Lockdown: Day 34 - 26/04/20

I'm not gonna lie, this past week has easily been the toughest of the Corona Virus Lockdown so far, as the stresses and strains of the weeks of shifted routines and changed priorities have finally started to take their toll on me, bending but not breaking as I said last time around, but it's all proving much harder to take when situational stress lands on me with the only option being to absorb it, and then having to carry on without having the option of release that used to come with my weekly walks out, to clear the mind and stretch the limbs. It's really hard to explain just how much I'm now missing the routine of walking, as we press on into Spring, having had a sequence of lovely weekends that ought to have had me out on the trail and finding paths over the hills, moors and valleys between the Colne and the Calder, but actually had me limited to putting down only 14 miles across the whole of April, and thus it's hard to not spend time dwelling on where I'd like to be in my 2019 walking season, when I'm again being limited to a hour and a sub 3 mile trek as for my weekend's entertainment. Not that I'm not grateful to have the fields in the space between Morley, Churwell and the White Rose centre to pace around, mind you, because, as a passing dog-walker comments while out on circuit this morning, this area has been on Leeds City Council's residential development slate for a while, and all the greenery around Broad Oaks farm could be lost to suburbanisation in future years, matching the encroachment onto the hillside of the Low Moor farm site, above the railway off to the south. The lack of opportunity to expand my horizon also frustrates, with my experience field being limited to sole to trips between Morley and Leeds, and just over this last few weekends, I've missed the opportunities to visit my good friends in Calderdale for Easter drinks, and to stay with My Sister and her family for a long weekend, while intent to visit Mum has shifted from May to July to a hopeful aim at September, with my pre-booked annual leave looking it will be spent solely on time out from work and not for anything as outlandish as an actual holiday. So my novel travel experience for the Spring has been reduced to photography from the train windows as I do my morning and evening commutes, as there are so few other passengers on board to look at you weird, which gives me a rare opportunity to capture  a rarely seen perspective on the railway heritage that still endures at the lineside, mostly unacknowledged, from the 'flying' Farnley Junction, the long-closed Farnley & Wortley station, and the lost yards of the L&NWR on the run into the city.

Lockdown: Day 27 - 19/04/20

There's be no extra walking when Easter Monday comes around, as temperatures take a turn for the chilly, and then as the time comes around to return to work, we start to settle into that phase of Spring where we enjoy mornings that are cold enough to have you needing to wear three layers of clothing before we shift right around to evenings where its too warm to really require more than one, but the brightness keeps the spirits up as we plough into the fourth week of Lockdown. The floweriness and renewed colour of the season will also give a much needed lift as we push on, with the blooms of blossom and dandelions coming out in full effect, with the still air giving the feeling of a higher than usual pollen count, as if the lack of traffic pollution is making it feel that bit more pungent (though I'm assured by those who know about such things that my projection runs completely counter to reality) inducing a rare need for antihistamines, to combat the hay-feverishness. The brightness of the mornings and evening also invites the need to carry a camera to engage in some photography around the semi-deserted city, as it's still got a novelty that needs to be captured, though you need to remind yourself along the way that having Key Worker status is in no way a license to wander the commercial streets of the city centre at will, and it's not as if everyone else is staying home, aside from the NHS workers. The real business going on at present about the place is, of course, roadworks, with almost all the main arteries through the town being fenced off or dug up in some capacity as part of the major reworking program that was in place before the lockdown started, and I can only assume that the workmen are thrilled to get an opportunity to get on with their work without getting in the way of the commuter traffic, making it look like the projected completion date of Spring 2021 could easliy be beaten. My only real need to stary far from work whilst I'm out is to do some food shopping as I make best use of my out of the house time, and this is done by venturing to the Tesco Metro on the Bond Street - Upper Basinghall Street corner, as it's the best appointed supermarket on my path, and it's set up well for social distancing, despite most of it's passing constituency of shop workers being elsewhere at present, and thus it's super quiet and well enough stocked for my irregular needs, only really lacking in fresh bread and a wide vegetable selection, so that will be my future port of calls while I do my best to avoid the suburban melee at Morley Morrisons.

