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
11:12 – 11:59, wind NNW 2 gusting 3, temp8C (feels like 6)
The cause of the pandemic.
wren sings on the garden fenCe looping through the sOuth east cherRy in full flOwer the bell paiNted black fewer people less trAffic iVy rotted fence a poInter and an old black lab duck thRough the fence cows on dUke’s moor smell of woodSmoke
15:16 – 16:03, wind NNE 4 gusting 6, temp 10C (feels like 7)
The public are instructed to maintain a proximity of two metres from each other and for no more than 15 minutes.
dog puShed along in a baby buggy bush Of sparrow’s Chirp greetIngs passing at distAnce poLice car makes a sharp right turn jay-walk across the main roaD side roads Into Jesmond outside the house builderS stand chatting pass The ruined chapel Along the dene two meN talk across the road patChes of sunshine always walking into thE wind
14:24 – 15:11, wind NNE 4 gusting 6, temp 4C (feels like -1)
Lockdown as a strategy for containment of the virus.
today is Colder as the wind is in the nOrth again the Number 44 bus with two passengers padlock and chain fasTens the bishop’s gate brassicAs netted against pigeons forsythIa glows yellow gardeN gate of welded horseshoes sMall groups of walkers traffic to thE Sainsbury’s Local children playiNg in gardens cyclist with a Kim Jong-un haircuT pedals slowly by
06:50 – 07:32, wind N 4 gusting 6, temp 6C (feels like 2)
Today’s walk …
zig-zag To the nOrth west shiny hoarDings promise sumptuous bAthrooms as crYing gulls circle two magpies joStle at a roadkill housing estate haunt of winter Waxwings parked up cArs line the driveways oLd nest in a pruned shrub cracKed paving slabs
06:41 – 07:20, wind NW 1 gusting 2, temp 2C (feels like 2)
Today’s walk …
off to the norTh a freshly erected lOw fence a front Door with a brass letterbox missing cAmelia a passing Youth drifts cigarette smoke a blackbird percheS on the back of a park bench dew decked spider’s Web hangs from a pelican crossing mist haloed trAffic lights cobbLed alleyways a small supermarKet is already open
martin.p.eccles: walk time place sound 