Sanders Blog

Sunday, 10th May, 2020

Lovely, warm morning which has reached 22C/70F by 11.00 am but rather grey and overcast which comes as something of a shock after the past few weeks. By 2.00 pm, it has started to rain gently but is providing a real tonic for the lawns and shrubberies.

We have decided, mainly because of the weather, to forgo our daily walk and do other things at home. Pauline prepared roast chicken with sage & onion stuffing accompanied by roasted carrots & parsnips and cauliflower & broccoli for our afternoon meal. I vacuumed the house. In the mean time, we are discussing alternatives to travel in the short term. Probably, like many people, we are looking to invest in/upgrade our home facilities if we are to spend more time here. We have long been talking about extending our patio flagging. Talk has always been terminated by the observation that we will be away a lot so let’s put it off until we’re older.

This pandemic has suddenly made us feel older. We are beginning to draw in our horns ad to consider time at home. We are also spending so little money. If only investment packages made our involvement worthwhile. Not only have we talked about extending flagged areas of our garden but we’ve anticipated erecting a formal, garden kitchen. It looks like a good way to invest for our future.

We will use this building to put in kitchen staging with a series of electrical sockets and lighting. We will install a large, commercial griddle, a electric hob, a deep fat fryer and a wood-fired oven. This building is sold at an outlet which is within walking distance of our house. We are inundated with firms wanting to lay flags in our garden. If we are limited in our travel this summer, it looks an opportune time to do the work.

I don’t know about you but I am missing watching sport. Strangely, I am missing cricket more than football. This afternoon, I watched the 2005 Ashes Test series. I knew the result of each match and yet I still got seriously nervous, frustrated, ecstatic as the matches unfolded. I was told off by my wife for screaming uncontrollably as we won the Ashes. It didn’t stop me.

Monday, 11th May, 2020

A cooler, greyer, breezier day. Much of it was spent at home fiddling around with small jobs that amounted to very little. It is looking possible that our Athens hotel could receive us but our Easyjet flight might not take us in mid-August. It’s possible that we will get a break in France sooner.

We went for a 90 min walk which has settled in to a daily routine. We walk around our Development and past the new building work where a huge, old house in a couple of acres garden is being demolished to make way for a new Care Home. We wonder if it will be ready in time for us. The partly demolished building is at the stage where we can peer over the wall and see inside the bedrooms which have been exposed. We stare in fascination although it feels almost indecently nosey.

I can’t help but think of the lives that have been lived, the loves that have been experienced and the sadnesses felt in those rooms. All now gone from the earth. It reminded me of the day I saw my old school in its last vestiges of crumbling façade as it was levelled to the ground in preparation for its redevelopment as private housing. In this case, many of my own years of experiences were being swept away but also those of many others I had known – some dead, some having moved on. Hopes and dreams had either been dashed or rewarded; relationships maintained, strengthened or broken and dissipated.

These uplifting considerations populated my thoughts as we walked down the woodland path which presented its own signs of demolition.

The strengthening winds of last night had brought a healthy young tree down and it was now blocking our path. Of course, being impetuous youngsters, we scrambled over it and continued on our way. I even considered trying to move it myself but was instructed not even to try. Of course, I always do as I’m told.

Tuesday, 12th May, 2020

We were up at 5.30 am for no other reason than the sun was streaming in and a cup of tea was calling. Freshly squeezed orange and tea and then out at 7.30 am to ….. Sainsburys. The morning was glorious and, while Pauline shopped, I walked to the nearby town of Rustington. Rather as its name suggests, Rustington is dominated by the older generation. It is a little chintzy and sentimental and, in these dangerous times, fairly deserted.

I didn’t realise how easy it was to walk here. I have only driven in the past. By the time I’d got back to Sainsbury’s, Pauline was loading her bags in to the boot. Just for fun and from a distance of 30 mtrs, I remotely shut the boot on her head. As a result, I was told off for being reckless.

We both got over the fun, drove home, unpacked, had coffee and then set off for the beach.

Today we went to Elmer & Middleton Beaches. They are about a 10 – 15 mins drive away. When we got there, they were almost deserted save for a few dog walkers.

We walked for 30 mins or so in this lovely environment. It is too lovely and too peaceful. It fills visitors with absolute joy.

By the time we had arrived back home, a bit of cloud cover was arriving and the air felt cooler. We were going to sit out in the garden but thought better of it. There will be plenty of warmer, sunnier days to come … as long as we live.

Wednesday, 13th May, 2020

Nice, bright sunny morning although a little on the sharp side. We went out fairly early for a 90 mins walk. It was still tee-shirt and shorts weather for exercise. The gardens down here are so much more advanced than in the North. We used to feature Peonies in our garden in Yorkshire. They were at their crimson, blowsy best just as we were going away for Wakes Holidays in the last week of June. Here, they are in full bloom now – about six weeks earlier.

Planting is really spectacular in this village as we have found on our daily walks during lock-down. Of course, it used to be totally dominated by Horticultural industries – acres of glass houses which grew and supplied outlets with herbs and salad vegetables, vineyards, garden centres, garden designers, etc.. A number of those enterprises have be sold on for new housing including where we are but we still have around 4 garden centres and 2 vineyards within walking distance. Today, the biggest and nearest garden centre, Haskins, has reopened. Joy of joys. We will there in the next few days.

As a result, the local gardens seem to be well stocked with interesting and less usual plants. On our walks, we have been marvelling at the quality of the Ceanothus flowering profusely in deep blue and gorgeous, pendulous racemes of mauve/pink Wisteria set against Sussex stone.

On the corner of an older house just a little way down from our house, a white Wisteria Alba has been developing. Just as the pink ones are fading, the white one is in full bloom. I’ve never seen one before and I love it now I have.

Thursday, 14th May, 2020

Glorious if rather cool start to the morning at 6.00 am. We were out at 6.50 am and off to Tesco in West Durrington. Pauline queued up at number 2 in the list while I set off for a walk. This is a fascinating area that neither of us know anything about. I walked for about 75 minutes which was plenty but meant Pauline had only just entered the store at 8.00 am to start shopping. She had mask and gloves on. I was unencumbered.

I was interested to go past something I spotted the other day. A working class response to hardship and being a third class citizen.

I have never heard of St. Symphorian and had to find out about him. I found that Symphorian was a Christian executed in Autun near Dijon in France. Flavius Heraclius, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire in the first century AD had Symphorian’s head chopped off for refusing to worship pagan gods. Why? I’d have readily worshipped a packet of crisps to keep my head. Still, I suppose I wouldn’t have had a church dedicated to me. Oh dear!

The St Symphorian Church was established in Durrington in the 13th Century and rebuilt in the 17th Century.

Poor deluded people were persuaded that religion would explain and ameliorate their poverty and inequality, that they would be compensated in death for what the rich had received in life. I know which I would prefer. Religion certainly was the opium of the people. As the poet and C-of-E vicar, Charles Kingsley wrote, the bible is a mere book to keep the poor in order. Interesting to find a Working Men’s Club next door although I can find no history of its inception.

Friday, 15th May, 2020

Today is gardening day. We don’t have to shop. We don’t have to go anywhere. We have some regular jobs to get through even on this sunny morning but the core of the day is gardening. I am mowing the lawns before the garden refuse men come for my bin on Monday. It’s an extra, ‘paid-for’ service but well worth the money. While we are not able to travel, I have taken it on myself to look after all the street-side lawns of my road. The couple across the road are 80+ and fitter than me but I tell them I’m working for Help-the-Aged.

I love the natural world and love to identify and remember all the Latin names of the plants, shrubs and trees that I see. I love trying to grow plants and sometimes successfully. One of the early hobbies Pauline & I found we had in common was gardening. I was fascinated to find a joint love of growing plants was where it began and ended. While Pauline likes natural disorder (in my eyes) and unstructured collections of plants which mimic the anarchy of Nature, my eye cannot cope with that and immediately needs to tame and structure the natural world with classical symmetry.

The joy I get after cutting the lawn, edging it with my electric strimmer and sweeping away the cuttings to reveal that clean, straight line of grass neatly butting up to patio flags is immense. You will notice above the pot of geraniums which I’ve allowed to be placed to slightly break the lines. After a deep breath, I can cope with that. Compromise is what marriage is about.

Pauline does have her uses. She is a little more delicate and considered than I am. When I was 6 years old, I will never forget running excitedly out of the classroom in my little, village school and, in my eagerness to get out, I knocked my teacher’s cup of tea off her dais-mounted desk. Miss Marlor, a kindly, grey haired lady near retirement from teaching in 1957, called me back and lectured me on the impetuosity of St Peter. I understood the analogy and knew what she had identified in me.

Unfortunately, bull-in-a-china-shop impetuosity has remained with me ever since. I try to temper it and do sometimes manage but it is always my first instinct. Because of that, jobs which need care and subtlety like sowing seeds and potting up seedlings are done by Pauline. Jobs which require physical strength and brute force are done by me. Like Jack Spratt and his wife, we complement each other.

Today we potted up home grown tomato and basil plants some of which are going outside. We are already eating huge amounts of our own lettuces. Tomorrow we will pot up our bell peppers but we’ll need a trip to the Garden Centre first. Thank goodness it’s open. Thought I’d include this delightful photo from the front of The Times this morning. It was taken by a teacher who was in her garden participating in a Zoom conference call with colleagues. As she held her smartphone, a robing came to say, Hello. Don’t you just love robins? There are so many around this year.

Saturday, 16th May, 2020

Officially, we should be into our 3rd week in a villa in Tenerife. Of course, we’re not. We’re sitting at home in West Sussex wondering if we’ll ever travel again. It is looking more and more as if this year is over which is rather a depressing thought. It wasn’t helped by an photo sent from Sifnos this morning.

They are going entering an early heatwave of 40C/104F but without the benefit of tourists. That is hot although were in Athens one year to buy floor tiles for our house when we experienced 43C/109.F. I could barely walk. Greece has just confirmed a continued ban on passenger flights to and from Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. We are supposed to flying to Athens in late August and have been really looking forward to the newly refurbished Omonia Square.

Omonoia Square – Πλατεία Ομονοίας, Plateía Omonoías, –  Concord Square is one of the oldest squares in the city of Athens. It is located at the centre of the city at the intersection of six main streets: Panepistimiou, Stadiou, Athinas, Peiraios, Agiou Konstantinou Street and 3rd Septemvriou Street. If we can’t go in August, we have already decided that we will try to go October/November. We’ve only been once before in Winter which was after we had sold and were repatriating a large amount of money from an Athens bank. Nervous but successful times.

Sunday, 3rd May, 2020

Feels quite chilly at 6.30 am at it was just 9C/48F. The contrast between the micro and the macro level of my world experience is immense. From reading, analysing and railing against Trumpian America, social Europe and the eugenics of Tory Britain to sourcing our own PPE and tending lettuces in the back garden. All of this flashes across my mind over Breakfast.

I’ve rejected the idea of injecting myself with bleach. I hate injections. From Day-1 of the lock down, I have been advocating the use of facemasks for personal and social protection and always thought that this disgraceful government manipulated ‘expert’ advice for their own purposes. Having not followed up the pandemic planning and committed cash to stockpile enough PPE for the future, they had to dissuade the public from buying up stocks of PPE and so depleting that available for the NHS.

In just the same way, Staying at home, closing schools and social distancing has been the mantra until someone who wanted/needed to get the economy going again suddenly ‘discovered’ that social distancing is perhaps not so important, children do not suffer from or transmit the virus to others and staying at home is just as dangerous to mental health and well being so the economy can get going again as long as we all carry a Government led tracker on our phones. No!

Many of you will remember that mad man, Keith Joseph, who was Education Secretary under Thatcher-the-milk-Snatcher between 1981 – 1986. When the Tories wanted to cut the Education budget and employ less teachers, Keith Joseph, who declared his Conservatism was founded in Christian Democracy and who was educated at Harrow public school where classes were so small they could happily self-isolate, argued that it was a well known fact that children learnt much better in very large classes. He was neither Christian nor democratic in that regard but his disingenuousness is reflected in the latest pandemic policies of his Tory successors as they clapped in the Commons at defeating the nurses pay claim and then clapped on the street to show their appreciation for the nurses ‘cheap’ commitment to saving lives.

