There were frost patterns on the skylight windows this morning. On the outside, I hasten to add. None of that 50s 60s childhood nonsense of frost patterns crawling up the inside of the window panes! But there were frost pattern nonetheless. And there was frost on the grass and on the rooftops when I went out for a run first thing. The mud puddles had a slight "skin" of ice, not enough to be properly frozen but wrinkled like a pan of milk when it's heating up.

 

 

There was also mist over towards Marsden but otherwise it was a fine morning here in Delph. 

 

 

We wait for an announcement from our prime minister later today about what will happen when the current period of lockdown comes to an end. There are hints of a continued but stricter regime of tiers. What tier will our place fall into? Oldham's infection rates are still frighteningly high but seem to falling noticeably every day. Yesterday I saw pictures of Oldham's B & Q hardware stored crammed full of DIY people, or maybe people just looking for an excuse for a day out. They didn't seem bothered by lockdown. This provoked debate on social media about whether hardware stores should be open. Are they essential? The daughter of a friend of mine, a good and loyal civil servant (the daughter, that is), explained to her mother just why hardware stores must stay open because all sortsof household emergencies can come up. Yes! That would explain the crowds!

 

I have been reading Don Delillo's strange, and huge, novel "Underworld". It switches time frames all the time. The current chapter is back in the 1950s and describes a school scene. Now I knew that American school children had to go through practice drills for what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. What I didn't know was that they also wore dog tags so that children who were lost, maimed, killed in an atomic attack could be identified. Boy, did they take it seriously! Pearl Harbour really shook them up, didn't it? Otherwise they were never invaded, unlkess of course you take the First Nations' point of view, in which case they were seriously invaded and taken over long ago.

 

That's all for now. I am still iPadless and intend to borrow Phil's iPad, formerly known as THE iPad back in the days before I acquired the iPad mini, so that I can read the newspapers, etc. I think I might be going through withdrawal symtoms!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!