07:48 – 08:34, wind S 2 gusting 3, temp 8C (feels like 7)

Under lockdown conditions the UK peak of the epidemic is predicted to be two weeks off.

                 to the norTh west
                           Where sarah had her cello lessons,
               a skip full Of useful wood
            behind the low Wall a stellate magnolia
               dad’s porschE by mum’s range rover
             across the greEn and along the alley
      tea-cher tea-cher rocKing tea-cher
                socially diStanced queue at charlotte’s butchery
            a back alley ouT of a memory of kiddar’s luck
            a cemetery of nO paths
             graves sunken And grown through by elder
 commonwealth war graves; “Poor bloody infantry”
                   the convEnt’s group plot
   a song snatch is almost A willow warbler
                   by a bacK gate a concrete mixer’s slow churn

05:22 – 06:06, wind NE 2 gusting 4, temp 6C (feels like 4)

Patterns of behaviour and infection are discussed in the press.

                          baCk to the east wood
       north through the hilLs
     a walk in the dawn chorUs
     nautical twilight driftS through civil dawn
                            Two 5 AM runners
                       the mEtro’s rumble carries
roof-line silhouette blackbiRds sing
      no parking access requIred at all times thank you
        burglar alarms rockiNg blue lights
                       throuGh the site of the old factory
          pigeons start to sIng
            the shops palletS are loaded onto the lorry
                  along the Back alley
         the chorus falls awAy as dawn arrives
                        jackDaws chack to one another

11:24 – 12:10, wind WSW 3 gusting 5, temp 16C (feels like 15)

A vetinary scientist in the Faroes repurposed his laboratory to test for Covid-19 in advance of a significant number of cases, allowing a comprehensive trace and test policy.

                       laurel Blossom scent pervades Nanny’s Corner
         heading to the cemeteRy and the orchard
           south along the greAt north road                                                walkers Voices - my hat
  the continuity of traffics rOar
           walk around the dafFodil drifts
       clockwise around the grAves
             a hidden corner oRchard
                   standing crOsses laid down on graves
                  a wall top nEst hole tucked below the coping stone                           archItecture speaks of values
                 stone carved Septimus gladstone ward
                 a snatch of bLackcap song
                jay-walk the mAin road
empty busses cross with the biN wagon
                       a washeD-out peacock butterfly
                         what’S with the hat?

07:56 – 08:38, wind SW 1 gusting 2, temp 9C (feels like 9)

Hydroxychloroquine is promoted as a Covid-19 treatment on the basis of bad science.

               througH the grasslands of the south
             sweet ciCely growing in the verge
        an allotment Quietude
          of daffodilS
                   a Board warns of vehicular traffic ahead
          pause to reAd the inscription
   the late edwin dodD colvill
           shades of Brown
               a skylArk runs
                 stanDs
      then flies and Sings
        climb the fenCe
           by the chaIned gate
                    hEading for the flats
                a magNolia’s long lineage
the woodpigeon tries Copulation
     yesterdays lurchEr

18:49 – 19:34, wind WSW 3 gusting 5, temp 10C (feels like 7)

The Prime Minister is admitted to intensive care in a London hospital.

             unloading shopPing
                       a woMan at the back of a range rover
         an almost full mooN rising
                 a garden wHere goalposts dominate the back lawn
                     walkerS converge at
                    pedestrIan nodes
           shouted conversaTions from two metres distant
pigeons feast on tree top bUds

11:42 – 12:23, wind SSE 4 gusting 6, temp 14C (feels like 13)

Widespread testing is required to understand and control the outbreak.

                the island is preTty much complete
                           a wandEr
                           towardS the north east
                         a man siTs
                              rapT in his phone
           a chiffchaff sings unsEen
                   maroon and redS on a flowering currant
    an imagined beaver dam holds The stream
the attack of a small, disobedienT rug
                          small fErns grow from a corner wall
         wall-top pollarded a cheStnut sprays upwards
               a girl plays baskeTball on roller-skates
                            sprouTs and leeks long gone over
                 a blackbird stakEs out the worms
            the man on the bench Shouts to his phone
                          a Q3 wiTh no passengers

07:12 – 07:54, wind SSW 2 gusting 3, temp 5C (feels like 5)

The ExCeL Exhibition Centre is re-purposed as a hospital – NHS Nightingale.

                       oNe man, hood up,
               sits at tHe back of the bus
                topiary Spirals upwards
                  six piNts on the doorstep
        a paperboy trollIes his load
  a drop-leaf table lyinG across the skip
a dunnock propositions tHe world
                    a lyTch gate to the garage
             the house wIth two porsche’s
              … and a beNtley
               eighteen Geese ‘v’ north above the green
     fellow travellers wAlk the streets
       the sparrowhawk fLap
                    glidE flaps through

07:08 – 07:54, wind W 3 gusting 4, temp 3C (feels like -1)

The Health Secretary announces a ‘Five-Pillar Plan’ to tackle the pandemic.

                            off to deFine
                      the south east Inlet
                            jaywalk oVer the temporary lights
                           empty bussEs
                   a light frost crisPs the grass
                  joggers cross the lIttle moor
           along the grove of no myrtLes
          … though there is an elderfLower
                      the paperboy neAtly folds the day’s news
         primulas by cowslips in a stReet corner bed
                             plump liPs by “award winning surgeons”
    sheds and greenhouses stud the alLotments
                                 a blAckcap sings flits jumps sings
“suppliers of household requisites siNce 1947”

06:59 – 07:44, wind W 3 gusting 4, temp 5C (feels like 2)

Today’s walk …

            heading for The NW peninsula
        a man in black gOes to work on a harley
              a small juDas tree
                        An X18 with nobody on it
                   nearlY walk in front of a bike
     tree-top blackbird Song
              the sparroWhawk flushes everything off the field
             on wolsinghAm road bunting still flies
         house sparrow fLies off with a feather in its beak
     tree-top finch flocK