Back on the ground, in spite of chilly weather, the lettuce leaves are growing quite rapidly. I have chosen cut-&-come-again leaves which incorporate soft green leaves, Ruby, Oak-leaved variety, Rocket, Frieze and Mizuna. When this is combined with basil leaves and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt and pepper, it is absolutely delicious. I will successionally sow them and hope they take us through the Summer or until we go away – whichever comes first.

Monday, 4th May, 2020

Lovely day in which we did very little. We prepared all our documents for our latest insurance claim. It involved scanning in documents, highlighting relevant areas, turning them into PDF files and preparing them for uploading. Actually, it’s a quite a long winded process but, when you consider it’s worth around £5,000.00/€5,720.00, then the couple of hours is well worth it.

When the whole process has been completed, there is a great sense of satisfaction that comes from untangling a mess of loose leads and we can relax. Actually, it gives one a real sense of the strength of one’s claim. Of course, we didn’t relax. We went out for a 90 mins walk in the woodland path around our development. The birds were at full hue and cry in their search for mates and defence of territory. Back home, Pauline griddled the most wonderful Tuna Steaks in the garden which we ate with salad. Life felt good.

I’ve been following the unfolding story of a German couple who have been stranded on the Peloponnese in their campervan since the Greek lock-down. Each year they spend six months touring Greece before returning to Germany. They are stuck and they say they know of at least six other couples in the same position but with properties in the country.

It is six years since we left Sifnos. We would set off for our drive across Europe at the end of March and return at the beginning of October. We crossed the borders of Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and, finally, Greece.

The current situation would have ensured that our house stood empty and unmaintained for at least a year. We would have been extremely frustrated. One can only imagine what those stranded in a campervan are feeling.

Tuesday, 5th May, 2020

Gorgeous pink-purple sky last night and a beautiful day with blue sky opening up this morning. I’m really getting in to this new shopping mode. It is really easy for me. I drive to the chosen supermarket and Pauline goes shopping. I use the spare time to get some exercise. On Tuesdays, it is Sainsbury’s which has a football pitch size, underground carpark. Last week it was raining so I walked round the perimeter in the dry. This week it is warm and sunny so I’ve ventured outside and across the shopping park development, past Pets at Home and Halfords, on past the extensive Dunelm to the leafy path towards Rustington.

Things are definitely changing. The store opened at 8.00 am and we arrived 10 mins after. Pauline was able to walk straight in and almost had the store to herself. There was nothing she couldn’t get apart. Of course, the wet fish counter has gone. Wonder if it will ever come back? Anyway, we have found such a brilliant supplier that we probably won’t need it. The roads were very busy. People round here are certainly anticipating change. To be blunt we haven’t really let it cramp our style with the exception of travel.

Interesting thread on social media from ex-pupils and ex-(young)-colleagues. Pupils have been asking after our welfare which is nice but the staff who were young when we left but are now in middle age are throwing copious amounts of cold water on the idea of going back or sending their children back to school safely. Anybody who has any experience of education management will know immediately that it is impossible to get children to socially distance. It would be like herding cats. Corridors, old classrooms

Wednesday, 6th May, 2020

Up late today at 6.50 am on a beautiful, sunny morning with clear skies. After breakfast, we were straight down to the Office to officially file our insurance policy claim for our May Tenerife Holiday. The claim comes to around £5,000.00/€5,720 so is not insubstantial but we are confident of getting it all repaid. It may take about four weeks but it will come. The £700.00/€800.00 for the easyJet flights will also come but it will probably be 6 months in the wait. We uploaded all our documentary evidence and then felt satisfied that the nagging injustice had been, temporarily, removed.

We went on to do gardening in the sunshine. Pauline trimmed the hedges until she was shaking with the stress of the hedging tool. I mowed the lawns and all the street-side edging strips.

After lunch of homemade soup, we went to the eye clinic for my Diabetic Retinopathy check up. It was very different from any other I had ever been to. I was the only client present. The clinician came to greet me at the door of the building completely suited in PPE. I was taken up alone while Pauline waited in the carpark. My pupils were dilated with drops and then my eyeballs were photographed. In a couple of weeks, I will hear of the results.

We drove back via the seaside where there were crowds of people walking along the coastal path along with dogs and cyclists, skateboarders and joggers. Nobody seemed to be bothered about spacing or health aspects. All seemed intent on socialising rather than isolating. Do they know the dangers?

Back home, we griddled swordfish steaks – the best we have ever eaten – with home grown salad. The meal was quite delightful. We have completed our exercise targets for 50/56 days of Lock Down which we think demonstrates good self-discipline. Most people agree that we won’t be going back to the Health Club any time soon so walking the local area will continue.

Thursday, 7th May, 2020

Up at 6.00 am and out by 6.45 am to Tesco on a glorious, warm and sunny morning. We have accidentally fallen in to a pattern of Pauline shopping while I exercise. Tesco opens at 8.00 am so, when we arrived an hour early, Pauline was 3rd in the queue. I left her reading her phone and set off to walk to our Health Club. The day was delightful and the bird song was wonderful as I walked. It took me about 30 mins.

After a walk round the Health Club car park to take some pictures and then a walk back, Pauline had been in the store shopping for about 10 mins.

By this stage, the double-backed queue stretched to infinity and was constantly growing. Before joining the shopping queue, there was a queue to get a shopping trolley. It really does pay to go early not least because, for all their efforts, supermarkets are fairly slow to re-stock the shelves so being first means a wider choice.

Back home before 9.00 am, we have a lovely, sunny day in the back garden to enjoy. Pauline is out there now using her new skipping rope which she hasn’t done for at least 40 years and she’s breathing quite heavily. This skipping rope has digital handles which allow her to input her weight, set the time and it will out put her total ‘skips’ and ‘calories burned’. If she doesn’t collapse completely, she will continue with her bread dough which is rising outside in the warm sunshine. I’ve been marinating (garlic, dill, salt, pepper and olive oil) boneless chicken thighs for griddling out in the garden this afternoon.

Friday, 8th May, 2020

Wonderful day of long, hot, sunny hours. We were up early before 7.00 am. After a liquid Breakfast, I set the sprinkler system up to water the back lawn because it has been so dry. We don’t have any sign of rain in the next couple of weeks so the grass must be supported.

The media was dominated by VE Day. Victory in Europe Day celebrates the Allied Forces defeat of Nazi Germany’s armed forces, marking the end of World War II in Europe. Who could not wish to celebrate that? Well I have a serious problem with the way it is presented. The British Nationalists like to have us believe that Brits won it unaided. Actually, it wouldn’t have happened at all without the allies which included – apart from U.S. – Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg plus lots of non-European countries. UK has always belonged to and needed Europe to support it.

Currently, it is not possible to be objective about these ‘celebrations’. Is it right to be celebrating the defeat of a fellow European friend? Our next door neighbour is German. We don’t mention the war. We are going to need a strong relationship with Germany in the future. As we went on our neighbourhood walk today, slightly less than a quarter of the houses were advertising their Nationalism. There is a paradigm shift of ideas which integrates base Nationalism, Brextremism, Boris-worship and Tory policy on Covid-19 control. It is a bit like National Front made (marginally) respectable.

A Tweet from this morning rather succinctly summarised my view:

Don’t wave your Union Jack in my face. A lot of us, each in our own ways, fight against the nationalism, racism and xenophobia that gave birth to Nazism everyday of our lives. That’s why we opposed and oppose #Brexit. #VEDay2020

Boris Johnson, under pressure from Keir Starmer at PMQs, hinted blunderingly that the Lock-Down would be lifted at the end of the week. It was another sign of his inability to control the situation. So many people have taken it as a hint that they can go where and when they want. The roads around here are roaring with a back-to-normal traffic flow. Barbecues are being fired up for ‘Patriotic’ street parties. The Tories are going to find it hard to hold on to the public’s coat tails for another month.

Saturday, 9th May, 2020

If there can be a better day than today, please let me see it. Up at 7.00 to 16C/61F with lovely sunshine. After Breakfast, we drove down to the beach for a walk. It was still fairly quiet although the roads were quite busy.

The tide was out and the sand was empty. We walked for miles in the sunshine with the soothing sound of the waves gently lapping the shore. It was idyllic! There is something timeless and eternal about the sea that strikes to the heart of humankind.

After driving back home, I used my electric rake to rake thatch out of the back lawn. It looked wonderfully healthy with its green/blue iridescence after I had finished striping it. I then watered the front lawn and the roadside verge for a couple of hours with my automatic sprayer as we went out for a walk. Back home, our lunch out in the heat of the garden was green lettuce leaves, sweet cherry tomato halves and smoked salmon with a few prawns. Absolutely joyous!

I turned my attention to the seedlings/plants. The seedpod I grew into a tree is now over 5ft tall. It is champing at the bit to be planted out but is unaware that cooler nights are on the way. I am determined to plant it out in June and let it enjoy a few months of Sussex sky before the winter cool brings an end to its life. It would be lovely to see it flower crimson red before then but we can only hold our breath.

As it is, today has been wonderful. I feel so fortunate to be alive and enjoying this time with my lovely wife. What more can any man want or expect?

Sunday, 26th April, 2020

As we march through mid-Summer in late April, the wonderful days keep coming. Hot, sunny with blue skies and no rain. Actually, we are forecast to have another lovely day tomorrow and then some rain on Tuesday which the lawns will be pleased to receive. Last week, I cleaned the car, mowed the lawns, potted up the seedlings, tidied the garage and vacuumed the house. Today, I am reduced to tidying the Office while Pauline is making bread, soup, sage & onion stuffing to accompany the roast chicken and so much more.

Before we go out for a long walk in the sunshine, I need to explore a replacement for Pauline’s smartwatch the second of which has failed just after the year’s warranty is up – exactly as the first did. It is a Garmin_Vivofit4 which she likes because it is slim, light and waterproof for swimming. Unfortunately, it is also short-lived. It cost £50.00/€57.15 each time. To replace it now would cost £70.00/€80.00. Effectively renting a watch for that price each year seems daft so we are looking for a better alternative. I have a Garmin which is great and has now done 3 years but is too un-ladylike for Pauline. Garmin software is really pleasing to use so I need to find another Garmin if I can.

We set off for our walk at mid day. In lovely sunshine, we walked down in to the village, down the 19th century, raised pavement. The walk takes about 10 mins from our house.

Everywhere looked and sounded delightful. The skies were more blue; the birdsong was more audible; the gardens were more colourful and cared for; the roads were almost empty. We have to savour all the benefits of this time while hoping that it ends and doesn’t return.

There are some plants and herbaceous bushes that do particularly well down here in the warmth and additional sunshine of the south coast. Blue is quite a rare colour to find in plants and the Ceanothus provides it in profusion. It does so well here. This example was flowering strongly on the outside of a garden that we passed on our walk today. “Ceonothus” comes from a Greek word meaning “spiny plant” – keanōthos – although the genus is native to North America.

Monday, 27th April, 2020

Today is the 12th anniversary of the death of my Mother. She was born in 1923 and would have been 97 this August. She died at the end of April 2008. Her maiden name was Coghlan.

Her father was James Joseph Jeremiah Coghlan and there are no prizes for guessing his Irish, Catholic origins. The surname Coghlan was first found in Munster in the Middle Ages and its origin appears to be in the Gaelic metonymic for a Priest or Monk as Cochlan, Cochal – a hooded cloak, a Cowl-wearer. Members of the Coghlan family were, unsurprisingly, Catholic clergy. Grandad Coghlan was born in Brighton – just down the road from where I now live – in to absolute poverty but he was an industrious man who trained as a French Polisher, was a natural salesman (of furniture) and taught himself about both the value and restoration of antiques.

