Day Fifty-Eight - Air Quality, Tennis and Second Waves

Statistics seem to indicate that with the decrease in flights and car travel the quality of the air has improved. I was wondering if that is hard to detect with the human nose! This morning while I was walking I was very aware that I could smell cigarette smoke. It was potent. I was outdoors too! There was someone, going to work, on their way to the station probably, smoking. They weren't particularly close to me but I could smell it. And it made me wonder whether when pollutants are hitting the air now they are stronger to the human nose? I wonder if that's why the smell of my neighbour's barbecue seems so much more intense than has been apparent before? Previously I've always found the early morning air smells purer and fresher. Once the traffic starts up it's tainted with the lead and petrol fumes. I wonder how the CO2 emission statistics will figure when this lockdown ends. Globally there must be an improvement in air quality. I imagine there will be lobbying to continue this trend. I don't know how that will pan out. Will people return to using their vehicles as they did B.C.? Will people start flying internationally as they did before? It will be interesting to see how people's habits have changed.

Once we hit spring and summer and I can safely turn the central heating off I make a few changes in my home. That's because during the winter when it's cold I keep the radiators clear of any furnishings so that I can get maximum heat from them. It's not an issue in the summer. So in my lounge one of the settees gets moved against the radiator. I much prefer it being like this. It seems to open the room up more. It's more spacious, light and airy. I do the same in my study, and move a divan against the radiator and again it opens the room up. I used to change my bed and put that against the radiator but the bed is way too heavy for me to move now so it stays in the same place. And if truth be told it brings back horrible memories of when the nerve compressed in my back and I was in such pain so it's probably a good thing to keep my bed in the same place all year round. That's what I've been doing the last couple of days. Very slowly and steadily because I'm aware that the moment I start hurtling head long into physical activity I start to hurt all over again and then I have to leave it days before I can do anything worthwhile. I may have overdone it today. I started to do some stuff in the garden as well and I could feel the pain start. I suppose the reason I'm going into all this detail is to identify is that perhaps because of the lockdown I can allow myself time to try and heal without stressing that I've got lots I must do.

Something I'm really going to miss this summer is the tennis. Round about now I start to get excited about the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris -  the conclusion of the clay-court season. Then the grasscourt season starts. It's a very short season that ends with the Wimbledon Championships. It's something of a joke amongst my friends who know full well to leave me completely alone during Wimbledon fortnight. I've often found myself conflicted, though, because when the weather is beautiful and all I'm doing is sitting front of the TV watching tennis there's part of me that thinks it's wrong to do that. Every year I tell myself I'm just going to watch a bit now and again, make sure I do other things, go outside, get fresh air, get exercise. But it never works out, I find myself drawn. So it's going to be very interesting this summer to see how I spend that time.

Every day there is a coronavirus briefing from the government. I generally tend to avoid it. But yesterday I tuned in to see if there was any further clarification on the Prime Minister's comments from the evening before. I have to say I was quite shocked by how inarticulate Boris Johnson is. And politicians never seem to be able to answer questions directly. I feel a little bit sorry for anybody in the position of leadership. Because they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. People wanted some kind of lockdown plan, some kind of timescale. But how do you deliver that effectively when you don't really know what you're dealing with? There is still so much about this virus That we don't know. And we can see from what's happening in other countries that it's not straightforward.  Wuhan, for example, after lifting the lockdown are starting to show an intense second wave of infection. And apparently in Germany is reporting an increase in new infections. And in truth, I am not at all surprised. And I believe the same thing will happen here. Which is why I'm sticking to the initial lockdown protocols.

I had to chuckle to myself for there was a report on the BBC about people complaining about the noise from the neighbours during lockdown. Apparently several councils in the UK have  reported a rise in noise complaints. Frankly, if it's anything like round here it's not surprising.