Lockdown week 3 - Saturday

The garden's really looking springlike now. I paused to admire it as we set out for our walk.

We went along Ravelston Dykes. Mr L is growing a coronavirus beard. I'm not sure why. Partly because we're not seeing anyone, so the scruffy stage doesn't matter, I think. Maybe partly also as a sort of end goal? - once the lockdown ends, so will the beard? (Will it?) It's kind of also why I'm blogging every day. Get yourself sorted out, world, or if you don't, I'll bombard you with blog posts! We're both also suffering from lockdown hair. We were both going to get it cut just before this all happened. I think I may have to take action on his before he starts looking like Gandalf.

We passed over the former railway line where we walked the other day

and turned down on to Queensferry Road, where there's a good view of Fettes, Tony Blair's old school. It's an amazing building.

As is this, which is the boys' and the junior part of the school at the other end of Ravelston Dykes, the one incorporating the old Ravelston House, built in the 18th century. Our son went here - as did our daughters in their junior years. They don't build them like that any more.

Then we turned off the main road again

and down to the river.

It's very quiet and leafy here.

It's hard to believe that the city centre is half a mile away.

The traffic roars over the Belford Bridge. Well, normally it does. Not today.

We came down these steps the other day but thankfully didn't have to go up them today.

We just ambled along, stopping for a while to look at the heron. Do you see him (or maybe her)? About a quarter of the way up the photo from the words "stopping for a while" - on my screen, anyway. Beside that little pool.

And then back down to the main road and home. I like this chalking on the pavement.

4.63 miles today, according to Mr L's clever device.

Lockdown week 3 - Friday

I don't know whether these pictures of walks taken from our house are too thrilling for you? No, didn't think so. Today we went back to the golf course for the peace and open spaces. More people have taken to walking there, but still not many, considering the huge area.

For example, you can see a couple of them there. It's not a problem staying six feet away from anyone.

We made for this little crossroads. 

It rather fascinates me, because you can so easily imagine what it was like a couple of hundred years ago. I imagine the little roads were there, but muddier, and the walls too; but the golf courses would be fields, or maybe just hillsides.

Whenever I see the bunkers, I think what fun they would be for the grandchildren to play in with their buckets and spades.

We're walking three or more miles every day. We usually walk in normal life, but not consistently as far daily. You'd think we'd be getting thinner. You'd be wrong.

And then we came home and watched a bit of television and, in my case, did some quilting. It's a pleasant enough life and much more restful than the ones our children are leading. But then, we were very busy when we were their ages. I was horrendously busy. 

I'd much rather have them here so that we could share the grandchildren's activities with them and be some help to them. This life does make me feel supremely useless, but the quilting helps. Thank goodness for it. Thank Thimbleanna for it!

What a strange, sad time this is for everyone. But the only thing is: I'm really going to miss our golf course walks once this is all over, it opens up again to golfers and we're banished!

Lockdown week 2 - Thursday

Today we decided to walk into town. This is usually a very busy road; today there was some traffic but not very much. Buses passed, empty.

This amazing building was built as Donaldson's School for the Deaf. The deaf school moved out some years ago and it's now being turned into flats, with more, modern, flats and town houses built behind the main building. They're extremely expensive, but handily near the centre of town.

 
The tulips in this municipal bed are flowering nicely but the grass could do with being cut. I imagine this may not happen for a bit.

We'd never seen this before, set into the paving slabs in Stafford Street. It wasn't there the last time I came along here. It commemorates William Fielding, an American entrepreneur who set up Turkish baths in this street in 1886. I'm not sure why this is worthy of a special stone, but presumably he has fans.

We walked along William Street, which has many nice independent shops. All shut.

And Melville Street, which is usually full of parked cars.

We admired St Mary's Cathedral's daffodils...

... and then descended these steps to the river.

The river path was a bit busier today, but we all practised social distancing, and most people said hello as well.

There's Antony Gormley again, standing in the middle of the water.

And then we came home. We'd walked about four miles.

Then this evening we had a lovely Zoom chat with the Edinburgh grandchildren, with Nanny and Gramps from Worcester joining in. It was good. But not as good as being able to give them a cuddle.

Lockdown week 2 - Wednesday

Children are putting rainbows in their windows to cheer everyone up. Maybe this rainbow on our wall this morning has some message of hope? You think?

We live in an area with many posh houses (not, sadly, ours) so I took some photos of them today. This is in a street which had been unchanged for many years when we moved here. I always imagined Jane and Elizabeth Bennet walking up it and into Longbourn. But then lots of houses were built into the garden walls of one of the big houses, and people now park in the street, which rather spoils it.

But it's still rather nice. Here's Mr L on our way to the hill today.

You could live in this house and ignore the world - though that way of life is beginning to pall somewhat at the moment.

This is a George V (I suppose) letter box. It always looks as if it might be obsolete, but I've posted many letters in it and they always arrive. I think.

Look at the empty car park at the golf course. There must be many frustrated golfers around the place.

That large white building is the school I went to, though it was only in that new building for my last five terms. I say "new" - new as in 1967... . Before that we were in the centre of town.

Nice blue sky; another very posh house. It's HUGE.

Then we went out of the gate and on to the path up the hill. We're planning to be able to go up here without puffing at all by the time things are back to normal.

Mr L and I are both getting a bit long-haired. Luckily mine is its natural greying colour so I don't need to worry about the roots. Neither does he.

I wonder what these cherry trees will look like by the time we're back to normal? I don't think they'll still be in blossom... .

There's Arthur's Seat again. I wish we could get there but it's a bit of a hike and I don't think Mr L would be keen to climb it afterwards.

But we can look at it from the top of the hill, and the sea on the horizon. I'm really missing the sea.

This is how close we are to the main road to Glasgow - just down there.

I paused to look back up. A few years ago, a chap murdered his mother not too far from here and buried her body on the hill. I often shudderingly wonder where. A cyclist discovered the body (poor chap) and for weeks, she was unidentified. Then they did one of those digital reconstructions of her face, like they do for skulls dug up from Stone Age burials, or Richard III. I had never really believed in the accuracy of these till then, but it turned out that she was visiting her son from Dublin so no one had missed her - till they recognised her face from the computer image.

So I believe them now. Poor lady.

Lockdown week 2 - Tuesday

I don't know about anyone else, but I've found today the hardest so far of the lockdown period. It's a bit like bereavement: you don't miss people less as time goes by; it just seems such a long time since you've seen them. And I think that last week it was almost like being on holiday, whereas this week I'm longing to see the family and it's beginning to sink in that this may not happen for quite a long time yet.

However, we set off for our walk, this time along the Water of Leith. We thought the path would be busier than usual but in fact it was pretty quiet.

There's scaffolding now round this bridge. Presumably the repairs have been halted for the moment, but Mr Life pointed out the somewhat rudimentary (it seemed to us) arrangements for saving anyone who fell from the scaffolding into the river.

Can you see this orange rope across the river, for someone to catch as they float downriver?

And here's a slightly amateur-looking ring to fling to them if they miss the rope. 

The water was very still.

This is one of various Antony Gormley statues. As Mr L remarked, this is taking social distancing to the extreme.

And then we climbed up the steps ...

... and up a bit more...

to the gallery, where normally we would reward ourselves for having walked the first two miles by having a nice cup of coffee. Today, alas, as we knew, it was closed.

So we walked through the grounds, wondering what this piece of art was supposed to be... 

and on homewards, enjoying the fact that Teddy was here

and that the last mile and a half were unusually traffic free.