He bought and sold many houses in his time and moved from his birth in a shanty shack in Brighton where he dived from the pier for pennies thrown over the side and ran behind the roast beef cart for a bread and dripping treat in the street to a life of relative affluence in the then leafy streets of bourgeoise Croydon.

I know Mum’s Irish origins were something of an embarrassment to her. We easily forget the way English society viewed Irish immigrants right up to the 1960s. Here the apocryphal signs are said to have appeared in the windows of properties for rent. Even if this is shown to be more myth than fact, it does illustrate the way in which all waves of immigration – Jews, Irish, Caribbean, post Colonial Indian sub-continent, were first received with huge suspicion until being accepted and subsumed. However, I know that Mum found some social rejection in her Convent school and Training College leading to the need to assert her status by overstating it. It led to a mild snobbery that many of us inherited.

I go back to her graveside every year to pay my respects. I feature her every year in my Blog to maintain the memory. I like to post a photograph from my collection but, this year, I have no new ones and I am grateful to Jane for the above. Jane tells me that Mum vividly remembers the bear she is holding being torn from her grasp and sent to be incinerated because it could be carrying disease. One of the stories from her past that Mum recounted and which clearly left a huge impression on her was contracting Tuberculosis at a very young age. If I remember rightly, she was confined in a sanitorium for the best part of a year. At the time, no one knew that tuberculosis spread through the air via microscopic droplets and that sneezing or coughing transported a bacterium capable of attacking the lungs of those who inhaled it. (Does that remind you of anything?)

One of the ‘cures’ was considered to be fresh air and Mum told of spending days and nights on her bed outside on the balcony as in the picture above. Whether she was exaggerating or not, she told of bats hanging from the rails at the foot of her bed at night time. What ever, she survived the experience and never showed any signs of the effects in her future health.

Tuesday, 28th April, 2020

We woke to the expected rain. It was beautiful, refreshing and welcome. We were going to Sainsbury’s superstore which has a huge, underground carpark with stairs/escalator up to the store which incorporates Specsavers, Lloyds Chemists, Timpsons, EE Mobile phone shop and Argos. We only needed a specific list of items so Pauline decided she would do it all herself. I was her driver and as then instructed to walk briskly around the carpark so I could do a proportion of my daily exercise in the dry.

We definitely fit in to the group known as Worried Well. We try not to focus on illness but we do concentrate on fitness and wellness. We exercise every day. We monitor our weight. We test our blood pressure regularly. I test my INR every week. I have regular Type 2 Diabetes checks which I always attend and always take any medication prescribed.

At the age of 69, we are moving towards the most susceptible group in terms of the virus pandemic. We have been taking that reasonably seriously without allowing it to dominate our lives. We go out to shop when we want. We go out to exercise when we want. We bought a stock of face masks which we wear. We bought a huge stock of surgical gloves which we wear. the two main, measurable indicators of covid-19 are raised temperature and reduced oxygen saturation. We bought an up to date digital thermometer and, yesterday, we ordered a fingertip oximeter. It arrived today and we tested our oxygen levels. They were perfect.

We went out for our walk and were amazed to find how much fresher the countryside looked after the morning’s rain. Vibrant, green, growing explosively and totally oblivious to the world’s sickness. Everywhere was glorious and quiet apart from the wonderful accompaniment of birdsong.

Wednesday, 29th April, 2020

A pleasant and bright start to the day for lots of reasons. We were up at 6.00 am and the sky was bright although it looked as if it had rained over night. This morning, the Nat.West Black Account Insurance phone lines open at 8.00 am and we intend to be their first customer. This morning, we should have been loading our suitcases into a taxi and setting off for Gatwick Airport. We were going to the Gatwick Sofitel Hotel today (They have already refunded our payment of £140.00/€160.30.) and then flying early morning on Easyjet to Tenerife South–Reina Sofía Airport and then on to our villa for the month of May.

We booked and paid for the whole thing long before the pandemic was observed. The flights cost £640.00/€733.00 and although Easyjet had cancelled them some time ago, they make it incredibly difficult to seek a refund. They try to force their customers through a credit/voucher scheme rather than fulfil their legal obligations. It isn’t possible to get anywhere on the phone. The website sends one round in a spiral of despair in the search for anything other than what they want to concede. Fortunately, after hours of searching, I found and saved the link to Refund Request Form and put in our claim. We don’t have the cash in our Bank Account yet but we are confident of receiving it and we have our Insurance Policy + Mastercard to underwrite that.

HomeAway are a different case entirely. A lot depends on the individual property owner although initial deposits are held centrally. We were able to cancel our month in Tenerife in November after only having paid the deposit of £1,800.00/€2,060.00 which was immediately returned to us by the company. However, our May villa has gone long past the cancellation stage and we have paid £4,300.00/€4,917.00 and the owner has a ‘No refunds’ policy published. This morning, Pauline had the patience to sit at the phone for about 40 mins before getting through to our Black Account advisor who was completely reassuring of paying out our claim and guiding us through the claim process. Very satisfying! We will resolve that in the next couple of days.

I reported having bought and despatched a pack of dried yeast sachets to Mandy, Pauline’s niece, so she could make pizzas.She turned it into a competion for her family of husband and three sons.

Mandy sent us the results last night and they look almost edible. The girl is James, by the way.

Thursday, 30th April, 2020

We are exercising every day but eating and drinking too much. We are putting on weight so tomorrow, the first day of a new month, has been chosen to become more strict on ourselves. Out goes alcohol again and food intake will be more rigorously controlled. We have to do it! Pauline decided to finish on a high by making a cake.

She never makes cakes and we never eat cakes …. but today we will. Tomorrow we will address the problem.

When we ordered fish the other day, they couldn’t source fresh swordfish only tuna which has proved to be absolutely wonderful. Today, we received a phone call to tell us a 2.5 kg joint of fresh swordfish would be delivered this morning.

The quality is wonderful. The weight is 2.5 kg and the price is £49.90/€57.50. It produced nine, large steaks. Griddled with salad, it will be wonderful. It is lovely to know that we have a long term stockist for wet fish.

We still managed to go out for our walk – about 70 mins today. The local area is looking lovely.

There is a committed and enthusiastic group of retirees who form the Angmering in Bloom team. They work hard and produce simple but effective views. It certainly makes walking round the village enjoyable.

Friday, 1st May, 2020

The first day of May, 2020 should have seen us waking up for our first morning of 28 in the sunshine of our southern Tenerife villa and leaping into the pool for a swim before breakfast. Instead, we were up at 6.00 am and out before 7.00 am on a bright morning but chilled by stiff breeze as we set off for the Tesco Superstore.

Today, we decided that Pauline would go in clad in surgical mask and gloves while I walked round and round the huge carpark like some demented hamster. As I did so, the queue to enter the shop steadily grew until, by the time it opened, it was more than 100 strong and it only inched its way into the store on a one-in-one-out basis. The carpark perimeter walk was almost exactly 1,000 paces and I was half way round my 10th lap as Pauline re-emerged.

After our short drive home, I found that I had received an invoice from the villa owner in Tenerife which itemised a sum of money he had sent back to me, a sum of money which the HomeAway company was sending to me and the precise amounts which the insurance company will pay back to me. For the first time, I am completely confident that I will get all the outlay back. The only thing I expect to have to wait for is the Easyjet refund. This is rumoured to be something between 4 – 6 months potentially. If Easyjet go under because of the massively reduced demand for air travel, we will go back to our insurers and claim from them. At least we are in the extremely fortunate position of not being desperate for the cash even if we are desperate to get it back.

Nil Desperandum! In a sunny back garden this afternoon, we griddled steaks from the newly delivered swordfish and the quality was unrivalled. Sometimes, it is important to focus on what one has rather than what one hasn’t. Somebody has just told me it’s Friday. Friday night used to be Chinese takeaway night. Haven’t had one for well over a decade and I wouldn’t go back to all that monosodium glutamate but I can recall the pleasure of the experience.

Saturday, 2nd May, 2020

Beautiful day of sunshine, blue sky and gentle warmth but enough of that. I must tell you about my balls.

Yesterday we started a month – maybe two … three of dietary restrictions. No alcohol and less food basically. Currently, it wouldn’t be easy to do more physical exercise so it is calories in that we need to reduce. However, there will always be times when we crash and crave so Pauline makes High Energy Balls to be kept in the fridge for just those moments.

They consist of Dates, Dried Apricots, Dried Apples, Sultanas, Almonds, Rolled Oats, Lemon Zest, Vanilla , Cinnamon and Honey. The whole mixture is roughly chopped, formed in to balls and wrapped in Desiccated Coconut and then left to chill in the fridge. Of course, we have to be careful about our trips to the fridge because the whole thing could be counterproductive but we treat it as emergency rations and exercise self-control.

A gardening day today in this beautiful weather. The tree which I grew from a seed pod gathered in Tenerife two years ago is venturing out into the fresh air and sunshine for the first time in its life. We are preparing it to be planted out to enjoy its summer before the Autumn chill ends its life. It is a native of Africa after all.

It has been quite fun looking after it for all this time but we knew it wouldn’t sustain once it grew too big for the kitchen. It will be planted out in the next couple of weeks and will then fend for itself.

Sunday, 19th April, 2020

Gorgeous, hot and sunny day – 22C/70F – and delicious. The seedlings in our conservatory windows – basil, tomatoes, peppers, salad leaves, etc., are growing apace. This morning, I’ve been pressure washing all the large, clay pots from last year in readiness for potting everything up. We have managed to recycle the geraniums from last year. The Winter was so mild that they were screaming, “Save me! Save me!” even before the lock-down. Now, it is a necessity.

Soon I will be potting up cherry tomato and bell pepper plants because we expect the main part of our summer to be spent at home which will be an unusual chance to see them through to fruition.

We planted out fig twigs which were single strand and less than 24″/60cm behind the garage in a warm and sheltered spot. Three years later, they are vigorous, multi-branched bushes at a height of 100″/250cm and already presenting lots of fruit for the coming summer. We know from last year that the fruit is extremely sweet and has a wonderful flavour.

Monday, 20th April, 2020

For years we have been paying plenty of cash each month for a private account with our bank. Banking has never been ‘free’. The reason we have been prepared to do it has been for the individual service and extra but peripheral benefits. From ‘free’ overdrafts to Airport Lounge Membership and Mobile Phone Insurance, we generally thought it worth the price on balance.

We have always used their Travel Insurance but never had to claim. It has been important to our confidence particularly when we were away in Greece for 180 days at a time.

Suddenly, never has this service been more important. Consulting the website, the travel Advice is absolutely wonderful. It all is predicated on bookings made before March 18th and on FCO advising against all but essential travel within 28 days of travelling. If those conditions are fulfilled, we can claim a full refund. We booked every element of our times away this year before March 18th so we are going to claim every euro back and reassess when travel becomes comfortable.

We are still holding out the hope that we can fly to Athens in late August and go to our favourite hotel. Our commitment there is around £2,000.00/€2,900.00 but our insurers say we can leave that right up until the day of travel and beyond. NatWest assure us that there is no time limit to register your claim. I’ve always spoken highly of them!

Tuesday, 21st April, 2020

Glorious, glorious day which started at 6.00 am. We were out at 7.00 to Sainsburys and, having secured skimmed milk, fresh sweetcorn and fish loins – haddock & cod plus a couple of tuna steaks, we were home long before 8.00 am. We eat tuna and swordfish steaks griddled outside in the garden at least twice a week. Our fish monger on the beach has been closed for 3 weeks and we have run out of supplies. Although we have managed to buy some tiny, pre-packaged steaks today, I have made a real breakthrough. A local supplier of wet fish to hotels and restaurants appeared to be still trading

Speculatively, I emailed them and asked if the current crisis had led to a change of business model and if they would now be delivering to home customers. I was contacted by return and offered ‘free delivery’ to our house of 3 kg joint of fresh yellow fin tuna at a cost of £59.25/€67.50 and a 3 kg joint of fresh swordfish at a cost of £74.85/€85.25. It will be delivered, packed in ice, on Friday morning. Joy of joys!

