Easter

I was expecting the call. I'd noticed a spate of missed FB communications so I phoned back this pm. This is what happened:

Me: How are you?
Mum: You must be awful bored up there.
Me: Why?
Mum: Because you can't go out to work. You have to work from home.
Me: (Digesting this piece of amazing insight) Yes, but so does everyone else in the world.
Mum: Oh, yes, I suppose so - apart from them poor, unfortunate people stacking supermarket shelves.. I went to Aldi yester.... eerhh, last week. There was a queue! We had to stand 6 metres apart.
Me; Oh, right, so you kept your distance then?
Mum: Yes, I've been listening to Mike Hancock. (Big pause) So, ...we can't do anything or go anywhere then?
Me: No, not really. We're under strict orders from the government.
Mum: OK. I was wondering if you were thinking of coming down for Easter?...

I rest my case.

Tea and Digestives

And if I might offer you some advice, Fanny, it would be to read fewer books, dear, and make your house slightly more comfortable. That is what a man appreciates, in the long run. She cast a meaningful look at the plateless digestives, and went away without saying good-bye. (from Love in a Cold Climate)  

In Clover

And so we teeter on, walking a tightrope through the invisably infected air that swirls around us. Gloves on, hands washed, 2 metres apart, we tread our days - wishing for an end, that the planet would cease its revenge, that the air would become clear again and grant us our freedom, that the Earth would sigh and forgive us. 

During my evening walk yesterday, a fish jumped silently in the stream near the bridge.
Nature reclaiming itself and becoming one again.

And so the Earth came to a close,
Shut its eyes
And laid in repose.

(image: Dee Nickerson: 'In Clover')