Foulshaw Moss...

With the gout receding to nothing more than a dull ache, I was able to get out for a walk yesterday. Just a couple of miles - down to the river and back - but it was good to be out in the spring sunshine, and to hear the skylarks singing. I saw a heron, some little egrets and a cormorant. What’s the difference between a cormorant and a shag? Well, no one ever says “Fancy a cormorant?”.

Licenced yesterday: a bird-watcher at Foulshaw Moss, in South Lakeland...

Front line...

Anyone who is ‘breaking curfew’ and carrying on as though these were normal times, should read this account by a doctor working in an intensive care unit. This is what it really means to be on the ‘front line’.

Licensed today: a heartfelt plea... seen on the high street...

Silhouettes...

Just read a photo essay on the Guardian website, about the power of silhouetted figures in pictures: a rather niche subject, I imagine, for those who aren’t photographers. There are plenty of illustrative pix too, showing how a silhouetted figure, no matter how small within the picture area, immediately draws the eye. Here are three of my silhouette pix...

Room temperature...

Sunlight is pouring in through the arched windows of the Old Sunday School on another beautiful spring morning. Yet I know more about what’s happening in China, the USA, Spain, Italy and the rest of the UK than about what’s going on in the village. I’ve been assailed by gout for more than a week (hint: don’t ever get it!), but now, thankfully, the medication is kicking in… and the wild-haired old man in the mirror is no longer grimacing in pain.

Despite the news, which gets more depressing by the day, spring is bursting with new life and colour and birdsong. I heard a tawny owl hooting in the night. Last year I saw my first swallow on April 3, but I have yet to see the first swallow of what will no doubt be the strangest summer of my life. The weather forecast for today - like every other sodding day - is ‘room temperature’.

A pre-lockdown shot of St Botolph's Church in the village of Allerthorpe...

Fundamentalist fruitcakes...

A number of Evangelical churches in America are insisting on staying open for communal service, despite the lockdown mandated in most states. We might indulge their belief that the plague is a “hoax”, or a “conspiracy” by the left, or that the only way to counter coronavirus is by faith, if these actions only affected members of these churches. In fact, of course, by ignoring all thoughts of ‘social distancing’, these fundamentalist fruitcakes are endangering the lives of other people too.

The idea that “God will look after his own” might have a certain appeal… but only until a congregation is hit by the first positive test, then the first hospitalisation, then the first death. “Ah”, the righteous will insist, “their faith can’t have been strong enough”. This kind of religiously inspired denialism isn’t just self-delusion; it has unfortunate real-world consequences…

Lightshow...

Some people in self-isolation may be going ‘stir crazy’… but not me. I’m learning new skills every day. For example, I've discovered that there really is more than one way to skin a cat. Whenever the walls of the Old Sunday School start closing in on me, I distract myself by putting cutlery in the microwave. The lightshow can be quite impressive. Tomorrow I plan to lick the windows.

'Social distancing' on the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay...

Clattering pans...

The locals were out this evening, at 8pm, clapping, whooping and banging saucepans. I sat it out: not so easy to clap when you’re on crutches. And, anyway, it sounds self-indulgent to me. If I was a ‘front line’ worker in the NHS, what would I appreciate more: people making a lot of noise for two minutes, or having access to the personal protective equipment (PPE) that I need to deal with contagious patients? No amount of applause can compensate for that deficiency. The applause can come later, along with a renewed respect and appreciation for everyone who works in the NHS. Followed up by substantial pay-rises… to match their skills and dedication. 

Licensed today: Flatford Mill in Essex...