Normally I'd be up in Norfolk with the rest of the family, but that's not an option this year so the collective Sunday roast will have to wait.
Number of days since I last had a face-to-face conversation with ...my brother: 107 ...a member of the family: 34 ...BestMate: 32 ...someone whose name I know: 20 ...someone: 6
It's OK, I have a blaze of daffodils to brighten my dining table, plus I remembered to buy Creme Eggs so I have chocolate to unwrap.
Plus I'm allowed to do my daily exercise, which means repeated jaunts up the Olympic Park and back. I'm fortunate to have such a varied landscape on my doorstep, which has helped prevent trips from getting too repetitive.
Fortuitously lockdown has coincided with the onset of spring, and I've been able to watch this unfold in a way I never normally would, focusing on day to day changes in one location rather than several.
From bare branches to buds to sprouting leaves, the Olympic Park now has that first flush of light green foliage you only see at the start of spring, and it is glorious.
Blossom sparkles everywhere. The first bluebells of 2020 are poking through beside the mountain bike trail. Cowslips cover the waterside meadows. Horse chestnut trees light up with blooming candles.
And the birdsong has been spectacular, undulled by traffic noise or passing planes. I'm often out first thing in the morning and the avian soundscape is a proper treat, especially the blackbirds extemporising from the treetops.
What an awful waste to be spending almost all of this sunny spring indoors.
But what a joy to get outside and experience the changing of the seasons when we can.
