Tuesday 5 January:

Today I took a PRE-dawn harbourside walk (with a view to trying to avoid people!) and set out at 7.30am (sunrise 8.15am)… but, strangely, there actually seemed to be MORE people about than usual. It was also interesting (following last night’s lockdown#3 announcement) to note that there seemed to be absolutely no difference to the number of cars thundering down Coronation Road – a sharp contrast to last March. Fairly sombre walk weatherwise – but it brightened up by mid-morning.
Moira and I chatted about the new lockdown over morning coffee.
With Alice still feeling really pretty grim (and having a number of other people trying to contact her vis phone/WhatsApp or whatever), I decided to drop a FB message to Dave to check on how HE was doing. He said he was improving but couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so poorly (and that Jemima is ill “but not really ill” – but they STILL haven’t received her test results, so Dave’s chasing)… and that Alice “had taken a big hit”. A number of pupils and teachers had got Covid immediately before Christmas and Dave feels certain that Mickey passed on the virus to the Buckley household… BUT that, happily, M seems unaffected and quite happy (Dan has been isolating from everyone else in his room on his PlayStation and face-timing his mates).
I had a lovely zoom/coffee chat with Ana (as an alternative to meeting up) – they seem to be coping well (and she talks to her parents at least twice a day!!).
Checked out some Urban Sketching locations in advance of this coming Sunday (in Morocco) and read more of my pilgrim book.
The house feels very different following me taking down ‘all’ the Christmas decorations… something I always find a little sad – although, with the Christmas tree lights packing up a few days ago, not a huge issue this year (but I do think we need to order some more candles!).
I managed to book a delivery for my repeat prescriptions – which is a great relief (even if I had to pay £5).
Evening telly: another ‘Winter Walk’ (very good, gentle stuff – perfect for these difficult times); Rick Stein’s ‘Cornwall’ and a couple of ‘Staged’ episodes.
Image: pre-dawn at the marina.