Suitably equipped for the fray
Jackie joined the queue at Tesco five minutes before opening time. She really felt for the woman in the blue coat.
The orderly social distancing exhibited outside the supermarket was somewhat belied by the few customers who reached past others to claim items they were afraid might disappear. Although we didn’t need any, Mrs Knight reported that toilet rolls were in stock.
Perhaps the fact that the fresh meat, fish, and deli counters were off limits enabled her to
feel relaxed about photographing sheep and lambs along Christchurch Road on her way home.
After watering the pots in the front garden this afternoon – the Head Gardener was to hose those at the back later – I took a trip to Honeylake Wood and back.
This involved walking along Christchurch Road past the closed Royal Oak pub, Downton Garage, Woods used car establishment, and a row of cottages, to the currently fallow field featuring a footpath to the wood.
Sandbags line the pub’s front porch, suggesting the management had not anticipated our current dry spell when the coronavirus closures were required.
This gentleman walking a couple of dogs
back to the kissing gate
was clearly complying with the request to keep canines under control.
Choosing to eschew the gate which others will have touched, I entered via a gap in the hedge beside the disused telephone box and the still active letter box.
I then walked along the edge of the field to the footpath.
Like most local fields this one is fenced by wind-sculpted trees.
The winding path through the wood
slopes down to a bridge over a stream. The photographs above indicate the fleeting nature of the shadow-casting sun. The bridge has been repaired since my last trip down here, but I did not lean on it for the same reason that I avoided the gate.
The banks of the stream were embroidered with gentle yellow primroses.
This evening we dined on chicken thighs of considerable size crisply roasted with potatoes and parsnips; Yorkshire puddings, carrots and spring greens, with which I drank Carinena El Zumbido Garnacha Syrah 2018. Jackie had finished her Hoegaarden while cooking.