More life under house arrest.

Well done those who answered my little pic quiz.  Adam was right about Black Jacks Lock and Pennyland basic at Milton Keynes, and Bill spotted Clevedon pier - not that far from Portishead from where you could either get down into Bristol or, with a pilot, up the Severn to Gloucester.  And a big thanks to the people who recognised Hillmorton wharf for me.

Life under house arrest is going ok.  Unfortunately my injured back is slowly clearing up so I have been unable to avoid doing a few jobs.  Our conservatory, which is used as a junk store over the winter is now restored into a habitable space!  Garden next I suppose.

Words of praise are due.  First to the good folk at Castle Marinas who have been very helpful about sorting out a flexible arrangement whereby we can swap marinas whenever we are ready and dealing with payments seamlessly. Understandably they are asking us not to visit our boats unless strictly necessary to save pressure on the marina staff, but we are  assured that all boats are regularly checked to make sure they are safe etc.  Then more praise to DPD who very efficiently collected a parcel from us and delivered it next day to our Peter in Cambridge, thus saving us a visit to the Post Office, and yet more praise to people getting in shopping for us - our daughter Claire, her pal Joanne, our next door neighbours Linz and Deepa and next door to them, Lizzie.  What lucky folk we are.

Some people who don't know better  get a bit sniffy about Bracknell where we live because it's 'modern' (designated as a new town in 1947), but I'm here to tell you it's a brilliant place to live - lots of open green space and housing layout carefully designed to make little communities.  Most houses are built not in straight streets but in clusters around communal green spaces.  At times like this the neighbourhood design really works.  People in our patch are really looking out for each other.  When the sun shines they can sit out around the communal spaces and enjoy each other's company in safety, and everyone has a field or a park or some woodland within a few minutes walk with plenty of space to observe social distancing whilst exercising. It looks like we're at a lower rate of virus infection than more traditional towns in our county too perhaps because of the landscape design giving more open space.

We've been doing a lot of Zooming -within the family, with our usual Thursday music friends and Kath with her textiles group.  As time goes on this sort of thing is going to make a big difference.

Well that's us.  I hope you are all as well catered for and keeping well.  If you'd like another picture puzzle, take a look at the photo at the top of the blog, noting the clarity of the water.  You might be surprised to know where it was taken.