ciel

Life does take on a bizarre slant these days ... I had a phone-call yesterday morning from a neighbour who lives 2-300yds away. He observed, 'BT Openreach are in my yard when they should have been in his' He went on to say, 'thank goodness you picked up the phone...I was thinking you'd been murdered'. Mind, BT still can't explain why the neighbour will receive fibre broadband, and me not.

Me too Unless, of course, the 'deadly' virus mutates and dies out before effective treatments or vaccinations are developed. Some hope.

Love that little black spaniel. I'm very much tied to my garden and will not succumb to a meander up the Glens. Absolute distancing here - break the chain as far as possible.

Indeed Jo,

A wee bit off topic again, but, of Scottish interest, I would really like to know, not the date, but whether or not there is any actual strategy or planning for our future management of this virus. I think Norway and Finland among others have committees looking at such issues. And who are the advisory SAGE members? The lack of transparency, the afternoon grand-standing, I find concerning.

Somewhat off topic, but I have really sore hands from all the washing. Just wondering, I wash them under a running tap which gets hotter and hotter as the flow runs - the hands might be becoming semi-scalded? Anyway, back on topic, quite a few Cus on the horizon.

'fraid it's been a typical cool N Sea day here, Weeds shrivalling within an hour. Love to have your magic remedy? Seriously, I'm struggling with weeds and a wee bit loss of old age momentum.

Warmed up nicely as the day progressed, although the wind did turn to a northerly direction. Spent a fair bit of time cloud watching unusual skyscapes. As with many things meteorological, the deeper one delves, the more complicated things become. Think these are mainly altocumulus and altostratus, but could be quite wrong – if anyone can be more specific? A wee Yellowhammer kept a close eye on the observations.

A pleasant morning for a walk around the garden, , although still on the chilly side with a temp of 10C at present. The slight breeze is from the SW, but may veer towards the north later, I think. The sky and clouds are the stand-out features of the day. Some random sky pics:

I had a tele conversation with a couple of Aberdeen friends today. One has diabetes and the other post polio syndrome. Both are in the elderly shield thing. They discussed the pros and cons of shopping in Aldi or Sainsbury and went on to say they went for a walk at the Aberdeen Beach, although they admitted that wasn't quite right. Most people do not seem to understand the science behind the importance of the breaking the transmission .

After a chilly start to the day, things improved after the sun appeared mid-afternoon. Warm enough for sit-out with a coffee. (10C) Our future Damson jam; Maybe a serious 'ethics' thread over in the other place would be interesting, or maybe not.

Climbed to 17C here this afternoon. Honeybees aplenty: 1st Peacock of the year:

The lower one is a Dotted bee fly. A nice 'spot'. Dotted bee fly WWW.NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK Often mistaken for a bee, you might be lucky and spot the dotted bee fly on the short grass that has been well grazed by the cattle.

Really feels like spring now with hazy sunshine, a gentle SW breeze and a temp of around 12C. The gean tree is in full blossom - pity the flowers are so short-lived. Edit: The tree is absolutely buzzing with bumble bees

And @Northernlights She does talk with knowledge, experience and sense - I linked to her a while back on one of the main virus threads, but I don't think it went down too well. Under a grey sky today, cool, 8C with a slight E/SE breeze. Remaining under strict isolation.

There is a thread open about Covid-19 and the effects it has on working lives. The work circumstances have had a minor effect on me because, per chance, being of an older demographic and self-employed, I work very part-time anyway. But I have had official advice about only having telephone, text or email contact with members of the public and the technology for video conferencing will be supplied in due course? I am extremely aware that the impact is much greater and worrying for many others. Another side-consequence is that my daughter in the Borders, who does work from home and is encouraged to do so, was about to be assessed as a suitable adopter for a border collie pup from a charity. The day that she was supposed to have a home visit, she was contacted by the charity to say it had closed for the time being. Don't know what has happened to the pup, or its siblings. I know this is quite inconsequential in the greater scheme of things, but the effects of this illness do impact everywhere. Hope Mrs CMD is much better now.

Three from the evening stroll; Luminence; Painterly, but I think the exposure was all wrong The rising moon

Much the same here - max temp around10C, chilly E breeze, and while it has been mainly sunny, the mist is now creeping in. Off now to have some fine scottish fare - a plate of stovies.