It’s the 3rd of June 2020 - With the slight easing of the lockdown conditions a wave of apathy seems to have descended with the day trippers that have visited Minehead in the last few days. The beach and seafront have been busy, which under normal circumstances would be fine, it was my observation that social distancing was being paid very little attention to.
As the bigger towns and cities see a drop in infection rates the Southwest is starting to see an increase, highlighted in Weston Super Mare last week which ultimately saw the A&E in the towns hospital close due to increased infection rates amongst the staff. It begs the question that did the upsurge in visitors during the clement weather have a direct correlation with the infection rate, to most I guess it would seem so!!
In Notes from the Edge - 001 I ended musing on what the new normal will look like, that statement has left me with a continuing feeling of malaise - I really don't know how I feel about things right now, as we've been in lockdown for so many weeks I've learned the new habit of distance, caution and semi solitude (based on the theory that a new habit takes 6 weeks to develop) and must admit I'm a little fearful of returning to places where there are higher concentrations of people ie pubs, shops, restaurants Etc which is concerning from the standpoint that one of my jobs involves working in one of the aforementioned premises.
Those issues aside my lockdown experience has been a fairly positive one, as I wrote in the last blog there has been quite a lot of learning, cooking, resting and introspection which has prepared me if - as a region we have to go in to some sort of isolation in the future if the infection rate climbs too high. My ultimate conclusion to this is that I can be happy with less, although this minimalist state of mind hasn't extended to my office just yet as I sit here pondering the ammount of 'stuff' that has accumulated on my work desk....!!!
One of the most welcome buzzy garden visitors
The amazingly warm and sunny weather we've been experiencing has come to an end as of today, and there is a steady precipitation outside. This I'm sure will do wonders for my 'scorched earth lawn' and be of benefit to the many plants and vegetables that the good lady has planted in the garden, also saving her quite so many trips with the watering can. Talking of the garden it has been truly wonderful to see so many bees this year and in such variety. The buzzy visitors have included Bumble bees, honey bees, miner bees and carpenter bees and thankfully only one wasp , I have a particular adversion to wasps as I fell in to a nest of them as a child. A bird feeder has also been installed, which took a while to attract the attention of the local feathered population. But at long last robins, blue tits, gold finches and black birds have landed to snack on the various seeds, nuts and meal worms encased in fat that hang from it.
After much deliberation Edge of Exmoor has entered the Vloggosphere and the first Vlog (video log) can be seen below. Until next time Stay Safe and keep well....