Day 21

Well, that is 3 weeks done - a quarter of the way through the government's planned shielding for my wife and by default, the rest of our family. It has gone surprisingly quickly, I think mainly as we have kept ourselves quite busy - not flat out busy, but just setting ourselves targets of things to do, each day.  We have done a lot of work on the garden and turned our old garden bar back into a summer house for my wife to sit in - I have managed to keep my beer fridge in the summer house, so at least I have that on a nice day!

I know I previously said I wasn't looking at the news items on the virus, but I do know that in the outside world the death toll continues to rise, this is extremely worrying for everyone, but in particular for those with underlying health conditions, as is the current phrase. My wife falls firmly into that category. It is for this reason we are more than happy to stay indoors and ride out the storm.

Today is Easter Sunday, a day I expected to be nice and quiet, especially under current circumstances. Our friendly man at the end of the garden clearly had different ideas and was up bright and early at 6.30am, when he started drilling in his garden. Not drilling, as in drilling for oil, but drilling into wood - I looked out half expecting to be making his own Easter cross! He clearly doesn't have a clue or care about the noise he makes.

This carried on into the day, with people obviously celebrating the best they can in their gardens, trying to obey orders to stay home - there was plenty of music to be heard, kids laughing and adults talking - all quite normal and all too briefly a pleasant distraction.

We did have a lovely surprise, with a brilliant video from my daughter. Her little one had sent us an Easter message, wishing us a "happy Easter eggs" - he hasn't quite grasped the idea, but it was a lovely, lovely moment. We were able to say thank you to him in person, as they came round to see us when they went out for their daily walk. The little one loves this, as we adults chat he is treated with an ice lolly dropped out of the window - my daughter is getting to be quite a good catch now, and hasn't dropped a lolly for quite a while!

Talking of ice lollies, I couldn't believe it today when the unmistakeable sound of ice-cream chimes were heard, right outside our house. We looked out to find an ice-cream van parked across our drive! Now I understand that the vans have been given clearance to go out and do their business, but we watched as the customers were right up against the serving window and stood close in a queue while waiting for their turn - their was no evidence of social distancing going on - truly amazing!

Feeling knackered tonight, combination of the early start - thanks man at the end of the garden, and tired muscles, in particular my back, from the painting today - hopefully tomorrow will be a little less physically challenging!