Another two weeks have passed here in Rhode Island with no
end in sight. I am still lucky in my lockdown locale and now know myself to
have been right last time when likening myself to a caged animal. There's a definite and
visible path of the route I take on what I now tend to think of as my 'rounds'
through the grounds and over to the sea. The plan is to manage 10,000 steps per day
(plus some cycling of which more anon) to keep reasonably fit - just in case !
I realise how lucky I am to be able to do this in perfect safety, especially
when compared to those confined to little apartments where there are more
people than rooms - and who lack the financial security that I have. I can only
imagine what it must be like to those
countless thousands in the US now locked down, without jobs or health cover and
in tiny accommodation. No wonder frustration and an urge to over-hasty easing of the restrictions seems to be building - and
encouraged in some quarters. Gina Raimondo the Governor of Rhode Island comes on every day at 1300 with the latest scores. A democrat she seems very sensible; here our figures are still climbing, but remain low so far. Our population is about half as much again as Wiltshire, so its all very local.
Since comparatively big though they are, the grounds of my
mansion still make a very small universe, I notice things I wouldn't normally -
not least the slow arrival of spring, and stately procession of small flowers
in bloom, spring gentian, celandine, grape hyacinth alongside all the daffodils.
I have had to amend my path a bit where things which I don't yet know have
suddenly appeared. Maybe they will be lilies ?
That will be something else to keep an eye on in that days ahead. I have
to look for things to look for !
This includes closely observing the trees. I have managed to
identify most of my 16 really big ones - plane, oak and chestnut but there are
two mysteries. It's interesting to look at, really for the first time, at the
varying rate of opening up for the spring. The chestnuts look as though they
will be first out in leaf. The 'sticky buds' are now much in evidence, still
just about confining tight green bunches of young leaves which are barely visible. I
see that plane trees have sticky buds too. Another thing to be added to the
store of human knowledge. I do spot strange things as well as the usual such as a Celandine growing away inside a tree
I am also pretty familiar with the view of the sea from the
cliff top. Last week there was a spectacular storm with the spray shooting up
over the nearby headland in a way in which my landlady in the big house says
she's never seen before. There's a pair - or maybe a trickier trio - of Common
Merganser nearly always around but that day not surprisingly they were nowhere
to be seen. So spotting whether the interloper is back, putting pressure on, is
another thing to look for. The dramas of a duck's life. There was a real treat yesterday - two Gannets flew majestically past, brilliantly white with black wing tips. Great views with my new binoculars. It took me back to when at Port Quin in Cornwall we had one all tangled up in fishing wire and really angry or frightened on the kitchen table of our National Trust cottage. It was liberated by someone from a local bird reserve we managed to get hold of.
These trivial observations are such tiny things. Years ago one of my colleagues at
Greenwich used to irritate me with his Asian mysticism, saying there was more
truth in a grain of rice than in any number of lectures - probably meaning mine in particular. I begin to have a
glimmering of what he was talking about ! Maybe.
But of course despite all this physical confinement, through modern technology we all also have access
to the outside world. Thanks to Zoom and Whatsapp I have virtual contact all
the time with family and local colleagues. The latter run a contact group. We
have regular meetings and exchange several dozen messages every day to check
that everyone is OK, talk about the latest controversy, work issues etc and virtual end-of-week relaxed drink on a Friday afternoon. One
colleague - an ex Marine - has six cats all of whom seem really weird to judge
by what they are captured in pictures as doing. I could do with a cat ! Further afield, I can chunter with other colleagues, especially ancient ones like me locked down in far-way places, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil etc etc
On Easter Sunday, the family even had a traditional
egg-painting breakfast/lunch - whoever
would have thought of that as a possibility a few months ago ? It wasn't the
same as it would have been round the oval table at Wansdyke but fun anyway -
and a whole lot better than nothing. What with constant messaging and on-going academic exchanges all round the world my
universe is not so small after all. Another new departure for me has been
on-line shopping. Cherry always used to handle all of that, so that's been another
new area of development for me - paradoxically expanding horizons when in
confinement. But this access to a much wider world is fragile in that it does
depend on that technology still working, and as an oldie basically frightened
of such things that worries me. Home deliveries are getting more difficult to book as the demand goes up, but I have enough groceries to keep me going for a while. The wine system though is really good. It comes within two hours !
Finally, another new departure has been the fact that I have
been able to resuscitate a bike I found in the garage, with the aid of
hand-pump that I sent away for. So I now have a cycle route up and down the
drive and round the circle in front of the big house. Even after just a week or
so I have done more cycling in confinement than I have at home for years. I am
of course very tempted to go out on the road and cycle to the nearest beach but
as an oldie male with two 'underlying conditions' I am being ultra cautious. There's
always the danger of being suddenly overtaken by some sweaty super-cyclist and
then willy-nilly passing through a possible shower of droplets in his or her
air. Maybe if I can get or make a mask I might try it at some future
date....something else to think about. In the meantime it'll still be the
drive. Those in the big house regard me as a great source of entertainment I
think and watch my various activities with great and kindly interest.
Hey, ho that's 5 weeks done - how many more I wonder... I have made tentative enquiries as to whether I could extend my lease through July and August if I need to - but really hope I don't ! But in the meantime, here's to Spring !
