to check out Netflix etc on H+F’s TV… and ended up watching “The Two Popes” (with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce both excellent).

Image: random images from H+F’s house and garden.

Friday 14 August:

Didn’t go dawn walking this morning on the basis of wanting to finish my ‘Princess Bride’ book before we went and stayed at Hannah+Fee’s house for a few days.

Moira+I had morning coffee inside… running through mental checklists (and before Moira started baking a cake for our travels!).

Saw Ruth briefly after lunch to exchange ‘travel plans’.

All the books stacked in fruit+veg boxes in our hallway over the past few weeks were finally collected by Emmaus Bristol in the course of the afternoon – which was a great relief (an empty hallway at last!)… and the timing worked perfectly, with Felix collecting us and our luggage/food and transporting us over to Eastville at the start of a few days of house-watching/cat-sitting.

Good to spend the evening chatting with Hannah - as Felix took an early night to enable them to set off for Drimnin, Scotland at 2am! Moira and I were given the newly-completed, impressive master bedroom (in the converted roofspace extension).

Image: Busy Skies (despite travel corridors and quarantine arrangements).

Thursday 13 August:

Heavy overnight rain, but I still went for my regular dawn walk. Very grey, still and rather warm - even before 6am! Arrived home feeling very ‘sweaty’!

Spent much of the morning trying to organise my Blurb book (and think I’ve written my ‘final’ brief accompanying text)… but, inevitably, things will still change over the coming few weeks. I’m intending to ‘call it a day’ at the end of six months (ie. effectively mid-September).

Moira and I had coffee inside today.

After lunch, we went down North Street to purchase a replacement washing machine… sad to have splash out such money (£299), but good to get it sorted (delivery+installation next Friday – after we’ve returned from Hannah+Fee’s).

Read more of my ‘Princess Bride’ book during the course of the afternoon and then, once again, watched an episode of ‘Portrait Artist’.

School A-Level results today and, once again, the government is under fire… “Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds have been worst hit by the controversial standardisation process used to award A-level grades in England this year, while pupils at private schools benefited the most. Private schools increased the proportion of students achieving top grades – A* and A – twice as much as pupils at comprehensives, official data showed” (from The Guardian).

Image: A rather weird, rapid wax and watercolour sunflower sketch (this week’s Drawing Group’s theme is ‘flowers’!).

Wednesday 12 August:

Twenty-one weeks since ‘lockdown’…

Didn’t go for a dawn walk this morning because Nick, Robin and I were meeting at the Society Café for our regular Blokes’ Prayer session (café opened at 8am). Sadly, Dave, Ed, Jeff and Dru weren’t able to join us - busy on other important matters such as holidays (Jeff); electrician (Ed); preparing final software data release before his job ends on Friday (Dave); service preparation? (Dru). It was absolutely lovely actually SEEING special people again (on a table outside the café)… and a bonus that it was a beautiful blue sky morning.

It promised to be another incredibly hot day (like yesterday) and so it turned out… Moira absolutely detests such weather… but we did have a couple of heavy thunder showers at the end of the day!

Read more of my bookgroup book (still not absolutely convinced!) and also experimented producing some quick wax sunflower sketches (this week’s Drawing Group theme is ‘Flowers’)… not particularly successful, but good fun. The washing machine engineer has confirmed that we need to replace our old machine (not cost-effective to repair)… so we’re making arrangements to obtain a replacement.

Another episode of ‘Portrait Artist’ (and an old ‘Repair Shop’) in the evening while Moira had her bookgroup zoom session.

Image: Mini Blokes’ Prayer at the Society Café.

Tuesday 11 August:

Usual dawn walk on an incredibly still morning… water in the floating harbour was mirror-like. Slightly overcast initially, but the sun was out by the time Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden.

Read some more of my ‘Princess Bride’ book (about half way through).

Moira washed some bedding (by hand!) and, remarkably, it dried on the line within about three hours (from being dripping wet!).

Did some sketching (via streetview – still a little wary of sketching outside, but I DO need to push myself to do so).

Got together with Iris and Rosa during in the afternoon (bloomin’ hot by then!) and we decided to opt out and chill in our back garden with some iced milkshakes (from North Street). The girls are very good company… and such lovely people.

Watched (in awe) another episode of ‘Portrait Artist of the Year 2018’.

