It is a rather dull day today, cloudy, windy and promising rain.

The first duty of the day was to phone the council’s repairs department to report a leak. The pipe leading into the toilet cistern had begun to drip from a joint, slowly but determinedly, and we had placed a jug underneath it to catch the water. I was expecting the usual “there are no appointments for this week..” so imagine my surprise when I was told “I can send someone this morning. Will you be in?” I would indeed be in.

An hour later not one but two young men appeared on the doorstep. They were not wearing masks and did not offer any ID but did speak the magic phrase “You have a leaking toilet?” and so I reckoned one out of three was good enough.

After a brief intermission – “We’re just going to fetch our tools and a ballcock in case we need one” – the job was done. (And apparently they did need a ballcock, as they indicated by waving the old one at me as they left.) I did wonder why plumbers would turn up for a job without their tools but it didn’t seem a matter worth pursuing.

I then tried calling my doctor’s surgery as I will need an appointment sometime soon. I knew that ringing on a Monday was a bad idea because on Monday people are panic calling about all the things that have gone wrong over the weekend, though I did wait until after 11, thinking things might have calmed down a bit by then. They hadn’t. I had first to listen to two long recorded messages relating to the Covid-19 crisis and was then allowed to listen to the awful music interrupted periodically by a voice telling me that the lines were still busy but someone will answer if I just hold on…

In the end, I gave up, thinking I would try again this afternoon but – you know what? – I can’t face the recorded messages and awful music again just yet.

Win one, lose one. That’s a kind of success, I suppose.

The weather was not conducive to a long ramble so we went out for a short one, just there and back, really, “there” being Myddelton’s deli for our daily coffee.

Chadwell Street

This view along Chadwell Street shows the dull snd cloudy conditions. Happily, it did not actually rain while we were out.

People had put out their recycling ready for tomorrow’s collection and, given the windy conditions, we were accompanied everywhere by the rattle of plastic containers blown out of the bins and rolled along the street by the stiff breeze.

Feeding the pigeons

I spotted this man in the park feeding the pigeons. Being fond of pigeons myself, I understand why people do this even though they are not supposed to. The incident reminded me of our pigeon-fancier neighbour whose death I recounted in Death of a pigeon-fancier and who inspired the short story Pigeons. In a world in which there is so much cruelty, a little kindness does not come amiss.