Is it really only day two? Maybe it’s because I’ve been binge-watching old episodes of ‘Dr Who’ whilst scanning slides, but time seems to be rather elastic at the moment. One minute I’m looking at pictures from 1991, then watching a ‘Dr Who’ from 2006, then I’m back in the present day, not that the present seems any more real than anything else!

Both Dawn and I are trying to establish a routine. Dee’s up before 6am to do a Joe Wick’s workout routine in the living room whilst I take it slightly easier by having a coffee and checking the news before beginning the first picture scanning of the day. Then we normally get together for a meditation session before heading off to our respective home offices and knuckle down to several hours work. I’m lucky in that I have a bit more flexibility. Mainly because I have no commissioned work at the moment, which is obviously a double-edged sword. I didn’t mind quite as much today as the weather’s been gorgeous, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures that meant I could peel off several layers of clothing. It really did feel like Spring today, so I had a few hours tidying up the front garden before catching up on reading the latest RAIL magazine in the sunshine. For a moment I got lost. The only noise was the birds singing in the trees opposite, the sun was warming my skin and all was well with the world for one brief moment before I realised where I was and snapped back into reality.

There was no need for us to venture to the shops today so the pair of us enjoyed a walk together unfettered by the need to carry rucsacs. We’re lucky that we have a lovely bit of woodland to walk through on the road we live on. This takes us up to the Promenade on the edge of Halifax that looks across the Calder Valley. It’s a lovely place, but it gets abused by young people who drive out there to sit and smoke dope and/or congregate and play loud music – totally ignoring the residents who live across the road. Despite the supposed ‘lockdown’, this is still happening. I’m beginning to think that it’s going to take a couple of needless deaths from Coronavirus in the younger community before the message sinks in through some thick skulls.

It feels like many in Calderdale are complacent. To date there’s only been 7 confirmed cases in a population of over 210,000. It’s way below average, but I really don’t believe the stats present the true picture. I can’t help wondering how much of this is due to a lack of testing. Time will tell…

Meanwhile, here’s a more light-hearted moment although with a serious message. The Chiropodist in Siwerby Bridge has two skeletons that they use to put in various poses in order to get (often light-hearted) messages across. Here’s their current pose.