It could be a very warm night!

Image: Iris+Rosa+iced milkshakes in the garden.

Monday 10 August:

My regular dawn walk again today… when I set out, it felt as if it was going to be a quite a dramatic dawn but, strangely, it just petered out into a bit of a bright-but-cloudy start. Very enjoyable nevertheless.

We had an engineer booked to come and look at the washing machine, so the routines for our day were rather dictated by this. In the event, it seems that the equivalent of the ‘motherboard’(?) needs replacing and that, according to the engineer, it’s not cost-effective to replace/repair it (although, to be fair to him, he’s going to do the sums and let us know). So, not good news!

As you might imagine, we both have a certain backlog of washing and therefore I spent part of the afternoon washing shirts etc in the bath (and getting them out on the washing line before the predicted thundery showers!). Needless to say (given the lack of sunshine and wind), the clothes were still damp at the end of the day.

Read more of my ‘Princess Bride’ book (enjoyable, funny, and slightly weird – I’m approaching being half way though and still can’t make up my mind.

On Moira’s recommendation, I watched “Surviving the virus: my brother and me” (twin brothers Chris and Xand van Tulleken, both doctors, share their personal and professional experiences of Covid-19)… hugely informative, humbling and moving. Really excellent.

The pork joint provided us with another good meal (and there’s probably another meal in the leftovers!?). Nothing really worth watching on TV apart from ‘University Challenge’!
Image: Marina+passing pigeons (not such a bad dawn afterall!). 

Sunday 9 August:

For the second Sunday running, Moira and I decided to skip streamed church and take a flask of coffee to Leigh Woods (together with a bar of chocolate to share!) instead. A good way to start the day…

Bought a Sunday newspaper while we were out and so spent the rest of the morning picking our respective ways through the various sections (it’s probably only the second time we’ve had a Sunday paper during lockdown?).

A pretty lazy day… I read more of my ‘Princess Bride’ book after lunch and also re-watched the final episode of Lucy Worsley’s excellent ‘American Fibs’ programme on catch-up.

Roast pork for supper – which was excellent – followed by the usual ‘Antiques Roadshow’ before early night and more reading.

Image: Meadow flowers, Ashton Court.

Saturday 8 August:

As usual, no dawn walk on Saturdays… so I finished my Chris Stewart book instead (which I thoroughly enjoyed).

Disappointed to find our newsagents closed when I went to fetch a newspaper and so ended up going to the local ‘Tesco Express’ instead (with some reluctance). People are required to wear face masks in shops and so I was really annoyed to see that two of the three other customers weren’t wearing them (a rather arrogant ‘geezer’ about my age and a woman in her 30s)… when I expressed my frustration to woman on the cash till, she just laughed. What have we become? Of course, it won’t be ‘them’ who cause the second wave/spike!

Morning coffee with Moira in the garden on a lovely sunny day.

Received notification from Dan at StorySmith that my bookgroup was available for collection… so I popped down to collect it. Two other people in the shop and, once again, neither of them were wearing face masks. It’s so frustrating to see people ignoring the ‘rules’… and I don’t blame StorySmith – in these difficult days, they need as many customers as they can get and the onus is on customers to comply.

Read some of my new book (‘The Princess Bride’) in the afternoon and also did some sketching… while listening to the cricket – Pakistan in full voice! – and an England fight back. Riveting (but incredibly tense) listening… 160 runs needed by England with only 5 wickets left… but Butler+Woakes 139-plus partnership… but England ended up winning by 3 wickets (with Woakes 84 not out). Cor lummee!

Image: last night’s sky from bedroom window.

Friday 7 August:

Slightly different start to the day today… I set out about an hour later than usual (say 6.20am), walked to M-shed/Wapping Wharf and essentially did my usual harbour walk anti-clockwise (as it were)(pausing at the Marina as usual, of course)… before making my way through to Ashton Court (via the metal railway bridge). This weekend SHOULD have been Balloon Fiesta weekend – but, due to the pandemic, it’s been cancelled… EXCEPT that the organisers have said they intended to arrange for the odd ‘fly-past’ on perhaps two or three days (this week and next week). Looking at the weather forecast (no rain, light wind, good visibility), I decided that today might be one of the days they chose to fly (balloons flew last Monday, but the wind was in the ‘wrong’ direction and they weren’t really visible in Southville/Bedminster). Well, I was partly right… by the time I arrived (about 7.10am), there were three balloons about to take off (and signs that others had already departed – the breeze was blowing towards North Bristol, so probably weren’t very visible as they disappeared behind the trees. Anyway, I had a very pleasant time watching a couple of the balloons – as they undertook very short up-and-down (untethered) flights to give friends a brief experience of balloon flight. It was all rather lovely. Home before 9am.

