29 March 2020

Day 9 of isolation. The terrible news from Italy continues. Today it was reported that 51 Italian doctors who tested positive for the coronavirus have died.

Today it's very cold but dry. I did a bit of gardening and ran the campervan for a while to make sure the battery was still fully charged. It doesn't look like we'll be going away in it anytime soon.

28 March 2020

It's still dry and sunny but its been much colder today and looks set to be for a few days. Still thinking how lucky we are that I have a half-decent pension and Susie is able to work from home.

A week since I went to the supermarket and still no symptoms. Keeping my finger crossed.

Here's a photo of me with my grandparents James and Ethel Thorp taken in 1960.

27 March 2020

We are still far from the peak of the coronavirus and the death toll is rising in the UK. The rows still go on. Not enough NHS staff have got proper PPE and this is still a big shortage of ventilators. There is a lack of testing. The government have failed but are likely to blame the public for still going out in numbers after restrictions and 'lockdown' was introduced. Not enough is being done to help the self-employed and there is a massive queue of people waiting to claim universal credit. There has been a much better situation in Germany where they have better medical facilities and a lot more testing.

This is a picture of Dad and me on one of our moorland walks nr Todmoreden taken in the late 1960s

26 March 2020

Worryingly it's becoming almost impossible to buy food online with all the slots being booked up. I should have mentioned earlier that we have set up a local support group to look after neighbours on Hartford Rd. We have a WhatsApp group and a Facebook page. One of them, Jane, kindly bought us a few groceries.

Went for a walk by the river and found this on the pavement less than 100 yards from our house.

25 March 2020

Bright, sunny and warm weather continues. Its been about 17 degrees today - almost like summer. More gardening. So far I have planted potatoes, peas, courgettes, dwarf french beans, coriander, lettuce, lambs lettuce, onions, chillies and there is more to come.

The Hyacinths are looking good!

24 March 2020

To be frank I've been very jittery since my trip to the supermarket on Saturday. It was a genuinely scary experience. Not rammed but fairly busy and you could feel the tension in the air. However, I'm still OK - no symptoms and fingers crossed.

Given that the photos I can take are limited I'm going to start to include a few old family photos from now on. Here is a picture of my beautiful son Aaron. He is autistic and lives with his mother in London.

23 March 2020

Monday. More fine weather. More terrible news. More gardening.

I saw this beautiful Butterfly in our garden.

22 March 2020

Lots of news and none of it good but all my friends and family are OK so far. We're in regular touch by phone, Facetime and Messenger. The weather has been drier and warmer so I've been spending time in the garden getting my planting done. I am really enjoying gardening and its good for escaping from some of the terrible events in places like Italy and Spain.

The pots on the onion bed are there to stop Rio using it as a toilet!

21 March 2020

The crisis worsens. People are moaning about pubs being closed down. Panic buying continues. Many people are fearful.

Today I went out really early to the cash machine at our local coop. Having withdrawn cash I noticed that the shelves were looking pretty empty. So I decided to drive into town and check out the supermarkets. Waitrose and Sainsbury's looked OK from the outside but you can't see all the shelves. Then I went to Tesco and it was open. On a whim, I decided to go in. It was pretty busy for 6.10 in the morning. I hope I didn't make a mistake that I end up regretting 😟.

Here's a picture of my Grandfather clock. Time is ticking by.......

20 March 2020

More gardening today. Most of the beds are prepared. Planted seed potatoes and onions. It was colder today but at least it's dry.

Rishi Sunak has come out with another package for workers and businesses but it's not enough. Not much help for the self-employed. This all going to start really biting soon and he will have to take further action. At least now they have shut down the pubs.

19 March 2020

We went out for a walk by the river. I'm annoyed that people still aren't social distancing. The walkers we saw didn't keep six feet away but I did. They probably thought I was a bit weird.

Susie is lucky she can work at home. Oh, and it looks like the schools are finally being closed. About time. Let's hope ducks are affected by the Coronavirus.

18 March 2020

Did some work in the garden preparing the beds and planting the tomato seedlings. Pretty much in self-isolation now. We probably have enough to last a couple of weeks in we are careful. Still seeing stories about supermarkets being stripped bare - pretty grim. As usual, I left some bread out for the birds.

17 March 2020

The Coronavirus situation is becoming more critical by the day. The government still hasn't taken the necessary steps. Schools are still open and pubs are crowded. Things are bad in London.

Today I slipped out of isolation and made a trip to the garden centre. Had to get some compost and seeds in otherwise I would have had anything to plant. Tomorrow I start work on the garden.

Sprouts and cauliflower. These and tomatoes were the only seedlings they had

16 March 2020

I went to the garden centre today choosing one which is usually fairly quiet. My luck didn't hold - it was busy. But I managed to do a reasonable amount of social distancing.

Today is my Niece Georgia's birthday and the day I always remember my Dad who died five years ago today. Here he is at his 70th Birthday party with my Stepmum Carol. Happy days.

15 March 2020

Well, it looks like I'm not going to be going out very much in the next few weeks. So I plan to spend plenty of time working in my garden and I guess that's where most of the photos are going to come from.

It's a good job I love gardening and it's good to see the Rhubarb coming up.