Saturday 2 May 2020

State of Alarm - day Forty Six

It's the first day of tentative lifting of restrictions. I must decide what to do first - walk for an hour on local country lanes, and then domestic tasks, like taking out the re-cycling, and going down to San Antonio to withdraw some cash, both requiring the car. It's a round trip I could easily walk in an hour and a half, but that exceeds the allowed time. Enforcement efforts will doubtless have to focus on beaches and parks, but who knows what other surveillance measures will be put in place. 

The daily news reports large numbers of fines and arrests on lock-down regulation transgressors of all kind, people with money to burn, willing to pit themselves against regulations they resent. Britain came late to the business of fining offenders, after many weeks of appealing successfully to people's good-will and common sense. British policing relies on consent more than compliance and is done on a more regional and local basis. Spain has its legacy state-wide enforcement systems, to be used for the common good these days, hopefully.

Clare came up with some good news from the gov.uk website. It seems travellers returning from abroad are expected to self-quarantine, keeping a close watch on state of health, but able to exercise out doors, do essential shopping and keep a safe distance from others. That's a weight off my mind. It means I can continue my established routine without interruption.

I walked for an hour up and down the unmetalled track opposite in the two hour morning window of outdoor time for over seventies. I saw a family of four plus dog out together on the main road, one oldie like me with a younger companion. A jogger went up and down the track several times and a couple of young cyclists were out enjoying their freedom under a blue sky and air temperature in the low twenties.

By lunchtime  the weekly service was complete and sent to Dave for web uploading. I didn't get around to using the car for errands as intended, but I did get around the mending the broken trousers pocket I've put up with for months, and added an extra hole to my belt, having lost my spare tyre altogether.. I've shed 4-5 kilos since I've been here to my surprise, and am roughly the same weight and shape I was when we married 56 years ago. I wonder if I'll put weight on again when I am no longer having to cook for myself? Time will tell.

In the afternoon, I spent half an hour tackling some of the tangled dried out vegetation covering a section of a garden lawn which got overrun by colonising weeds which project roots and shoots in all directions before exhausting itself. It's hard work without a rake, and a small scythe, so the biggest effort I need to make is restraint, not trying to do too much at a time. Slow and steady may yield a measure of tidiness eventually.

When I was passing by, I disturbed a gecko in the bbq pit. I pursued with camera but without much success. It's hard to get a sharp photo of one, perhaps due to their peculiar skin, which changes colour according to its environment, like a chameleon. Later I saw a baby gecko crawling among the cinders left from the last time the bbq was used, almost the same colour, noticed only because it was moving. I got a photo before it disappeared into hiding, but yet again not a good one, although the HX90 autofocus seemed to work.

It's not motion blur or shaky old hand, I don't think, but the way the creature's skin reflects light. There's a similar issue with capturing detail of red flowers that's to do with the way the particular bundle of red light wavelengths is registered by a camera sensor. The variety of angles from which each petal reflects light adds to an equation which the human eye deals with far better than most commonly used cameras. The increase in ambient temperature seems to have brought more birds to the area, judging by the increase in birdsong. I am seeing more and more tiny lizards too. This must be the time when they hatch out. Convenience food for some birds too I imagine. 

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