Did some further ‘work’ on the Blurb book and read more of my Chris Stewart book.

Vanessa left me a message to say she’d chosen one of my images for her book and very pleased (which obviously made ME very pleased… and somewhat relieved!).

Pete messaged me to say that his Coronavirus test had come out negative – which is very good news.

Ruth popped in briefly on her way home from the Southville Centre – and it was lovely to chat with her, albeit briefly.

Watched the final episode of the “Young Mantalbano” series… so now somewhat grieving!

Beautiful sunset tonight.

Image: Balloon Fiesta (sort of).

Thursday 6 August:

Initially, I’d thought I might wander up to Ashton Court first thing this morning in the hope that the balloons may be taking off (due to the pandemic, the normal balloon fiesta isn’t happening – but they’re proposing to operate the occasional fly-past over the course, I think, of this week and the next)(there was one last Monday, but the wind was in the ‘wrong’ direction, so I didn’t see it). Anyway, it all looked a bit bleak when I awoke and the forecast didn’t look encouraging – so I assumed the balloon weathermen would have decided not to bother a couple of days ago! But the weather forecast for tomorrow looks good? Anyway, I went for my ‘normal’ harbourside walk and saw my stand-up-fisherman-friend by the marina and, blow me, he caught yet another fish within the two minutes I was watching him (that must be something like FIVE that I’ve actually seen him catch on my travels)!!

Moira and I had morning coffee inside (and it rained mid-morning).

Busy morning… I collected our fruit+veg boxes from Hugo; there was a delivery from M+S (which included four white T-shirts for me - about time I ditched my old ones!); and we also had an Asda delivery. So the fridge, freezer and cupboards are full again!

I also phoned Pete to see how he was doing (he’d been quite seriously ill in hospital for some 3 weeks… and was now making a slow recovery)(in fact, when I spoke to him today, he’d just taken a coronavirus test as a precaution… coughing – but only as a precaution). Lovely to chat to him… and, at some time, we desperately need to meet up for lunch.

Poet Vanessa Kisuule (Bristol’s recent poet-laureate) has asked if I would be prepared to use one of my drawings for the cover of her new book… and I hadn’t yet got back to her (difficult ‘theme’: “The View from Above and Below”), so went through loads of my old drawings in the desperate hope of finding something suitable. I messaged her with nine potential images and now await her response (I’m not particularly optimistic).

Also posted another ‘virtual’ urban sketchers event (this time: St Ives!).

Watched a ‘Portrait Artist’ episode (from 2018?) and another ‘Talking Heads’.

Image: Ashton Court colour (from Monday)… thistles?

Wednesday 5 August:

My dawn walk this morning was a little frustrating – very grim and overcast weather-wise and the skies only started to brighten (a little) as I returned home. Ironically, it brightened up enough for Moira to decide we should have morning coffee in the garden!
Bloke’s Prayer as usual on Wednesday morning (and everyone ‘present’). Wide-ranging discussions and the others clearly seem to be getting together with their families (in a conventional way and apparently with rather blurred ‘social bubble’ boundaries). Not sure if I feel pleased for them all or annoyed that they’re stretching the rules.
With the washing machine out of action (hopefully, just temporarily), I ended up washing a small load of stuff by hand in the bath! Quite an arduous exercise! Managed to get them on the line for 3 hours or so… before having to rush out and gather everything in when it rained!
Ruth popped after lunch (on her way home from work) to collect stuff from her studio and stopped for a cup of tea in the garden – which was lovely.
StorySmith bookgroup, early evening, was very good (it’s always very good!) – some diverse views, but essentially fascinating, good-humoured discussion.
Image: Bedroom scribble (this week’s Drawing Group theme: ‘bedroom’!).