The Business Insider website reports that

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the Greek tourism sector hard with 65% of hoteliers saying they could face bankruptcy.

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels found that 65% of Greek hoteliers said that bankruptcy of their business is either “likely” or “most likely.” They said, “We obviously believe it’s a year that, touristically, will be lost.” The really big question for me is, Will it all come back and will it be in the numbers of the past? I have a feeling that this experience will change people’s view of travelling and that could seriously impact tourism for years to come.

Wednesday, 22nd April, 2020

Another wonderful day of hot sunshine and 24C/75F, we stayed at home doing jobs. I have been doing some gardening including weed killing lawns. Pauline has been hedge trimming. I’ve also cleaned the car. All these exciting jobs I was longing to do. This wonderful weather is set to continue for a while yet. I’ve given the lawns a long and sustained watering today because there is no rain in sight for the near future down here. In Greece, by contrast, the press is reporting April weather of Snow and rainfalls, powerful wind and Saharan dust.

Any of those keen to get travelling again soon, sources in our government are suggesting that lockdown for older people may have to continue until the new year. Certainly, the E.U. is saying that air travel will be governed by social distancing both in airports and on airplanes with the middle seats being kept free although it is hard to see how much good that will do.

Thursday, 23rd April, 2020

Mid-Summer continues in mid-April. Today was wall-to-wall sunshine with temperatures peaking at 24C/75F. We were up at 6.00 am to go shopping at Tesco. Home by 8.30 am via Asda with shopping to get us through until the middle of next week. We do this on Thursday and Tuesday, Tesco & Sainsbury. We are scrupulous in our hygiene. We arrive early and are either first or in the first few. We wear masks and gloves. We use our phones to scan and pay for our goods. We clean everything minutely as we finish.

We are good at hunter-gatherer techniques. Our neighbours needed flour. We sourced and bought flour for them. Pauline’s sister wanted flower seeds to try out through the summer. We found them and sent them to her in the post. Pauline’s niece said she couldn’t get yeast to make a pizza. We sourced dried yeast in Tesco today and put it in the post to her immediately. It all adds to the fun.

When we got home, I cut the lawns. I cut the grass verges throughout our road. I fed and watered after that. They are looking pleasingly healthy after such a difficult winter. Shiny, green and striped. Even the die-back has been filled in with healthy grass.

The big moment of the day was the delivery of a spray bar fitment for my watering can. Unlike the normal rose attachment, this provides a bar with small perforations which make weed filler application simple and economical. It arrived by post today and, tomorrow, I will be able to weed treat the grass verges up and down my road.

Friday, 24th April, 2020

I shall miss these wonderful days when they end. The sunshine I mean not the lock down. I cannot imagine what it would be like to spend it in a flat without a garden or just to spend it on one’s own. Pauline and I motivate each other during the day from springing out of bed shortly after 6.00 am to turning out the lights shortly before midnight. This morning we couldn’t go out because we were expecting a delivery. A large joint of Tuna and of Swordfish from a local supplier.

When the van arrived and dropped off a 2.6 kg joint of Tuna packed in ice, we were told that they couldn’t source the swordfish this week but would try again next. The price of the fish came to £49.27/€56.30 which we were able to phone through on Mastercard so the whole process was easy. Lovely people and lovely service!

While we were waiting, Pauline was making a batch of vegetable soup and I was downloading the travel insurance claim form and collecting up the necessary evidence to retrieve all the cash for our May holiday. Each morning I take the covers off the garden furniture but, in spite of the glorious sunshine, we hardly allow ourselves much time to relax and enjoy it. Relaxing is for old people. We have to keep motivated and active and, at 11.30 am, we walked down to the village – about 25 mins – to collect Pauline’s prescription. The queue outside was only 5 people and it only took 10 mins to start walking home. This is the new normal.

Back home, we had a bowl of home made soup and then potted up some seedlings of cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and basil. Out for a walk around the area for about an hour and then home to griddle fresh tuna steaks in the garden and to eat them with salad. Absolutely wonderful. Apparently it’s Friday today. Haven’t had that feeling since March, 2009.

Saturday, 25th April, 2020

Shock as the morning opened overcast. Shock over as the sun broke through by 7.30 am and the day got going. We have decided to stay at home today and leave our exercise target unfulfilled for the first time in three weeks.

Staying at home allowed me to have my haircut. This is a tried and tested routine which has been going on for over 40 years. Pauline is brilliant at it and, even more importantly, cheap. I don’t have any pretensions about my appearance. If you could see me, nor would you. Just after finishing my haircut, the door bell rang and our neighbour across the road appeared with a bag of scones which she placed on the hedge.

I’m embarrassed to tell you that we ate them immediately. We have so little self control.

We sat in the sun for an hour or so and then I vacuumed the house while Pauline steam cleaned the hard floors downstairs. Our meal on this sunny and warm day will be cold. Smoked salmon, cold, roast salmon tails with pesto topping and tail-on-prawns accompanied by homemade hummus and salad. These are pinpricks of light in our darkness.

Sunday, 12th April, 2020

There was a beautiful sunset last night and I told Pauline to come out to the front of the house to look. She was reluctant but obedient and was rewarded with a little present and card left at the front door for us by our next door neighbours. Two crème eggs and a card had an amazing effect of raising our spirits. It is the first chocolate we’ve eaten since Christmas and was incredibly sickly. We won’t eat chocolate again for a few months.

After the political programmes this morning, we set off for our walk in glorious sunshine. I have never seen so many fat dogs being forced to go on walks or stroppy kids being forced to go on family bike rides, or reluctant parents being forced to take their kids out to get fresh air and exercise an we are really getting to know our local area as we explore on foot what we normally passed in the car.

We have no religion. We abhor religion. Even tradition is something to be wary of. However, years of Greek Easter have accustomed us to eat lamb and we just couldn’t miss it this year. Interestingly, we could only get New Zealand lamb legs in Tesco. Where is all the Welsh lamb going? We don’t eat bread and cakes but Pauline loves making them. Today she indulged herself and made a batch of wonderful, hot-cross-buns. She bagged them up and I delivered them to our neighbours. On each door I rang the bell, put the bags of buns on the step and walked away. What a strange world!

Monday, 13th April, 2020

I really do not read or watch fiction. The main caveat to that over the years has been reading fiction written at a particular time in history to inform other research into that period. I genuinely struggle to escape from reality and to suspend my scepticism. The circumstances surrounding this pandemic have changed many people’s view of many things. I have managed to reconnect with music although I am still having to force myself to remember that. The lack of sport on television has created quite a vacuum and, yesterday, I even found myself tensely watching a replay of the Cricket World Cup last year. I knew the result. Everyone did but I still found myself getting nervous in that final over.

However, political reporting, exposition and analysis are so dominated by Covid-19, we have had to resort to looking for FILMS and DRAMAS to fill the gaps and relieve the tension. Quite by chance, I found a series that was first shown in 2014 while we were in Greece but is available for download. Many of you will probably know of it already.

The Missing – series 1 involves the snatching of a young child from the father’s care while on holiday in France with his wife. It has echoes of the Madeleine McCann saga. It featured James Nesbitt, who I knew of, and an interesting man called Tchéky Karyo I’ve never heard of. He plays a grizzly but thoughtful, retired French detective called Julien Baptiste. This detective links Series 1 & 2.

The second series is centred around young women imprisoned by lone man for long period rather as we have seen in Belgium and America over recent years. It features David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes both of whom I have already heard.

Elements of these two series – amounting to 16 hours of drama in total, are interesting, thought provoking and the French detective, Baptiste, is an unusually rounded and sympathetic character but, in both storylines, we were both left feeling strangely unconvinced. Having fought to get to grips with the narratives throughout, the denouement in each case was a step too far. This leaves one feeling short changed and questioning why one bothered to invest one’s time in them.

Going out in the real world now for a 90 mins walk. Decidedly chillier this morning. At 1.00 pm, it is sunny but windy and reading only 12C/53F which is almost half yesterday. I’m debating the possibility of shorts and tee shirt or warmer coverup. We Derbyshire men can’t show weakness!

Tuesday, 14th April, 2020

A lovely day of warm sunshine and blue skies. Our neighbour is desperate for self raising flour. This morning, we tried to help her get some by rising early and driving to Asda at 7.00 am for an 8.00 am opening. We were 3rd in the queue which stretched all round the car park and into the next door Garden Centre by the time we got in. They were lucky it was dry and sunny. As soon as we were let in we knew they didn’t have any flour of any sort at all. We bought a few other things on our list and left. As we walked out of the store 20 mins later, we realised that the queue had disappeared completely. Two lessons learned there.

When we got home, I found I had received a voucher from Eurotunnel for £150.00/€173.00 to replace the travel we should have been using this morning. We had booked a hotel for a few days in France. We received the money back for that almost immediately I cancelled but a voucher for Eurotunnel which will be valid for 2 years will definitely equal money in the bank which we’re bound to spend …. if we live.

Our walk today was on the woodland path at the perimeter of our development. It is where the ‘Fat Rabbit’ lives and who could blame it. The path is set in the most idyllic woodland situation.

Back home. I cooked our meal to give Pauline a rest. She was baking bread in the meantime. I cooked strips of roast chicken thigh in tarragon & garlic with green pepper, onion and mushroom. I have to say it was delicious.

Wednesday, 15th April, 2020

Already mid-April. My life is running away in this lunacy. Up at 6.00 am to the most beautiful day. After juice, we drove to Worthing multi-story carpark. We were going to Wilko for garden products. They open at 8.00 am. When we got there, there was a queue of 5 or six people spaced out in a line, basking in the town centre sunshine.

Wherever we go in a social situation, we are dressed in face mask and surgical gloves. It feels weird but necessary. We were in the store in minutes and I was buying lawn weed & feed, plant food and packs of seeds. We are sending some flower seeds to P&C who will be social isolating for the next 5 years at their advanced age. We thought we might give them an interesting project for the summer. We went on to Waitrose to buy things we had been struggling with like fresh corn-on-the-cob.

We drove home slowly but couldn’t resist a walk on the beach. It looked deserted, sharp and beautiful. The air is sweet and the sound of the sea is soothing. At home we have a ritual of disinfecting handles and doorknobs, mobile phones, etc.. We wash our hands in anti-virus gel after unpacking our shopping. The big worry about this routine is how quickly we are feeling it is normal. It is quite ridiculous.

After coffee, I water all our salad seedlings. Tomatoes and Peppers are doing well now. My tree grown for a Canarian seed is now around 5ft tall and really ready to go out but it will have to wait for another month to avoid all risk of frost. We went out for a couple of hours walk in the countryside before coming home for a meal of smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, prawns and salad. Lovely day again.

Thursday, 16th April, 2020

Up at 6.00 am and out at 7.00 am for the short drive to Tesco. Suited and booted in surgical gloves and masks, we lined up behind two others in the lovely sunshine. My task was to go straight down to the Home Baking aisle to get flour. Miraculously, there was flour. The shelf said we were limited to 3 items per customer. I put 3 x 1.5 kg bags of self raining flour in my bag and took 3 x 1.5 kg of strong bread flour to put in Pauline’s bag. I had a list to complete and so did Pauline. We managed most of it and then went, individually, to pay. As supermarkets control purchase proportions and the force couples to shop separately, the increase the number of shoppers and double the amount households will buy.

As soon as we got home, our next door neighbour received 2 bags of self raising flour which she hasn’t been able to get for over a fortnight. She is a keen cakemaker and has been frustrated at not being able to make any since the lockdown. Pauline calculates that she now has enough bread flour to get her through until October. Life in UK is reasonably serene for us although not for the poor, the newly poor and those on the margins of society.

On the margins of economic society, Greece is being hit hard. The I.M.F. forecasts a nightmarish deep recession for Greece in 2020, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. They expect the Greek economy to shrink by 10% of GDP and unemployment to jump to 22.3%. They are still in lockdown and the staple of their economy, the tourist industry, will remain there for some time to come. Imagine inviting visitors from around the infected world back into your country after you have done your best to keep it infection free.