Lockdown: Day 20 - 12/04/20

Organizing my annual leave to give me a run of three four-day weeks for my return to work turns out to have been an excellent idea, as it has allowed me to not get too deep into the routine of work before being able to take some time out again, which is just fine as the lone Easter weekend lands between the second and third of these, as bright weather lands on both the Saturday and Sunday, allowing me to get out for a stretch on the mornings of both. It's a grand feeling to get out with the Spring season filling the environment, with blossoms blooming on the trees, especially on the run by Station Road rec, and the air being thick with the sound of birdsong, feeling so much louder with the background hum of traffic being almost completely absent, and getting a reverse trip out on the Morley Circuit route allows me a fresh perspective on the fields to the east of town, while also landing me above the station when a trio of Freightliner 66s run light into Morley tunnel, my first such spot in all the years that I've lived out here. Elsewhere, keeping in regular contact with Mum has kept us engaged while she endures the enforced isolation of lockdown while being in a notional high-risk group, as we have gotten into a routine of speaking on the phone three times per week, to talk around the business of self-isolation and the big picture of the pandemic, and also to turn over just about any other topic of conversation that we can find as it drops into our heads. Indeed, I think she's adapting to the situation rather well, by keeping her shopping needs limited, finding plenty of exercise opportunities with the business of gardening and yard work, and taking up a seated gym routine that already seems to be working out for her, and she's even mastered the arts of modern communication, with a significant number of members of her church's congregation having formed a group on Zoom, the video app of the hour. A remarkable enough achievement when you consider just how many of them are over 80, and probably more technologically engaged than I am at present, and this has allowed them to continue the fellowship that lockdown has denied them over the last few weeks, with the 40 minute free sessions having provided enough time for around 20 of them to have a social coffee and conflab at a safe remove, and to have services in the run into Easter, which is cheering news for all involved, as these church folks are people that i have known for much of my life and I'm glad that enforced isolation hasn't kept them too far removed from each other.

Lockdown: Day 13 - 05/04/20

The first week of Lockdown ended pretty much as it started, with myself not in work and getting out of the house only to take in an hour's trip around my exercise circuit to the east of Morley, enduring much lower temperatures and gloomier skies than we'd seen over the previous excursions out, once again sharing the paths only with dog-walkers and the few others who cannot abide being confined to their residences while being kept out of work or compelled to be at home with their kids. Working from home or enforced self isolation aren't for me though, as I've got a job at the hospital to return to, rising with the lark on Tuesday morning to see just how thoroughly the world has changed in the week that I've been at home, choosing to travel to Leeds by train as it's still the quickest option for getting down the hill, heading down to the station and noting that the long string of cars that usually stretches up much of the length of Station Road has not come out, and that the businesses at the bottom of the lane that had still been open during the preceding week have all shut up shop now. Landing at Morley station is an even more surreal experience, as the local train services have been reduced further from the level put on during the first week of Lockdown, and only six people are out to catch the 0729 service, a huge reduction in numbers from usual, like down from the 70+ who would usually turn out, and it's even quieter than a Christmas Eve might be, with the train actually forming the Manchester - Hull service, and stopping all stations rather than running as a express, and even then running at maybe 10% seated capacity as so few people need to be travelling into the city. So there's no real need to be anxious about keeping your mandated 2m distance from your fellow travelers, as there are so few people out to begin with (and it's worth noting that TPE were running 6 carriage trains on the local services in the initial week of the restricted timetable, but there's only a need put on a 3 car unit this time around), and social distancing when passing through Leeds station is just as easy as I've never seen the place so empty, with there being almost as many station personnel as travelers in the place, along with a small phalanx of police officers checking up on whether we really need to be in the city at such a time of day. I do, as I work at the hospital and the terrain of Leeds between the station and the LGI seems devoid of all life, aside from the guys out tending the extensive roadworks, with most of the establishments and offices around Infirmary Street, East Parade and Park Square having shut up for the duration, with the traffic levels reduced to a minimum, not quite looking like a ghost town but still eerily quite for 8am on a weekday.