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Day 183 of isolation for me today. The house has been cleaned from top to bottom and the garden has had the overhaul of a lifetime! Every tree has been pruned, some in late spring some this month. Knowing we'd be at home through the summer we over-fertilised the lawns in an attempt to kill the moss, which has made a strong take-over bid these last few years. It's been a great success, though it has resulted in an increased need for grass cutting, 2½ hours every other day since May! This job has fallen to yours truly as the OH's skills were needed elsewhere (repairing a collapsing balcony and re-laying the patio under it). Together we have also widened the driveway by 50 cm by digging out the lawns which had grown into it over the years. We've resurfaced with 30 tons of natural gravel - all raked out by hand. Being at home we've been more in touch with what's going on around us. We've always fed birds and squirrels (which have their very own resaraunt here) but this year I've reared a family of five who seem to have lost their mother. They've all flown the nest now but I've adopted a hedgehog instead, who moved into my OH's workshop among all the oily rags , old paint tins, dried up paint brushes and a miriad of other "things that might come in handy one day". Then there's been mushroom and berry picking. I do this every year but I this summer have excelled myself: 27 litres of chantrelles, 16 litres of ceps, 8 litres of wild raspberries, 16 litres of blueberries and 11 litres of "lingon". I had to look this up and it seems they are called "cowberries" in English. I've never heard this before but, on the other hand, I've never seen them in England either. The freezer's full and so is the jam shelf in the pantry. We've only left the house three times for essential errands: collecting a passport from the police (the issuing authority), vaccination against TBE and a hospital visit for my OH: We get out and about to the surrounding forests and lakes for walking and swimming and use the telephone and Skype for family contact - we've become great grandparents for the first time so it's been used an awful lot as we are unable to visit. Things seem to be going well, generally speaking, for the country as a whole and we pensioners are to recieve a pension increase and a tax reduction next year, by way of thanks for staying at home! I need a holiday!!!! How's the situation in Bedlington today? Heard on the news today that the North East is being locked down. Must be bad when we are hearing about it here. .

Here it is! A bit late but we've had real summer weather today so I finished off the gardening chores before it gets dark. 1. Nairobi is the capital of which African country? 2. Which planet is nearest the sun? 3. What name, derived from the Latin for ‘old man’, is sometimes given to the legislative assembly of a country? 4. Which wine is flavoured with pine resin? 5. Which organ is inflamed when you are suffering from Nephritis? 6. Which swimmer won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games? 7. Who was the last prisoner to be held at the Tower of London? 8. Which bottle size is equivalent to 12 standard bottles? 9. Which West End and Broadway musical was adapted from T.S. Elliott’s Old Possum Poems? 10. How many points win a game of Cribbage? 11. What name is given to an eagle’s home? 12. What do we call the chemical process by which a substance combines with oxygen to produce heat and light? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. William Wordsworth was, at one time, thought to be a French spy and was followed for a whole month by a detective. Answers on Thursday.

Welcome Hoopzetty, Still no cases in our small town so life is almost normal. Schools are going back, everyone respecting the new rules, distancing, masks where necessary, plastic barriers at checkouts. We get some football, (and hockey) I'm enjoying the lack of spectators! less diving and faking injury or playing to the crowds! different game. We are well into autumn, so gardening is high on the list, frost killing off the flowers, leaves pilling up, and I made some big changes in my garden layout ready for next year. (just now the smoke from the US fires makes it a bit unpleasant) Been out driving my old car, and working on my friends old car, he's expecting delivery of another in the next few days,(an ambulance) I'll get to tinker with it! Visiting my wife the Lodge has been difficult, she was is isolation for fourteen days, (ended yesterday) took her to her to her old coffee shop and she did some shopping! and oh yes been doing my housework!