Of course the coming weekend is Greek Easter and, usually, Greeks leave the cities to go back to islands to celebrate with their families. Not this year. Nobody is allowed to take the risk of delivering infection back to the islands.

While we are basking in the sunshine and we have been for a couple of hour’s walk and I’ve mowed and fed the lawns including those for neighbours all around, Greece was experiencing something less seasonal.

Friday, 17th April, 2020

In bed last night at around 1.00 am, I heard the fairies drumming across our roof in their hobnail boots as torrential rain crossed the south coast. I was immediately reminded of the joy we felt when the same noise, rather amplified, woke us in Greece as the first rains of the Autumn washed our flat, Cycladic roofs. It disappeared as soon as it arrived but left a world freshly washed as we awoke this morning. At 6.00 am, the world was bright, green and renewed.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Just as we were going out for our walk at about 11.00 am, it began to rain again. After 10 mins, we decided to give it up as a bad job and go home. We have only missed our targets on 6 days in the past two months so I won’t feel too bad about today.

I have taken advantage of the weather by continuing the progress of claiming money back from firms we have booked with and paid for future travel/accommodation. All those represented above have paid us back with the exception of Eurotunnel who are holding our crossing tickets for a maximum 24 months. We are confident of using them before then. Easyjet were trying to avoid refunds by offering vouchers for future travel but we held fire and today it was announced that they would be paying full refunds. This is good news because we have 4 flights booked with them this year at a cost of £1,300.00/€1,500.00. Initially, we are only reclaiming cancelled flights for May. We are really hoping that Athens at the end of August will go ahead.

Today, the car will remain in the garage and not be taken out until Tuesday. Although we’ve visited plenty of places, I haven’t filled up with fuel for 4 weeks. The price of Unleaded seems to have been reduced by £0.15/€0.17 per litre in that time. I want to buy cheap petrol!

LATE NEWS – By 5.00 pm, the rain stopped; the skies cleared and sun began to shine weakly across the land. We went out and did our walk as quickly as we could. I was shattered by the end of it. Over all, we haven’t done too badly over the past month of ‘lock down’. I have only missed my target on 4 occasions and I’m still averaging 6 miles/ 9.7 kilometres walking each day for a month. I really need these sorts of targets to motivate me.

Saturday, 18th April, 2020

Feels like we are sleep walking through the month of April – busy doing nothing. Well not exactly nothing but certainly not what we expected to be doing. We should have been driving back from a week in France today. Instead, we were re-arranging travel for the month of May in Tenerife. We’ve already been repaid for the month of November but this one is a bit more tricky.

Every day for the past week or so, the travel journalist, Simon Calder, has been addressing the crisis/dilemmas in the travel industry caused by the pandemic. It is broadcast by The Independent newspaper and has proved useful in pursuing our commitments. Until yesterday, the Easyjet website was making it almost impossible to reclaim payments for flights. This position is not a legal one. Their answer, was to make everyone phone and wait for hours to get a refund. Yesterday, Calder found a route through this. I followed that route and claimed my full refund.

Assuming our trip to Athens goes ahead in late August, we have sorted everything out apart from a villa in Tenerife booked for the month of May. The owner is offering us a credit to rebook at any time and that appears to be the best resolution for all concerned. We will check with our insurers on Monday. It is €5,000.00 that we had already spent and which we can use as soon as the ‘lock down’ is opened.

Lovely walk around our village today although the sky was fairly heavy and the atmosphere was rather humid. The backdrop to our walk was a symphony of birdsong punctuated by the drumming of a woodpecker which resonated all along the road. We walked for about 80 mins and came home to slow roast chicken with root vegetables and sage & onion stuffing. Absolutely wonderful! Life, even in lockdown, can be so good.

Sunday, 5th April, 2020

My last day being 68 years old. I am imminently rising 69. It could be worse, of course, but not a lot. As you will notice, I have hardly changed over the years:

Mum loved curly hair and so did all the old ladies in the village who cooed over me. I always wanted straight hair.

I needed a wife so had to improve my appearance temporarily. Not sure about the 1970s pornstar glasses but, otherwise, I’m gorgeous!

Too busy and too fat for photographs for many years. I next felt it was important to record my image soon after I retired aged 59.

At least today has been one of those wonderful and optimistic preparations for the future. Today, in scorching sunshine, we sowed 4 different types of salad greens, cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers. We trimmed up, fed and watered our herb pots to face another summer of harvesting. We are trusting in Nature to see us through. What else is there?

Monday, 6th April, 2020

We are 69. I have received Birthday wishes from many people and most of my thousands of brothers and sisters via text, email, Facebook and a card from my favourite, wrinkly sister, Ruth. She is so old she understands me perfectly.

Ruth, of course, is much older than me but I love her all the same. She seems to have the idea that I like red wine and that I am tempted not to stay at home. Of course, she is absolutely right in both instances. We will go back to our diet and exercise regime tomorrow.

Today we have been sowing two different types of Basil in pots to grow indoors. I do the donkey work and Pauline sows the seeds because she is delicate. Our Bay Tree is flowering in this beautiful sunshine. I’ve never noticed how beautiful these small clusters of primrose yellow flowers are. We have sat outside in the warm sunshine with a bottle of iced Sauvignon Blanc and thought through our future travel strategy for European travel. The only thing about being 69 is that being 70 would/will be worse

Tuesday, 7th April, 2020

Another bitterly wonderful day with hot sunshine – 18C/65F – which drove us to spend so much time outside. First, however, we spent time speaking to Eurotunnel / LeShuttle about a booking coming up. We have accepted vouchers in lieu of cash refund. We could have spent another 3 or 4 hours on the phone arguing about a refund but life is/could be too short. We have cash-equivalent vouchers valid for 24 months. We will certainly be using them within that time so it is money in the bank.

Outside in the sunshine, Pauline trimmed up the hedges while I weeded and fed the roadside grass borders for us and our neighbours. We reseeded an area of the front lawn that had faded and thinned over winter. By the time we had finished, the exercise, fresh air and hot sunshine had tired us out. Pauline had made pea soup for lunch and then we went out for our walk.

Under this gorgeous sky, nature was bursting with optimism in its normally, chaotic way. There was no stopping it We passed a couple of people as we walked and they immediately stepped away to let us pass at a safe distance. We live in the purview of Arun District Council.

I think we win but, embarrassingly, in the conformity stakes. This is not a badge I wear comfortably.

Wednesday, 8th April, 2020

In Covid-19 lock down, people worry about getting supplies of food and other supermarket products but it takes an incident that is not foreseen to really make one think. For example, a couple of days ago, while unstacking the dishwasher, I ‘broke’ it. I’m not subtle in my actions. Something happened when I pulled out the bottom tray/basket and ‘pieces’ fell in to the bottom of the washer. Instinctively, I looked in and then away with horror. Surely I imagined it? Who could manage without a dishwasher?

Fortunately, I have a resident mechanic/electrician/builder/decorator and, after she had finished beating me for being so clumsy, she simply clipped the parts back in and walked away with a grin.

What this did lead to, however, is consideration of all those absolutely essential services one might have problems with and find difficult to have restored under current conditions. A friend of mine lost his Sky reception and believes the LNB has failed. This really does require a ‘little man’ to replace it and set up a new one. Can you imagine being without TV/Radio reception at this time ?

Over the past week, at Boot Up, my Desktop PC has been holding up at this error message. Having suffered a chip overheat and burn out long ago, I was suddenly faced with the prospect again. Pressing F1 does proceed Startup smoothly and, as time has gone on, I have come to believe that this is a BIOS error rather than a physical fan error. Thre is no sign of overheating. I am a computer user not an expert mechanic. Updating the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) looks fraught with difficulties. Could I cope without a Desktop PC? Probably in the short term but I wouldn’t want to. Where to buy a replacement in extremis? Relief, Curry’s/PC World is still open on-line and delivering to homes. …… and breathe (hopefully).

Thursday, 9th April, 2020

What a wonderful day! It started at 6.00 am for us as we got up and drove to Tesco. We were there for 7.00 am and in for 8.00 am. They had everything we wanted and we were out in just over 30 mins.. By the time we got out, the queue was too long to view the end. The only consolation for all of them was the wonderful sunshine to stand in. We drove home for coffee in the garden where the temperature steadily rose to 24C/75F. It is only 14C/57F on Sifnos today. Know where I’d rather be. We have just been acknowledging that we would be setting off for our house around now in the past but failing to get there. It could have been left unattended for two years. What a waste!

Talking about waste. We didn’t get much post today but we did get this:

Apparently, it cost more than £5 million to print and distribute. You have to ask yourself WHY? It says nothing that hasn’t been repeated ad nauseam across all forms of media. The one thing that stood out for me was this chart below.

I have a Masters Degree in research and, I have to admit to struggling to make sense of this. I think of the kids I taught over the past 40 years who are now parents and ask myself if they would understand the message here. I have to say, I doubt. There again, it may just me being dim.

Friday, 10th April, 2020

Up early on another beautiful morning. It is 20C/68F by 10.00 am. All my seedlings are loving it. I am going to celebrate the weather by raking the main lawn. Gone are the days when I have to use a manual lawn rake. I have a wonderful, electric one nowadays. It is so easy to use that I am encouraged to do it more often than I otherwise would.

Across the media one question dominates and it is when this lockdown will end and when it will be safe to follow normal social movement including travel. The answer will vary across the world and across Europe but what we can be sure of is that this year’s Summer tourist season will not proceed. It is dead. European economies that depend on tourism and small businesses may suffer the most. No country in the eurozone is more dependent on tourism than Greece and it is a nation of small businesses, which typically do not have many resources to weather hard times.

At the start of this year it seemed as if Greece might have turned a corner. After a downturn that lasted longer than America’s Great Depression, its economy was growing again. Market capitalisation at the Athens Stock Exchange rose by 47% in 2019, the sharpest increase in the world. Tourism was booming, consumers were spending and Greek banks were reducing their burden of non-performing loans. Greece’s attempts to recover from its long economic crisis are now being threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, which is expected to deliver a heavy blow to the country’s tourism revenues.

It will be the longer term effect on people’s confidence in flying, in traveling to countries with less well equipped medical facilities, in the virus mutating and resurging in changed form and in the fear of trusting bookings which are suddenly cancelled without recompense that will undercut the tourist industry. Greece needs to diversify rapidly.

Saturday, 11th April, 2020

Gorgeous sunshine. Clear, blue skies. Warm temperatures. Give me lock-down any day if it’s like this. Birds are singing; rabbits running; bees are buzzing and grass is growing. Life goes ahead at pace ….. except, it doesn’t. This is no more evidence than in the world of agriculture/horticulture. In Greece, Kathimerini reports that prices for fruits and vegetables in Greece are up by 200% because of labour shortages for harvesting and packing.

In UK, this is Easter weekend, a religious festival for the few but a gardening ritual for the many. Garden Centres could expect to be super busy. Instead, millions of plants and shrubs will be binned in the coming weeks, with garden centres and nurseries facing financial ruin amid mass closures due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Horticultural Trades Association warned a third of UK producers could go bust imminently.

I would have been an enthusiastic visitor to my local Garden Centres – we have four within a mile of our house. I managed to buy potting soil and Lawn Seed before the lock down. Since, I have found that Wilko’s sell plant food, lawn weed & feed and vegetable seeds with very short queues to get in. It is hard to believe that these little things will develop into 3ft/1 metre high plants that will keep us happy all summer. Nature is fabulous!

Sunday, 29th March, 2020

Woke early with a head full of jobs to do. It is a beautiful day – bright, sunny, blue sky but chilly and breezy. I am feeling energetic having slept well. The routine starts. I am a person of routine. Regular readers will know the routine so I won’t bore you but, I believe, most lives are lived largely in routine. In the currently uncertain times, routine becomes even more important. 

