On the nose

You know when you are woken up by a strong smell? Some sort of cat-related smell tickled my nostrils as I slept, and roused me early. I thought it might be a hidden pile of vomit, but my searches revealed nothing. I am attributing it to the strangeness of our times and the fact that cats have now invaded my dreams. With this keen sense of smell, as long as it wasn’t purely psychosomatic, at least it was verification that I don’t have that telltale coronavirus symptom of loss of smell/taste.

I was overly excited that I was due to visit the post office to send this excellent book to Clare in Essex. Essential lockdown reading material and escapism for when her two boys are playfighting for the entirety of the day. It was refreshing to be able to use an amenity such as the post office. They were taking social distancing extremely seriously but the staff member still had to ask me to step back so he could provide help at the self-service machine as any user requires a PhD in automation to get it right the first time.

In the afternoon I worked on a funding proposal whilst Gugs did an abs workout on the living room floor; both equally torturous. She then painted a delightful kingfisher.

We strolled the meadows together before Gugs peeled off towards home so as not to aggravate her gammy hip. It was cold, so I can’t explain why I spotted more than one person in flip flops. A group of bullocks who had found themselves split by a stream were kicking off as a couple of blokes had delivered dry feed onto the grass and it had caused envy amongst the herd. I wasn’t sure why additional food had been needed in a lush meadow.

I carried on scurrying around Cambridge. My mobile data expired, and I wondered how people are communicating with any serious phone malfunctions. It would be very isolating if we couldn’t use the apps we’ve come to rely on.

Unfortunately for my organs, Easter eggs had been reduced further to bargain basement prices, so I couldn’t not chuck some into the basket. This is definitely the most chocolate eggs I’ve eaten during the course of one Easter festivity, possibly ever, but definitely since 1990.