Spent half an hour weeding the potatoes and strawberries - fine way of thinking up the next step in the solution I was working on.

Sun ≤1
HOT
Windy

0 Sun
HOT

That card from C had an unexpected £20 in it. Weird because I haven't really seen cash for about 2 months. Kind of him though.

They actually had yeast in the Tesco Express, the first time I've seen any for about 3 months.

First quarter moon.

Sun
Typical 3 Ci, Cu
Warm

C came round with what he described as a belated birthday card at lunchtime - I put the plastic garden chair in the front garden for him and we had a distanced chat, mostly about Survivors.

Typically 2 Sun
HOT

Took the car for a 15-minute spin to Steeple Sinderby and back. That's the first time in 10 weeks I've been anywhere more than 1½ miles from home. Felt very odd when I got to Sinderby without having done any walking.

Then walked round the park first with dad, then mum, keeping 2m from each. Nice to talk to someone who isn't on a screen. Then they witnessed my will, again at a distance.

Some sun
HOT

Much sun
HOT

Typically 2 Sun
HOT

In the notes part of my purse found a bit of paper with 'pencil for pink rucksack' written on it. It's a note I made while on holiday in Glasgow - and it's still in the purse because I came home Mon Mar 9, and the pasta ran out Thu Mar 12, and I don't think I've paid cash for anything since that week.

Some sun

At 'survival' level I've got 26 weeks' supplies - 6 months.

Sun 2-7 Cu
Windy
HOT

To the Co-op: I was the only customer, the first time that's happened since the plague started.

Some sun
Breezy
->
Much sun
HOT
Windy

COVID test result came through: negative. That's a relief.

0815 LARGE DROPS OF RAIN
Sun HOT
Gradually becoming cloudier
Breezy

Am finding work and the weather and the neighbours and the shutdown really stressful at the moment.

Haven't had my COVID test result yet. Another 3 days before it's overdue.

Had to have the fan on last night for the first time this year.

Sun HOT

The stuff I ordered online on Sunday arrived, including pulse oximeter (the finger-clip thing they used on me in hospital, which measures pulse and blood oxygen, the latter being very important if you get COVID).

14°C overnight
Sun 0
HOT
Gradually more cloud
Breezy

Administered the COVID test, with an intrusive mental picture of Paul in Survivors injecting himself with tetracycline. Courier came for it about 10.30.

Sun
4 Ci, Cu
Breezy

Sun Cu
Breezy

Ac, Ci, Sc
Some sun
1630 SHORT SHOWER

1100 8 Cool
->
1500 Cu Sun
->0

Had to endure a lecture from B about being rude. Another tech milestone memory to treasure, the first time I got a bollocking via zoom.

Typically 6 Cu Sun
Breezy
Cool

Whole food order came - 8kg of rice and 2kg of wheat grains. The poor DPD bloke could hardly carry it.

0800 Sun
--->8

Much colder today, and bright.

Sun Cold
Typically 4 Cu
WINDY N

Interesting Zoom chat with mum and dad in the morning. Mum remembered Seymour on Self-sufficiency as something everyone was talking about in 1975, and later I saw the book was pictured in a Radio Times promotional article about Terry Nation for the week Survivors started.

Sun at first
->8 S
Cooler
WINDY

Too hot for a coat in the morning. Didn't have to queue to get into Wilkinsons or Boots, which was very welcome, but a lot of people seemed to have unilaterally decided social distancing had finished. Probably more people barging into my 2m circle than on any previous occasion.

Lot of extraordinary images of people holding street parties yesterday, as if the plague had magically disappeared. It's ironic; had those people been in WW2 they'd probably have refused to black their houses out.

Last night started watching The Good Life, which I find is exactly contemporary with Survivors, having first gone out 12 days earlier. Some lines really do resonate, especially the one about self-sufficiency making them free.

Much sun
Hot

Much sun
Warm

Much sun
Warm
Ci

Another beautiful day. Did 10 minutes' weeding on the potato patch late in the afternoon, before watering it. Strawberries coming along wonderfully.

While I was attending to the potato patch spoke to neighbours over the fence. I said, re the shutdown, that I liked the peace and quiet, but that it would be nice to see more people, which no doubt would both have been my sentiments in Survivors.

Wonderful Full Moon in the evening. Swifts flying fast and very low.

Sun
2-4
Breezy

Rather nice day, not too hot.

Sun
2-4 Cu
Cool
Breezy

Did as little work as possible today, as I object to the Tories cancelling the May Day bank holiday.

Sun
Cu bubbling up, to c.1400, then reducing

Had zoom chats with L last night, and mum and dad today. This is the future!

8
DROPS OF RAIN at times

To town in the morning. Still can't get over how deserted it is. At 10.30am I was the only person in the square, my footsteps were echoing.

--->1500 4 Cu Sun

MAY DAY.

Sun and SHOWERS