Springtime

Spidey getting naked and partaking in all the spa treatments offered!  I've had him three years today.

Lockdown continues

We continue to live in very strange times, eighteen hundred Covid 19 deaths in the last two days alone and a Prime Minister who has only just got out of intensive care.  Every sporting and social event cancelled for months including the Edinburgh Festival.  Interestingly it has accelerated the rate at which we all adapt and learn, things are changing so quickly.  Hospitals are being built in weeks, gin distilleries are producing hand sanitiser and the Grand National was a virtual race in 2020.  I have settled in to working from home though I did have a day doing admin in the office on Monday, practically giddy from being out, the tiny touch of normality was a real boost.   Fuel prices are lower than they have been in years, no great benefit when you filled up weeks ago and still have two thirds of a tank!

Chamfron Ojo de Tigre - 7 years old

I'm told balloon availability was very limited due to lockdown but a birthday celebration non the less!

Surreal

I'm choosing to still ride, I think it is important for my sanity and his waistline and, famous last words, I've never fallen off him out hacking.  Everyone is interpreting the rules in their own way and while there are some people I could certainly give a firm shake to, there will be others that disapprove of my hacks.  Shopping has become an eerie experience, no one makes eye contact and you become so aware of how much you touch items and therefore, how much everyone else does too.  You step back to let someone come in the door and then when they change their mind and do a U-turn practically colliding with you, you mutter "for the love of **** make a bloody decision" you don't think you are nervous, but maybe you are.

Lockdown

Gave Spidey the night off and went for a walk along The Tweed as the sun set.  As of 8.30 tonight we have moved into lockdown due to Coronavirus - work from home, only go out for food and essentials and one form of exercise a day. 

Coronavirus

So after what has felt like months of wet weekends the sun shone, the ground is drying up and it feels much more Springlike which may actually be really shit timing as people flocked to the countryside and beaches.  Images online of cars packed for miles along the road at Snowdon and reports of camper vans heading en masse into Cornwall and the Highlands.  So as the country is told to limit social contact due to Coronavirus people have headed out to get some fresh air but it was unnecessary travel to areas with ageing populations and limited hospital availability.  In addition to that I just can't get my head round the mentality of people who heard "we are closing the pubs and restaurants after Friday" and just thought "super, one last bender, the cask ale will be cheap!"  

I am undoubtably lucky, I can walk for miles from my door and see no one, my "me time" is in the hills on Spidey (who, all wood touched, is highly unlikely to cause me to need use of an over stretched NHS) and as an introvert with very robust mental health this social distancing won't cause me too much angst.  On a personal level I am not likely to die of Coronavirus, in an ideal world I'd like to avoid it completely, it isn't giving me sleepless nights but I do think this will get an awful lot worse before it gets better.  I think we will follow a similar rate of infections to Italy (who had nearly 800 deaths yesterday), we appear to be a fortnight behind them at present and have no way of knowing if they have peaked yet (probably not).  I think we, in the UK, had the benefit of hindsight and as an island we could and should of done a better job of slowing the tide. 

In other news... it's so FLOOFY!!!!

Pretty girl

Lovely head shot of Chamfron Angel Dust