Over a routine breakfast of juice, tea and coffee, I’ve downloaded the newspapers, checked my Twitter feed, checked my Facebook pages and turned to the political programmes of the morning. No guesses for the main content. What caught my eye in my Twitter feed this morning was a tweet from one person I’m following who was having trouble sleeping. A few days ago, I wrote about exactly that and experiencing and remembering an ‘anxiety’ dream which is totally uncharacteristic and certainly not routine for me. This person on Twitter reported dreaming of people breaking in to her house and it was followed by lots of her followers reporting similar experiences. These are unsettling days.

I am so pleased that I am returning to music. There is real comfort in Beethoven’s Symphony No.6. I haven’t played it for years. I associate it with driving home from work over the Pennine moors from Lancashire to Yorkshire on sunny afternoons with the car windows down and the sheep on either side of the road grazing unflinchingly although I was singing along, hopelessly out of tune. I relived that in my West Sussex office today and then followed it by the movingly beautiful, Violin Concerto in D Major.

I wrote yesterday about the crisis that has hit the tourist industry and how it might be longer term than some think. I think it my spell the end of many small suppliers of travel and accommodation across Europe. Today, I continued to contribute to that decline with cancelling/revoking bookings with several hotel chains, airlines and Channel Tunnel crossings. The money is already coming back in and it is amazing how accommodating companies are being but many say the crisis is stretching their capabilities to the limit. Their normal 5-7 days repayment policy is now likely to be weeks. That’s no problem. I just feel bad about having to do it at all.

It is walk time and beautifully sunny but too cold for shorts today. I go upstairs to change. I put long trousers and a jumper on. As I pulled the jumper over my head …. it began to darken and, by the time I had got down stairs, rain was driving across the front of the house. How could that happen? It certainly wasn’t forecast. Just as suddenly, sun breaks through and skies clear. We go out to walk. Just 5 mins later, we are home to escape torrential hail. In Sussex? What is happening? The start of Summer? I blame Brexit!

Monday, 30th March, 2020

Down here the weather is taunting us mercilessly. We were up early and out to Tesco under blue sky and strong sunshine. Nobody else around here seems capable of early rising. We had the supermarket to ourselves and the shelves had been well stocked. The roads look, feel and sound as if the entire population have been wiped off the face of the earth and left it to us and to the natural world. Never seen so many fat rabbits chomping on kerbside grass without a care in the world and without fear of disturbance.

Usually, around here it is just the seagulls who are that bold. They attack passers-by and steal anything that even begins to look edible. Today, they savaged our black bin bag which I put out for collection this morning. We had to sweep up and re-bag after they had scattered fish bones and used serviettes along the pavement. They even scare next door’s cat!

I’ve read a number of people’s recent comments on suddenly becoming aware of bird song in these peaceful times with few humans and even fewer cars around. Of course, it is nesting/breeding time and everybody is singing at the tops of their voices in the tops of the trees. 

It is strange to think that birds have no conception of what is happening to the human world. It has no sense of import or fear. As one population closes down so another expands and feels free to populate the space.

Tuesday, 31st March, 2020

An early start on a clear, sunny and cool morning. Up at 6.00 am and out at 7.00 am. We shop at Tesco twice a week but some things – especially fat-free milk has been removed from the shelves so we fit one Sainsburys in as well. They open at 8.00 am currently. We were there at 7.15 am and 2nd in the queue this morning. The carpark is underground and that is where the queuing starts. Even so, it was cold.

NHS workers are allowed in 30 mins before us at 7.30 am. I’ve always strongly supported the NHS but feel less supportive at this time in the morning. There is a competitive, hunter-gatherer element to this process and seeing people arrive and breeze past me, after I’ve stood in the cold for 30 mins, raises an unreasonable sense of resentment. 

We are extremely lucky. We want for nothing ….. except for SKIMMED MILK and GHERKINS and MEDJOOL DATES!!!! Fortunately, we found them all at Sainsbury’s today. We queued for 45 mins and shopped for about 20 mins. One of the real boons that we bought last time was a box of 100 pairs of latex gloves.

Instead of spending half my time cleaning my hands with sanitiser and wipes, I put on a pair of gloves as I leave home and remove and throw them away as I get in the car to return.

When we got home, I spent the rest of the morning working to get refunds for Easyjet flights to Tenerife that they’ve already announced are cancelled and a Channel Tunnel trip in a couple of weeks time. Actually, we are not particularly bothered about the cash and will happily accept vouchers for future travel because we will certainly make use of them when the coast is clear.

Wednesday, 1st April, 2020

This is the only April Fool’s Day that I have ever known when it was impossible to shock others outside daily reality. One of my ex-pupils wrote yesterday that she was going to wake her kids early this morning and get them dressed in their school uniforms just to shout April Fool at them. In reality, that seems almost normal in the context of the times. If you told someone that they couldn’t go out and live a normal life for months, they would call your bluff. I wish you a happy new month and I wish you survival.

On our walk today, the fat, brown rabbit that we pass on the edge of the wood can hardly be bothered running away any more he/she has become so accustomed to see us walking the perimeter path. The first time we met, fat rabbit shot into the brambles instantly. Today, our footsteps failed to move the rabbit at all as it lay in the long grass munching away. As we came within a few feet, the rabbit slowly stood up and ambled away with utter nonchalance. In these unprecedented times, the natural world is reclaiming its domain.

We walked in the wonderfully strong sunshine. I was in tee shirt and shorts. These are delightful times for vibrant colours to walk in. The exercise is so different compared to our gym workouts. The fresh air is incredibly tiring. When we got home after about an hour and a half’s walk, I was absolutely shattered. I was going to sow some seeds but just couldn’t face it. I elected to read instead.

Just before shops were forced to close and with no clear inkling that they would close, I went to the garden centre and bought grass seed to reseed a bit that had suffered over the winter, lots of bags of soil, Lawn Weed & Feed and a few packets of salad seeds. I wanted to grow some peppers but the new season seeds weren’t in so I thought I’d wait. Little did I know that the next day all non-essential outlets closed down.

I wanted to grow some peppers but the new season seeds weren’t in so I thought I’d wait. Little did I know that the next day all non-essential outlets closed down. Today, I’ve found I can get them delivered by Amazon so normal life can be restored. We’re certainly going to eat a lot of salad this summer.

It’s beginning to look as if this is the first time I won’t need my automatic watering system because I’ll be at home to do it myself. If we survive this pandemic, we’re going to spend years criss crossing the globe while we can!

Thursday, 2nd April, 2020

Up early in a fairly mild morning and out to Tesco. We were there by just after 7.00 am for an 8.00 am opening. By the time the store opened, people were queueing (socially-spaced) round the carpark perimeter. We weren’t. We were second in the queue. It is lucky, however, that the weather has been so benign because queueing outside would certainly hit many of us. 

The shelves were well stocked and we could get what we wanted including skimmed milk which delighted me. The latest innovation was arrows stuck on the floors everywhere illustrating the direction of travel to maintain safe spacing.

Since this crisis started, I’ve been genuinely puzzled why NHS staff have been desperate to obtain face masks but the general population have been told that they are pointless or positively dangerous. Immediately the virus was announced, I ordered facemasks online and received them from China. It took strength of self belief to wear them when we go out near people but we did when few around us followed suit. Today, we are told that this policy is being reviewed in the light of research in other countries which have always found them more culturally acceptable and where the virus appears more contained. It seems essentially sensible to construct a barrier against air-borne-virus spores however imperfect. Received wisdom seems to be catching up with me.

The Greeks have been scrabbling to avoid Covid-19 insinuating itself on to the islands. Today we learnt that 6 refugees on Lesvos have tested positive and, on Mykonos, a 69 year old Greek woman who has not been abroad nor know anyone recently who has been abroad. That is really serious because it means that a secret spreader lives on the island. It means that this is not going to be contained at the moment. It is very hard to see Greek islands open themselves to international tourism safely within the next 4 months. If they manage to keep an island Covid-9 free at the moment, they will have built up no immunity to survive the tourist onslaught.

To add to their problems, snow has fallen heavily in Thessalonika. You can certainly say that Greek Easter is cancelled this year and Greek Summer is likely to go the same way.

Friday, 3rd April, 2020

I know you will find this weird but I check two, financial apps every morning. Actually, I check the £/€ rate a number of times a day. It is a carry over from buying/selling property in Greece. These were crucial times and made a big difference in getting it right. We also check our bank account/credit card statement every morning. Pauline updates her ‘Money Program‘ records. We are always up to date and have been for the past 40 years. This morning, HomeAway had paid our deposit for a property in Tenerife back into our account because we can’t complete the transaction. This is a company who deserve to be recognised for their integrity. We will certainly book with them again as soon as this pandemic is over.

These are difficult times for everyone We went out in mid morning to Worthing town to Wilko’s to purchase some garden products. I managed to get seeds, lawn food and plant food to tide me over. Even here, there was a measured, queueing process but we soon worked through the store and were on our way home. We stopped at the seaside for a few minutes fresh air and a walk. It was delightful and enjoyable.

Back home, we sat in the peaceful sunshine with a glass of wine to celebrate some anniversaries. It is exactly 11 years ago today since we last went to work. On this day in 2009, we drove away from our school for the last time, reached home and felt the extreme anti-climax of retirement. This is what I wrote:

We have retired! Pauline & I left our School at 1.00 pm today after 37 years of loyal service. We cleared our desks and the Office we shared, gave our kettle and fridge away, left our keys in the draw and walked out. It was a very strange experience and soon became totally anticlimactic. We left a couple of years early without loss of pay which suits us fine. Now on with our lives…

Exactly 11 years ago and via Yorkshire and Surrey, almost 4 years ago today, we moved into our new home in Sussex. The kitchen was furnished with old, garden dining furniture which now has disappeared to the junk yard in the sky. It seems so long ago. If we have to be in relative ‘lock down’, we couldn’t ask for a nicer prison.

Saturday, 4th April, 2020

Up early on what is forecast to be a lovely weekend. For us, it is going to be a gardening weekend. Jobs include:

• Final pruning of hydrangeas;
• Tidying and weeding of side beds;
• Cutting the lawns plus feeding them;
• Tidying up and feeding herb pots;
• Opening up the fig trees;
• Sowing salad seeds – various lettuce leaves outside and tomatoes started off inside;
• Cleaning the patio flags.

Of course, we will be still going out for our walk in the sunshine. It is amazing how civil and friendly a pandemic can make strangers. When we walk on narrow village paths, people coming the other way stand back to let us through while keeping a safe distance. Even driving in the car, it is noticeable hat others are far more charitable than normal. Of course, part of it is because the stress of work and time-pressure has been removed.

How times have moved on. Exactly 11 years ago today, we woke up early on our first day of Retirement, went out to buy Euros, put the house to bed and set off for Manchester airport. We had hand luggage only because we were going to our house on Sifnos. We were catching an Olympic Airlines flight which left at 10.30 pm.

Olympic, famously once owned by Onassis and the national carrier of Greece, was a really good service to Athens. Unfortunately, we caught one of its last flights. It ceased trading 6 months later. Actually, this was our last flight to Greece for another 5 years as we drove there and back until we sold our property.

Sunday, 22nd March, 2020

These are (almost) unprecedented times. It is hard to understate the position. The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe in recent history. It spread worldwide during 1918-1919. Although it is not certain where the virus originated and it was commonly known as Spanish Flu, it is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide. My mother-in-law (b. 1914) and my Dad (b. 1915) lived through it. We hope we have inherited their strength.

It feels as if life is changing swiftly and radically and in a way that we may take a long time to turn back.

It was hard to compute the immediacy of this beautiful day with the ongoing climate of fear as the pandemic takes hold. We walked down to the beach at East Preston in sheer, opulent sunshine, delighting in the moment while holding the future in our heads.

Pauline had slow-cooked the most wonderful garlic chicken with root vegetables and sage & onion stuffing for our meal. After staggering home from a 2 hour walk, it tasted like nectar. We are so lucky and we can’t bear to think that our fortune will be threatened by this virus.

