Day Forty Six - Up with Lark and a One Toed Sloth

The pooping pooch is regular, I'll say that for him. Hard to say whether the stools are actually healthy because it's generally a trail of walnut sized lumps. On the main path today and some had been jogger splatted already. What time do these joggers start, I wonder?

The album I listened this morning was Little Dragon's Ritual Union. They're a Swedish band, electronic, with some playful synth riffs reminiscent of Kraftwerk in places but more fluid. Good to walk to. I really enjoyed listening to it again.

Several people on the old schoolgirls WhatsApp group complained about how early some of us did our thumbs up. It was actually just me and another girl Liz, (she used to be headgirl at school), who are the early birds and we often thumbs upped shortly after 7 in the morning. That apparently is too early. So we've been asked not to do it. Trouble is my life is not a phone led life. I used to do it when I'd eaten my breakfast. ( I haven't dared tell them that I'm actually up by about 5!) Liz has taken to texting me a thumbs up shortly after 7 when she gets up and I thumbs up her back. Trouble is having done that once I forget that really I need to do it again for the WhatsApp group. It's a pain.

I did not join in the clap for carers last night. So shoot me. I just think that the simplicity and the subtlety of the original gesture has gone completely. Everyone is out there making as much noise as they can and it has become competitive. There was even someone playing "You'll Never Walk Alone" full volume. And it all goes on for much longer than the original five minutes applause. Fireworks going off? Crazy. My sister was telling me that in the part of London where she lives a lot of dogs and cats have been gone missing on the Thursday evening. People are beginning to connect it. Poor creatures must be terrified.

I'm trying to control my eating. It's not that it was completely out of hand but I've got to the stage where I thought I "deserved" little treats. Whenever I ordered food online I added snack food of some kind. I tried to keep it healthy. I promise you I did. But I caved in last week and ordered some chocolate. I've eaten it all. And I've got back into a habit of having something with a cup of tea in the afternoon. I stopped all that nonsense. The good thing though is that I've not put on any weight. The bad thing is I've not lost any more. And I need to.

I try to stay upbeat if I can. Particularly when writing this blog. It doesn't serve any purpose to be too gloomy doomy and miserable. I know I have gone down that path sometimes. It's hard not to. In a way away when you live alone lockdown is tantamount to self isolation. I'm going to lose the ability to have a conversation with another human being. Phone calls are different because it's like there's some disembodied voice on the other end of the line so it's not the same.

I phoned the husband of one of my old colleagues today. She is in a care home as she has vascular dementia. We were pretty good friends when we were both working in the same school. And we always stayed in touch. Not seen her for some time now and I'm not sure she even remembers me. But because of all the stuff in the news about care homes I gave her husband a ring to see how things were. Fortunately her home is covid-19 free. But Ron is frustrated because he can't see her or talk to her. Her dementia prevents her from being able to talk on the telephone. Coronavirus is a bugger but dementia is a cruel, cruel disease. Jean was a vital, energetic, intelligent woman, she's just a shell now.

I can't remember exactly where I read this. Someone was talking about future viruses. They were saying how coronavirus is easy to catch and "seldom fatal". (Is it? There've been thousands of deaths.) But what if we had a virus that was easy to catch but deadly?  Isn't that what happened with bacteria? Things like MRSA and C-diff resistant to antibiotics. Sometimes we are too clever for our own good. One of the big mistakes we've made it to underestimate viruses and bacteria. I think we underestimate insects too, to be honest. I think if any species are going to endure on this planet it will be insects. You don't see any data that says, oh we've found a wood louse tested positive for COVID-19 do you?

I'm definitely steering clear of the news. The journalists are clutching at straws now. I mean really there's nothing new to report except for the statistics. But you run the risk of them uncovering some silly story like a one toed sloth in Borneo has tested positive for coronavirus. Or the lesser spotted frog has been found to transmit the virus. So please be cautious when ordering your frogs legs from France. I'm being silly I know. Sometimes I just can't help it.

It's the 1st of May. May Day. This is the weirdest May have ever known. Actually it's the weirdest spring I've ever known. But the natural world is carrying on regardless. The trees are coming into blossom and leaf. The flowers are blooming. I take comfort from that.