Woke up at 5:30, got ready for my morning run, warmed up. This morning it was 3° but without a breeze, so if felt much more reasonable (the BBC Weather app said that it felt like 0°, but I’m sure it was a bit warmer than that). My body felt much more cooperative this morning,…
All posts in March 2020
COVID World, Day Twelve
Still arctic in the morning: 1°, with harsh breezes, felt like -2° according to the BBC. My limbs were in rebellion for all the warm-up; it felt as though I had never run before in my life (‘What are these strange motions you are imposing on us?’). Nonetheless managed a 10:18, pushing ahead so as…
COVID World Eleven (A)
Somehow I got into the habit of writing these entries retrospective to the day after things actually happened, so beginning now I’ll write about the actual, you know, day advertised in the title of the entry. So, this morning I took my morning run in 3° weather with icy breezes. Honestly, if they’re going to…
COVID World, Day Eleven
A mostly calm, pleasant day. I worked on my reading patience, puttered about the internet, cleaned up some pens that had been waiting for my attention since term time, and Margaret took a long afternoon walk around South Park, exultant in the capacity of her new knees to propel her long distances with relatively little…
COVID World, hê Dékatê hÊméra
Yesterday went satisfactorily. I had college admin work to do, a staff meeting (by Zoom) and various follow-up errands. I didn’t have much time for reading — those FB and Twitter threads about the plague won’t read themselves — but I felt moderately productive, considering the challenges in trying to decompress from a manic Hilary…
COVID World, Neunter Tag
A fine day, with Margaret availing herself of her exercise day by taking a promenade to South Park, where she encountered (but did not come within safe distance of) a dear friend. I continued working on my long-reading. [Quorn] Pepper steak and veg for dinner, and a couple of episodes of The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel.…
Persuasion
One has no hesitation in correcting somebody whose age (a child), or station (such as a student), or lack of pretence to expertise render them entirely dependent on more learned interlocutors for sound knowledge. I can argue with somebody about Javanese astrology, but since I am perfectly ignorant on the topic, I have to concede…
Newman to His Aunt
How strange it is, I wish I could describe it, to stand in a house which was so much to me, as that house was, and it so different, and I so different! Whatever good there is in me, I owe, under grace, to the time I spent in that house, and to you and…
COVID World, Day 9
Yesterday went somewhat more gently for us. Margaret is working on a jigsaw puzzle on loan from our neighbours, I sent off the EBR entry-ette, I worked on cultivating my capacity to read for longer intervals; I did some odds and ends tidying-up of my laptop directory, and succumbed to the usual stress-browsing of the…
COVID World, Day Eight
Yesterday was a cabin-feverish (not COVID-feverish, thank heaven) sort of day. I tried to get some practice long-reading, but that didn’t go anywhere; Margaret got some writing done, but we were both unsettled and a bit on edge. M went for a late-afternoon walk, and I finished up my ultra-short note on ‘“Mercy” in Popular…
Corona World, Jour Septième
The Prime Minister has looked at our practice and has decided that the whole nation would benefit from emulating us. From now on, all Britain will be confined to quarters (as it were) except for one venture outdoors for exercise and one grocery trip per week (and of course, medical emergencies). Since that has been…
Corona World, Day Six
Yesterday went largely as one might have expected. In the afternoon, Josiah and Thomas checked in. We read, wrote, watched a film (Timescape, a time-travel film with an interesting twist, but Jeff Daniels couldn’t carry mediocre direction and a lacklustre cast) and tested some television viewing from Amazon Prime. This morning dawned icy cold, so…