Monday, 23rd March, 2020

What bitter/sweet irony these days are portraying. These are days in which oxymoron is exteriorised. Indoors the radio and television news, the newspapers, websites and social media all scream: Virus, Pandemic, Isolate … Outside, the world purrs: Beauty, Freedom, Blue Sky Purity and Strong, Warm, Health-giving Sunshine. We thank our lucky stars that we are in such a lovely, uncrowded place with such good medical support. We are so lucky not to be in Greece on an island with no hospital and hardly any doctors. We are so lucky to have moved from Surrey in an area dense with people many of whom travel in and out of central London daily.

We were out at Tesco at 6.00 am today. The carpark was fairly quiet. The store was reasonably quiet and everything was available. They actually had milk, sides of fresh salmon, fresh sweet corn, lettuce, tomatoes, oranges, coffee, tea, all the staples of our life. Consequently, there was no panic buying. It felt very normal.

Last Saturday, Pauline went out to have her hair cut and, this morning, she has received a text to say the salon was now closed indefinitely. Today, I thought I would occupy my enforced home stay with some gardening so I went to the garden centre round the corner from my home to buy, seeds, soil, plant food, lawn reviver and broad leaf weed killer. That should keep me busy for a while which s fortunate because we later saw this header on their website. The world is closing down….. Hello World.

Tuesday, 24th March, 2020

The weather outside continues to taunt us. It is glorious outside. Clear, blue sky, strong sunshine, no breeze, warm – only 11C/52F but feels really comfortable in shorts and tee-shirt. Exercise today will include lawn mowing, patio sweeping, garden furniture uncovering and cleaning as well as a long walk in the sunshine.

I am not naturally an especially panicky person so you can imagine that I was absolutely alarmed this morning when I opened the bedroom door. I challenge anyone to be anything otherwise. As I opened the bedroom door I found a strange man sitting on a chair with another standing at his side waiting for me. They had come to take me away. How did they get in to my house?

Through the power of dreams. I was having a dream. I never dream or never remember dreaming. Clearly, I had gone to bed feeling under threat and insecure. These are uncertain times for all of us. Clearly, I have internalised this anxiety and it has sought an outlet and resolution. The dream was so vivid that hours later I could paint the scene that faced me on the other side of the bedroom door. I have surprised even myself.

When I opened my bedroom door in real time, I faced an emergency far more serious and immediate than any pandemic. Every television Sky Q Box in the house bar one had lost its internet connection. What a time to lose our window on the world. I wish I could said it was a dream but no. My first thought was that the mooted drop in web bandwidth that the crisis might engender as more home working was adopted may have been the cause. However, my internet connection still gave me 350 mbs download. 

I rushed around the house reconnecting everything. Thank goodness for the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button. Unfortunately, by the time they were all connected to the web, the handsets had lost their settings. It took me 20 mins to realise that. I had to check Google to be reminded how to reset them and, at last I could relax and just panic about the news of the virus pandemic.

Wednesday, 25th March, 2020

The beautiful, pandemic days go on. We opened the conservatory doors to the sunshine and I had my hair cut in the kitchen. My head feels great now. We went out to Littlehampton to buy fresh fish from the fisherman’s shed. The roads were very quiet and we were lulled in to a false sense of security. We called in at Asda en route. People were queuing around the car park at 2m intervals to get in and shop. We drove on. We came so Sainsbury’s and thought we’d try our luck. People were queuing around the car park at 2m intervals to get in and shop. We drove on. 

When we got to the pier at Littlehampton, it was clear that the fisherman was not open. 

Although there was plenty of traffic up and down the water, the blackboard outside the shed announced: Sold Out of Fish. So, all in all, not a very profitable trip other than a delightful walk.

As we drove home, we spotted a Tesco Express which had no admission policy but had a new delivery of bananas and milk which were on our ‘To Find’ list.

Back home, we enjoyed the weather in our back garden, sunbathing, gardening and relaxing. We went out for an hour’s walk in the locality. Later, we griddled chicken in the garden and DRANK WINE. Joy of joys! If I’m going to die, I’m not going to do it abstemiously.

Thursday, 26th March, 2020

You can’t maintain a Blog and ignore a pandemic at the moment. It is at the forefront of most of our minds. As the media constantly updates the number of people infected and the number who have died, as people roam the supermarkets manically hunting for food stuffs, as fellow humans cross the road to avoid those they once spoke to happily, I have been wracking my mind or an echo that has been chiming there. Last night, it suddenly dawned on me. 

In 1975 I was a young teacher working hard during the day and doing a distance learning degree at night. I had little time for television but one thing really gripped me. It was a post-apocalyptic, serial drama created by a man called Terry Nation who was also famous for creating the Daleks in Dr Who and a space drama called Blake’s 7. Fiction does little for me. Science Fiction leaves me cold. I have absolutely no interest at all. Genuine ‘scoping’ of can grip me and one burned into my imagination. 

In 1975, Terry Nation’s drama, Survivors, was broadcast on BBC1. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an apocalyptic plague pandemic, which was accidentally released by a Chinese scientist and quickly spread across the world via air travel. Referred to as “The Death”, the plague kills approximately 4,999 out of every 5,000 human beings on the planet within a matter of weeks of being released. Total anarchy reigned. Small pockets of survivors roamed the streets searching for food and water with no services being run no electricity, no fresh water, etc. Armed vigilantes were the biggest threat, ransacking deserted supermarkets and terrorising others who challenged them. If you thought the current situation was bad, it could all get a great deal worse.

Of course, in a crisis, it’s wonderful to have a wife who can bake. This happens every week in our household and has done for the past 40 years. The smell pervades the whole kitchen and gives a confident, relaxing feeling.

Friday, 27th March, 2020

A beautiful, sun-filled day but cooled by an edgy sea breeze. I have spent a large chunk of the day organising and collecting in payments for travel over the coming year that we are now unlikely to enjoy. Already, the IHG Hotel group has refunded bookings for two weeks in Yorkshire and France. Today, I have been addressing two separate months stays through HomeAway in Tenerife. The first is in May and the second in November. It looks as if May is definitely out of the question. Spain currently has a complete lock-down and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises against it. If that advice remains for a couple more weeks, we can cancel with full refund. 

Our November trip can be cancelled with full refund of our deposit at this early stage and that’s what we have done. If the situation clears up by then, we will consider rebooking.  We still have a week in Athens in late August booked. Greece is also in total lockdown currently and we may have to rethink our plans. However, I have not failed to touch Greek soil in any year since 1981 and I will fight hard to keep that link going. It will have to be really serious to make me miss this year.

Our bank balance is beginning to look swollen but our hopes for the year are diminishing. Who knows, good things may come out of all this but first we have to stay alive.

Saturday, 28th March, 2020

The world is quiet – almost in a coma.  In our area, at least, people are respecting the request to stay at home and, largely, stay indoors. It has been made really ironic as the weather is quite delightful This has been beach weather, near a beach but one which is quiet and largely deserted.

It is hard to see tourist areas recovering in time for this year’s summer season. It is hard to see many airlines, hotels and restaurants surviving this trauma.

Sunday, 15th March, 2020

Half way through March and all is not well with the world. Pandemic is a scary word and it coincides with a year when we have been voraciously booking trips away. We are now, cautiously retracting our reach in the attempt to recoup as much of our financial commitment as we can. Goodness knows how the tourist industry will survive this carnage. 

For many years, I have been observing the precariousness of a country’s GDP relying so heavily on their tourist industry with specific reference to Greece. Stavros always shrugged such views off and believed that it was the eternal gift that kept on giving. Certainly, in spite of lean and fat years, people like him could always expect to make a good living out of it. The apocalyptic events of this year might just give him pause for thought. Italy is in lock-down. Spain is in lock-down, Greece is almost there with cafes and restaurants and bars closed until after the (income generating) Easter period. 

Borders are closing across Europe and we are being told that this extreme position could last until the end of the year. All cruise ships are banned from Greece as are ferries from Italy which bring the largest part of pan-European traffic. Americans are banned from flying to Europe and flights are stopped to and from Spain. The Greek Tourism Federation is warning that Most tourism companies will fold without support. Where will that support come from? Germany is on the brink of recession as it is. Greece can’t afford to save itself. The apocalypse may not only be medical. It may be economic as well.

Much of the current received wisdom is that this virus will be with us until the end of the year and is likely to mutate and revisit next year. Restrictions being put in place at the moment may stay in place for two years. Island businesses are unlikely to stay afloat in those conditions and will retreat to subsistence living.

On a much more serious note, my tarragon looks as if we haven’t had a Winter season at all. Come to think of it, we haven’t. Last March, it looked like a pile of dry, old sticks. This year it is green, vibrant and ready to flavour my chicken. I may be about to die an untimely death but I will certainly smell delightfully of a hint of aniseed!

Monday, 16th March, 2020

Beautiful day of blue sky and warm sunshine. We have spent it planning our near future in the light of developments. We have cancelled our trips to Yorkshire, France, Tenerife. We still have Athens on the books. It is a bit depressing but necessary. We are going to freeze our Health Club membership for …. 9 months although we can unfreeze it at any time. This is a major change to our way of life.

We have done a good workout by walking in the local area today. Actually, I was shattered after a couple of hours of rigorous effort. This virus pandemic looks likely to last well in to this year and, maybe, in to next. It will certainly curtail our way of life. The only remaining trip we have on the books at the moment is one to Greece and that is currently in serious doubt. The Greeks have seen a large rise in confirmed cases of infection and anyone entering the Country is to be put in two weeks’ quarantine. It makes any sense of a week’s holiday impossible.

Actually, I’ve found a positive to this virulent lock down. The Metropolitan Opera, New York is in isolation but is committed to providing entertainment for those of us at home. 

Bizet’s Carmen on Monday, Puccini’s La Boheme on Tuesday, followed by Il Travatore, La Traviata, Lucia de Lammermoor and so on, night after night of free streaming. I am going to be in heaven. I don’t want isolation to stop.

Tuesday, 17th March, 2020

Is it only Tuesday? It’s seemed such a long week already. Today has been spent disentangling ourselves from commitments over the year. We’ve already received reimbursements from 2  hotels. We’ve cancelled one other in Tenerife. We are hoping a Greek one can be held on to for late in the summer. We have been to the Health Club and suspended our membership for 9 months. It has really hurt us to do it but we can go back at any time. When we went in today to sign the suspension forms, we found the carpark nearly empty which confirmed our decision. The whole process is fraught with risk as we exercise.

As we withdraw from travel abroad, we have also cancelled trips to friends across UK as well. It is sad that life should come to this but needs must. In response, we have decided to invest our cash at home. We had intended to do this in later age when our travelling times were much reduced but now seems as good a time as ever. We have been talking about establishing a more formal, garden kitchen. Currently, we store our cooking equipment in the garage – Griddle, Hob and Deep fat Fryer – and move it in to the garden when we need it. Now, we will explore the idea of expanding the patio paving, putting a cook house at the back of the garage and running power and lighting to it so that we can establish a permanently set up kitchen.

This project will mean adding a paved area, extending a power feed with lighting and extending Wi-Fi reach to the furthest point of the garden.

En route to the ‘Shed Place’, we visited Sainsburys and Asda. It was a strange, strange experience rather akin to Christmas without the excitement. We were there about 8.00 am but already the shelves were bare. People – mainly older – were limping around the aisles, using their shopping trolleys as warlike missiles and with manically glazed over eyes. Anybody would think we were in the grip of a pandemic. We wanted to buy tinned stuff for our local food bank but there was hardly any available. I don’t blame anybody for this. If you are told to isolate yourself for months on end, why wouldn’t you try to buy up the world’s stock of tinned food? We did that two weeks ago!

Wednesday, 18th March, 2020

Quite a grey, overcast day today although not cold. We are busily doing paperwork which we’ve been putting off. I’m also going to do some garden tidying to breathe some fresh air in to my lungs and raise the heart rate a bit. 

