Richmond

"I am going to Richmond," she told me. "Our lesson is, that there are two Richmonds, one in Surrey and one in Yorkshire, and that mine is the Surrey Richmond. The distance is ten miles. I am to have a carriage, and you are to take me.

So said Estella in Great Expectations. We saw no haughty personages today, and no carriages. We bought lunch in Whole Foods and sat by the boatyard and ate with the pigeons, ducks and geese, the last of which had left huge spiral bowel movements of cream and grey on the concrete moorings. 

We walked to Petersham nurseries, through a field of cows which TSM thought were intent on doing us harm (she had read of a case recently of a man killed by cows). In fact they were all sitting down except one, an enormous animal standing guard (so it seemed).

The nurseries were closed but we walked up through Richmond Park, along the top to the star and garter roundabout, and then back down through the meadows and gardens just above the river where it curves gracefully west. There were a lot of people in small groups, being careful in these early stages of lockdown easing.But down in the town it was more like the old days with people walking carelessly around and paying more attention to their smartphones than their surroundings. We wore face marks and scowled at people who didn’t but of course they were oblivious.

We loitered in Waterstones and then went back to Whole Foods, this time to buy store cupboard foods, including vegan aioli, sourdough, peanut butter and walnut pieces.

All this exhausted me. There are no seats in any of the shops, they don’t want you sitting around in this infectious era. I had a sleep when we got home and afterwards felt like I was walking in a dream state.

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We had a Covid testing kit posted through our letterbox tonight. It wasn’t addressed to anyone but the label said "do not open unless addressed to you". We opened it anyway. TSM is considered vulnerable due to her breast cancer last year so we decided it must be for her. There are 12 pages of instructions and 38 steps to go through, which I think is similar to the number of instructions issued to the Apollo 13 crew when their ship malfunctioned. 

I understand that this testing regime has not been successful.

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Started reading The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak this morning. Gorgeous. 

"In many ways the 21st-century is not that different from the 13th century. Both will be recorded in history as a time of unprecedented religious clashes, cultural misunderstandings and a general sense of insecurity and fear of the other. At times like these, the need for love is greater than ever."