Easter Monday Mourning

Easter Monday Mourning

When the alarm clock went off this morning I was sound asleep and that is unusual. Normally I am awake 10-15 minutes before it goes off at the very least. It this strange time we have been getting up a few minutes earlier every other day, ready to go for early run; run one day turbo train indoors the next day, this is on a rolling plan. What day it is has seized to matter on day it very much like another when you are not going anywhere, you don’t have appointments and nobody is coming to see us either. As mentioned a number of times, the idea is to get a small quick coffee and out to start our run when it is still pretty dark. We catch a few minutes news whilst we drink our wake up draft. 

The first thing we heard was that the 10,000 figure for UK deaths from the Corona Virus had been passed and that is only those who have died in hospital having been tested. The horror is numbing, even though it has been expected. I personally do not see how that figure means the curve is flattening. What I do see is that they can use the charts and figures to show anything they want to. It still looks like Armageddon to me and cannot be explained away not to me anyway, sorry if you think I am being dim. The bible stories seemed like works of art previously but this is happening and people are behaving as though it is not. Again I don’t understand. I don’t get it at all.

Talk about wearing blinkers. The world seems to have closed its eyes.

Moving on is the only option, I see that. ‘Once more unto the breach’……

 

Getting up early has never been a problem for either of us. We want to avoid meeting anybody at all if we can, and considering that we are doing 10 km runs, on what is basically the lea side on the South Downs National Park, that alone is spooky, in woodland that is usually swarming with families who come to see the Bluebells at this time of the year. Such beauty on show, and so desolate.

This morning, since it was still nowhere new light, Steve suggested that we take our normal run but in reverse, so that we start climbing on clear downland and then having passed the high point we would then come back into the Bluebell woods when it was light enough to see them as a vast glorious purple carpet now they are at their best. The colour has been deepening over the last week though the sweet perfume has not yet fully developed.

We noticed also that the ‘Yellow Peril’ is only just starting to come out with a soft golden yellow in the farmland fields that we passed above on our way back into the woods. The Rape Seed crop is a bit of a Marmite thing, in that the traditionalists don’t like it because it is not a native plant or at least was not a native plant. I think it is glorious when whole fields of it dazzle us in the summer sun. 

In the 1.21.11 that it took us to do this hilly run the only other souls we saw, were two mountain bikes starting out when we were on out way the to finish. Another spooky thing was that when Steve checked the Garmin Forerunner later he showed me the strange fact that today’s run and Saturdays run, though over the same route but with a much harder steeper start that that way round and was full on into a strong northeast headwind between 25-35 MPH on checking, was exactly the same time. 1.21.11.

Whilst I busy myself with all the scribbling, my husband is also making himself busy and this morning has been giving a deep clean to both our turbo room bikes, having previously, on other days cleaned both our best racing triathlon bikes and my former best bike that is now for sale but has not been advertised because having people round to look at it, and test ride it is not the order of the times. The only bike left not yet cleaned is our one quite old mountain bike and couple of old racers in the garden shed.

In the indoor Easter photo yesterday showing the pretty card Jakki and Martin sent, standing with a small vase are what look like Bluebells and I should point out that I would not pick Bluebells from our lovely woodlands. The vase contains Spanish Bluebells that I cut from our tiny front garden after the window cleaner had trampled them flat last weekend. GRRRRRR.