42 Walks – the second week

Tuesday 31st March

11:12 - 11:59, wind NNW 2 gusting 3, temp 8C (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

Wednesday 1st April

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

Thursday 2nd April

07:00 - 07:41, wind W 6 gusting 9, temp 8C (feels like 4)
It becomes clear that the UK does not have any significant testing 
capacity and has bought tests that are not good enough
                           off To define
                      the northErnmost peninsula
                 the wind mimicS
                      the lost Traffic roar
                             drIfts of daffodils
                   a lurcher ruNs towards us
                           a roGue rhododendron
          please don't park in Front of these gates
                 an overgrown pAth
                across alley gaRages with huge shuttered doors
                   a concrete fRont garden
                  full of vegetAble trays
               a street sweepinG machine bumbles along
back alley slabs cut to make flOwer beds

Friday 3rd April

07:08 - 07:54, wind W 3 gusting 4, temp 3C (feels like -1)
The Health Secretary announces a 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”

Saturday 4th April

07:12 - 07:54, wind SSW 2 gusting 3, temp 5C (feels like 5)
The ExCeL Exhibition Centre is re-purposed as a hospital 
                       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

Sunday 5th April

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

Monday 6th April

18:49 - 19:34, wind WSW 3 gusting 5, temp 10C (feels like 7)
The Prime Minister is admitted to intensive care 
             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