Tuesday 4 August:

Today I got my hair cut! 7am appointment with my usual barber (first hair appointment in my entire life!). Didn’t go for a dawn walk on the basis that I wanted to be sure not to miss the barbers…

Rather overcast day but, later, Moira and I went down to Queen Square to meet up with Ruth+Iris+Rosa and Hannah+Felix+Ursula for coffee and cake (which Moira, in particular, truly enjoyed!)… we returned home relatively early (Moira needed the loo!) and left the others to continue. Forgot to take any photographs!

Saw rough-sleeper Phil on Gaol Ferry Steps on our way into town (first time I’d seen him in nearly 5 months); he’s sleeping in Leigh Woods at present… he reckons he’s lost a lot of weight over recent months, but seemed in good spirits.

Saw Dave and Jeff on our homeward journey (they were sitting on the harbourside drinking take-away coffee)… which also very nice.

Started reading my Chris Stewart book in the afternoon… and also started a bedroom sketch (‘bedroom’ is this week’s Drawing Group theme).

Image: haircut!

Monday 3 August:

Somewhat frustrating start to the day… washing machine wouldn’t work (blown fuse?); missed hot air balloons (albeit the wind was in the wrong direction - they were apparently a fair distance away from Southville); and missed our smiley face skywriter (despite being close overhead, apparently… which I mistook for a drone… looked out of the back bedroom window, but clearly obscured from view)!

Moira and I had morning coffee in the garden – beautiful, blue sky morning.

Met up with Ana at Ashton Court – which was lovely. I’d been worried about her after learning that they’d decided to cancel their holiday to Spain (in the light of quarantine measures returning to the UK and fears that the UK borders might be closed if Covid-19 worsened). She’d been looking forward to seeing her 90 year-old grandmother (who she is very close to)… who, during the past few weeks had been moved into a Care Home after suffering a heart attack… Ana was clearly worried that perhaps she wouldn’t have the opportunity of ever seeing her again.

I eventually managed to check the washing machine and it appears to be something rather more serious than a blown fuse!

On a more positive note, I managed to book a date for Emmaus to come and collect our pile of discarded books!

Read more of my Lemn Sissay’s memoir.

Image: Tree stripes, Ashton Court.

Sunday 2 August:

We decided to give ‘streamed church’ a miss today… and went for a walk (with coffee+cake!) instead. Ended up sitting on a bench in the heart of Leigh Woods (the strip that runs uphill beside the Avon) and it was rather lovely.

Saw Dave+Sarah on our way home… and also Hannah Hickman; it was very good to see them again after such a long time and to have a brief chat.

Finished my ‘Provence’ book in the afternoon (lockdown seemed a very appropriate time to re-read it).

Watched another Lucy Worsley episode (American Fibs)… which is always fascinating.

Image: “Two go off to the woods and enjoy coffee+cake…”

Saturday 1 August:

For me, today marks the official end of ‘shielding’ (according to government guidelines). It makes very little difference in reality, but… in fact, somewhat ironically, after previously having announced all sorts of relaxations, the government were forced to back-track (eg. experimental admission to watch cricket etc) as a result of an indication of unwelcome rising (albeit still relatively low-level) COVID-19 rates around the country.

Went to the newsagents for the first time in lockdown and also saw my barber and have booked an appointment to get my hair cut on Tuesday!

We had another ‘virtual’ urban sketching meet-up… this time in Hong Kong (yet another instance of there being far too many potential sketching locations!). Good fun.

Relaxed with my ‘Year in Provence’ book in the afternoon.

Watched ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ on DVD in the evening.

Image: Apartments, Cyberport Road, Hong Kong (don’t stare too closely, it’ll make you dizzy!).

Friday 31 July:

Regular dawn walk on a beautiful morning, followed by poached egg+toast+espresso breakfast… and then morning coffee with Moira in the garden.

I’m writing this diary note on Saturday and am desperately trying to recall what I did the previous day seems very vague indeed! Effectively, I spent most of it either reading or sketching (Bristol Packet Boats)… and yet I feel sure there must have been more…

Did some further dabbling on my Blurb book. I think I’ve essentially finished it, but it would good to have included a photograph of a hot air balloon (I’ve not seen any since lockdown – although various friends have posted pics taken from their various back gardens) and, obviously, to have awaited a special ‘Blurb discount day’ before placing my order!

Watched another episode of ‘Young Montalbano’ (think there’s just one episode left).

Image: cathedral silhouette against a dawn sky.