We have a Sainsbury’s superstore in Rustington. It looked far less than ‘super’ last night according to our local media. If a major concern like this cannot keep up with demand then who can?

Greeks have a centralised control in these circumstances although they are not always peripherally observed. Supermarkets are being handed strict opening times by government. The aim is a laudable one. Mandatory extension of supermarket opening hours discourages panic shopping and aids shops to encourage shoppers to maintain the advisory 2 metres between each other. 

Of course, what makes sense in Athens, doesn’t quite do it on Sifnos. What is a large supermarket in the capital is a very small, corner shop on the islands. Not only do islanders regard Athens with sceptical disdain but the are inclined to follow tradition over central government diktat. However, the island has published Athens guidelines for all supermarket/corner shops to follow.

This has included opening times a social distancing. If you shopped in one of these places, you know that the crowds would have to be restricted to 2 shoppers at one time because of the restricted space.

Kathimerini reports fears that Greece will miss out on the tourist season completely this year as major international tour operators such as Tui, AG and the FTI Group suspend operations and payments. The Americans have already isolated Europe and now added UK. Airlines are collapsing their schedules because of lack of takers. This summer is going to be a wasteland for islands like Sifnos.

Thursday, 19th March, 2020

Out early on a grey day with fine, wetting rain. We were on our way to do our regular, weekly shop. Interestingly, there was nothing regular about this. Although the carpark was fairly quiet and it was reasonably early in the morning, the shelves in this superstore were very empty. It was a good job we didn’t want any potatoes because there was not a single one for sale. We didn’t need fresh fish and there was not fresh fish at all. We did want a fresh chicken but there was nothing available.

Pauline was keen to get a couple of packets of paracetamol but none was there. So, we moved on to staples like porridge oats for Pauline’s breakfast. Usually, there are about 8 different brands. Today, not a single bag/packet of any brand could be found on the shelves. We actually will need fresh milk soon. Long ago, we bought in packets of dried milk for just this eventuality. Just as well because Tesco had no milk at all. We decided to go on to Sainsbury’s. No milk. On to Morrisons. No milk. What is going on?

We even went back to Tesco later in the hope that they had restocked. We are being told there is plenty of supply, supermarkets are constantly restocking but these are soothing words to dampen down panic demand. The evidence behind them is not there. 

We suspended our Health Club membership yesterday. It was costing us £150.00/€161.00 per month. We were told by our contract that we could freeze up to 9 month but it would cost us 25% of our charges each month – £37.50/€40.25. Today, all members received an email saying that all conditions were being waived. We can freeze for as long as is necessary at no cost at all. Later, we heard that Health Clubs and Gyms were closing entirely across the country. We feel justified in our actions.

Friday, 20th March, 2020

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The Second Coming – W.B.Yeats 1919

The clown that is our prime minister has had to face the fact the country will need strategies that would look very much more at home on the shoulders of the Labour leadership. Centralised salaries have been announced today that will cost the country £Billions and will saddle the young with debts that will long outlast my lifetime. Bailing out businesses and citizens, ordering the closure of huge swathes of the country’s commercial activity is not natural, Tory activity. Much of this was in Labour’s last manifesto. As so many are pointing out, it will be hard to retreat from this if it remains in place for a couple of years as is likely.

Our Health Club is now compulsorily closed and so are bars, restaurants and other mass gatherings. Sport has gone. Most airlines are virtually gone. Most European destinations are locked down. The command economy is suddenly in vogue.

Don’t bother going to Greece for a quick break. Anyone entering the country has to go into compulsory quarantine for 14 days. Not very conducive to a short break! Ferries are confined to carrying freight. Strict rules about supermarket shopping

The Greek government today stressed the perils of leaving cities for the islands and countryside ostensibly to escape the spreading of the coronavirus epidemic, with the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, warning Greeks to stay put. Whether the Greek state have the financial strength to support its huge pool of poor and unemployed remains to be seen.

Saturday, 21st March, 2020

A glorious but cold day with a sharp, sea breeze. Pauline knew she was taking a risk but decided it was worth it to have a last haircut before the complete ‘lockdown’. We had to go in to Worthing for that. The appointment was at 9.00 am. It was very quiet. I usually sit in the coffee shop while Pauline is busy. Today, all coffee shops were dark and empty. I walked the chilly streets looking for toilet rolls.

Pauline came back looking lovely and 10 years younger – so money well spent. At the butchers in the precinct, a queue had formed and snaked about 100 metres across the concourse. It was orderly and quiet even though the ones at the back were likely to end up with very little.

Although the day continued to look gorgeous, it remained cold. However, come rain or shine, it is now our new gym. We put our jumpers on and set out for a long walk around our local area. Actually, the village and its surrounding area is quite delightful. It is good to be forced to explore it.

In spite of the temperature, we griddled tuna steaks outside and ate them with salad as the sun streamed in through the conservatory doors. Virus or no virus, we have a modus vivendi to maintain!

Sunday, 8th March, 2020

The world is full of virus. It is on the streets, in the newspapers, on the broadcast media and the digital media. It is talked about everywhere. I found this statistical probabilities table published yesterday and breathed a sigh of relief that I was not yet 70. Could have been a death sentence.….

We are determined to follow our travel plans until something else stops us. Really only cancellation of flights will do that.

Outside, Spring is getting on with its job in spite of the weather rather than because of it. The plants around the front of the house know they only get one chance each year to impress and have gone for it.

Who knows what the year will bring. We need to make the best of it and that means going away and exploring the world in all its glories.

Monday, 9th March, 2020

Catherine is 65 today! Can you believe it? Mum gave many members of our huge family affectionate nick names. Liz was temporarily Lizzy Dripping, Michael was Mynel (presumably because he couldn’t pronounce his own name.) Bob was Boggart (Boggart is one of numerous related terms used in English folklore for either a household spirit or goblin aka bogeyman.) Catherine was known, amongst other things and only temporarily, as Katy-Cush. I thought it was just a lightly alliterative term of endearment. 

I’ve done some research and I think I know where this came from. Our family were avid listeners to The Home Service on the BBC in the 1950s -1960s. The Archers, of course, was essential listening for some. Sing Something Simple with Cliff Adams and the Adams Singers on The Light Programme was a weekly source of group singing. As Mum had so many young children on the production line of that era, Listen with Mother was a favourite.

This was too late for Catherine to be listening but Mum was probably dealing with child No 7 – Caroline – by then and been attracted by the name. I can’t remember if I had a nickname but it certainly wouldn’t have been complimentary.

Tuesday, 10th March, 2020

Although I think this is generally true of me, it is a reaction heightened by Retirement. I am talking about the patterns of life we fall in to. I remember driving the 15 miles to work across the Pennines each day and, after a while of that action, arriving at School without much memory of the drive. The 30 mins had been spent in my head, planning the day, anticipating the evening, dreaming of the future and ignoring the present.

In retirement and without the varying demands of the day, we get drawn in to patterns of activity which occupy the space of the day normally filled by employment. We wake up at 6.00 am with the Today programme.. We get up at 7.00 am. We have out tea and orange juice with the Today programme. We discuss the jobs/activities we hope to accomplish in the following few hours. We leave for the Health Club at 11.45 am and exercise for 80 mins with Politics Live. Maybe 30 mins swimming outside followed by 30 mins in the Spa and we are driving home about 2.45 pm where we cook our meal. This is our modus vivendi.

Although we are aware of this narrowing regimen, generally, it pleases us. We do sometimes feel embarrassed about it. However, we break out by travelling for a good proportion of the year However, the reassuring warmth of our routine means that any spanner in the works can be really annoying. This morning I got up to find all the mini-Sky Q boxes had lost connection with the hub. I could get no reception at all. I had to charge round the house disconnecting all the boxes, powering them all back up and then getting them to talk to the main box. Fortunately, this is now much easier through the WPS (wireless protected setup) button. Even so, the gentle, morning routine was destroyed. 

The thing is, we all (or many of us) go through these stages. I particularly like this development of David as he transitioned from ‘bearded like the pard‘ student to young, worker starting out on the next 40-50 years of his life in employment. The other thing is, it makes me feel so old and left behind.

Wednesday, 11th March, 2020

Out early this morning. Pauline has a appointment at the Beauty Clinic. I am reduced to walking the streets. Rustington is a lovely but retiring town of gardens, colourful planters, old fashioned shops and banks and lots of old people. It is rather a ‘chintzy’ little place. It is within walking distance of the beach that so many of the old people retired to. Quite a few shops that have disappeared from very modern High Streets still feature here. Going in to Boots, W.H.Smith’s, etc. feels a bit like the old days. 

Anyway, after Pauline reappeared, we went on to Littlehampton Pier which runs along the junction between the River Arun and the sea. The Riverside Fish cabin had been recently stocked up with fresh and locally caught fish and so had the delivery lorries going off to the Surrey markets.

We have been discussing it for a few days but finally made a momentous decision today. We are going to keep away from the Health Club for a while. We have noted over the past few days that everything we do brings us close to other members. There are so many surfaces, handles, etc. that we touch that avoiding potential contamination is impossible. While we are not the most susceptible, we are aging primates and need to taken sensible precautions. 

One of our exercise ‘friends’/companions on a regular basis is a BA Air Hostess who specialises in the Heathrow-Hong Kong route. As China’s virus epidemic exploded, we had the difficult problem of how to react to her. Should we stop and talk? Should we keep our distance? The Chinese experience of Coronavirus transmission is that gymnasiums have proved fertile ground for the reasons I’ve suggested. Today, we have walked by the sea in the morning and round the village in the afternoon. We will build that in to our daily routine for a while. Even so, I’ve missed my gym visit today.

Thursday, 12th March, 2020

We were supposed to be going to Yorkshire at the end of March and to France almost immediately afterwards. Both trips were using IHG Group hotels. I have been a Gold Card member for a few years now. Today, they contacted me to say I could cancel unconditionally in the light of the pandemic virus. We are thinking it over this evening. It affects March/April.

Today, we went out to Elmer Beach for a walk. Last time we went, the tide was out and our walk was absolutely wonderful. Today, we hadn’t checked the tide tables. The tide was in and angry. We couldn’t walk much and returned home after a short visit.

We spent an hour walking round our village. The wind was quite strong and cold today although the temperature reading was 12C/54F. At least we did our target for the day.

Friday, 13th March, 2020

Friday 13th – doesn’t feel auspicious. We have begun to retract from our year of travel. We had a week in Yorkshire in March/April and a week in France at the end of April already booked. Our hotels were through my IHG membership. Yesterday, they wrote to me to say that I was entitled to cancel without penalty because of the pandemic. Having considered it over night and erring on the side of caution, I cancelled both this morning. We will continue with our bookings for Tenerife in May and November as long as government advice doesn’t exclude it. We will probably make a one day shopping trip to France in the next week.

Our alternative to a gym workout today has been walk down to the beach. It takes about 30 mins to walk down to Angmering-on-Sea beach. It is a pleasant walk through the village, past Gladstone Cottages, over  …

…  the railway. Next we walk through the Kingston Private Estate and down to the beach.

When we got to the beach, it was largely isolated. Occasionally, a dog and walker appeared but, mainly, we had it to ourselves. 

After 30 mins pavement pounding, I was more tired than 40 mins on a jogging machine. We rested on a beach bench and enjoyed the sea air before setting off for home.

Saturday, 14th March, 2020

Doctors’ surgery phone this morning to tell me not to go in for my annual review. They will phone me instead. Suits me fine. Our exercise today is a walk to East Preston beach. It is beautiful today, sunny and deserted. 

East Preston thinks of itself as a ‘select’ part of the area. In reality, it is ‘old select’. Faded but with fading money, East Preston is dissolving in to coastal retirement. It features private estates which are not strictly ‘private’ but have struggled to maintain that aura. All the ‘private’ signs sit juxtaposed with ‘public footpath’ signs.

I was absolutely shattered when we arrived home and my watch indicated that we had walked 7 miles. We griddled swordfish steaks outside in the warm, sunny garden and sank in to relaxation. Missing the football already.