State of Alarm - day Thirty Six

I was awake at first light this morning, prayed the Office, then went back to sleep. This happens from time to time when I'm mulling over ideas. Later in the morning I wrote a full draft of next Sunday's sermon for recording. It'll take me several more days to concentrate it further. I'd rather do the work before I have to speak into a microphone, and hope not to exceed the listeners' attention span. It's important to me to think about this when I can't interact with a live audience. What a challenge clergy are faced with during the time of lock-down! I wonder how will history remember this time?

Today's news states that EU borders remain closed to all but essential traffic until mid-May. There won't be any international overland public transport services until then. Will flights re-start after the next phase of Spanish lock-down ends on May 9th? When will I ever get home? Thankfully, Jayne has solicited the help of one of the GPs she works with to write a medication prescription for me. My supply of pills runs out in the first week of May. It's not without its difficulties however, as the standard brand diuretic tablet I take is unknown in the Spanish pharma directory. The question in need of resolving is the Spanish brand name equivalent. UK-EU interchangeable prescription arrangements are fortunately still in place in this Brexit transition year. I think this is a key issue for negotiation of the Brexit divorce deal. This crisis time is going to teach Britons a hard lesson about what we are losing that we will have cause to regret.

This afternoon as I walked my 10k, a chill wind sprang up and the temperature dropped by several degrees turning a time of pleasant exercise into an effort. How quickly, I noticed, the house cooled down, calling for heating and an extra pullover. Still strange weather for this time.

My car insurance renewal notice arrived by email from Aviva a few days ago, and this evening I paid it on-line. The Polo is a nice little car, but I wonder how much longer we will keep it as our use of it has decreased so much over the past two years. It's there for the occasional convenience, but it would probably be cost effective to use taxis or hire an electric car when needed, rather than maintain a vehicle of our own, adding to our domestic carbon footprint and local pollution to no good purpose. With the planet in danger, this is no time to be sentimental about such things. Plus it's only a matter of time before Clare's advancing glaucoma will stop her from driving. Would I keep a car, just for myself then? Or just in case? I don't think so. The world will be a different place in any case, by the time I get home.