Al Fresco

A strange day. At any other time, it would have been an almost perfect early spring Sunday. The sun was shining, the wind had lost some of its bite, early blossom is not hard to find and there are daffodils aplenty.

I woke up with a somewhat stuffy nose and immediately thought "uh oh". Temperature was a perfectly normal 36.2, and it was gone after my shower, After the morning ablutions, I went downstairs for a rare treat. A BLT with slightly stale bread, but the bacon grease and mayonnaise did a respectable job masking the fact. After that, it was a dog walk on a beautiful spring morning. In contrast to yesterday, I thought I would walk by the local Tesco Express to see how things were. I didn't get too close, but it was apparent that there were many empty shelves, however, there were some glimpses of greenery in the veg section and a few patches of red in the fresh meat fridge. Judging by a few grim if relieved looking shoppers, it is possible to at least purchase something to eat. Maybe the pressure is easing. I am not worried too much yet, but it is a nagging fear that the food supply won't improve and once the warehouses are empty, we could be in for a rough ride. Need to bury that thought for now. We actually got a delivery from Sainsbury's this afternoon thanks to Nozomi. We have enough.

I Facetimed Helen whilst walking to wish her a happy mother's day. She sounded better than the last time I spoke to her. She has had pneumonia since the beginning of the year and I strongly suspect it was a C19 infection, but she hasn't been tested for it. She spent some time with her mum Peggy, last week, so I hope not. She thinks it was the flu as she had symptoms around Christmas time. 

Anyway, the walk was good. There were people about, but we all kept a respectable distance from each other. In other parts of the country, this does not appear to be the case and I fear a total lock-down is not far off. 

When I got home, the garden was lovely and warm, so I got the outside table ready for lunch so that we could eat outside for the first time this year. We had chicken burgers and oven fries, Tomo ate his burger without complaint. A minor victory!

After cleanup, I prepared a space for Nozomi to work tomorrow. Had to drill a couple of holes to hang an adaptor so she can plug her laptop in. I didn't hit a water pipe or electrocute myself, so a successful job.

I had a long chat with dad whilst making dinner. He seems well, but he has got a list of shopping that he hopes Samantha can get for him. Worst case, assuming we are permitted, we can take him some things next week. He has a full freezer though. 

After a dinner of tebasaki (chicken wings), rice and broccoli we had a quick family meeting to hash out a study plan for Tomoki tomorrow. We will adapt it as we go, but the school gave us some good material to begin with.

Tomo and I practised playing Tarantella together for 20mins or so. He is really good at chord changes. I think we will have a respectable version in a few days or so.