Day Ninety Two - Open All Hours - Business as Usual

Shops reopened today. And the crowds surged after a three-month lockdown. Queues everywhere. Social distancing? Not everywhere. But you can perhaps understand peoples' confusion as the government is trying to decide whether to reduce the 2 m social distance rule to 1 m.  Of course once that's done this social distance thing will almost become non-existent. Which is why I think it's wrong to reduce it. Not because I think that a 1 m social distance wouldn't work but that people will not observe it.

My friend came round this afternoon to sit in the garden and chat. It was harrowing. She had a call from the specialist nurse and she said that the calls from the nurses and the hospitals always upset her. Because it makes it real. She was very distressed. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't even give her a hug. And I would've done. I would've broken all the social distance rules if I could take away some of the pain. She's also worried about her daughter coming. Worried about whether she's going to be put at risk. I think she hadn't considered that to get here her daughter will be on public transport where the risk is highest. She admitted most of the time she's putting a brave face on it and no one sees how it really is. She said she's really trying hard. I feared this. I feared inside she was crumbling. Who wouldn't? I'm going to cook all her daughter's meals. Her daughter is a vegetarian like me. So I shall cook and even if I have to make a trip to her house every day,  I'll do it. Anything that I can do to help.

I hd a lovely surprise last night. My doctor friend from Boston phoned up. He'd heard about my friend and wanted to know how she was. The last time he and his wife were over here they stayed one night with me en route to a family wedding in Cambridge. And my friend drove them there rather than them having to hire a car or mess about with public transport. They were really grateful. And we actually had a lovely day in Cambridge. So they were very concerned when they heard how ill she is. But he also updated me on himself and his wife and how their granddaughter has just split up with her boyfriend and she's heartbroken. It's got to the stage where you wonder what on earth is going to be wrong next? It's most unnerving. I feel so unsettled the whole time.

In other news I did manage my walk this morning and I walked a little further than usual. I was pleased when I can do that. Very few people about, but more traffic interestingly. The litter bins were overflowing and debris was scattered all across the grass and the paths. Horrible. But the Covid snake has increased by several more metres. I wanted to photograph it again but my silly old phone has run out of storage space. I'll have to try and sort it so I can take another video.

And here we are, late afternoon of yet another day. I don't know where the time goes. Here we are in the middle of June. June!? The year will be done before it's barely started.