Tigger’s employers are initiating a phased return to work and this week Tigger is going in to the office today (Monday) and tomorrow. Next week may bring a different arrangement. What the final pattern of attendance will be remains to be seen.

As I write this, then, I am, in the words of the title, “home alone”, a rather novel experience after the last few months during which I have enjoyed the continuous presence and companionship of the one I love.

Does it feel strange? Yes, it does. Do I feel lonely? Happily, no, because I know we will meet up later and I find that solitude is bearable as long as you know that it will last for only a limited time. Tigger will send me a text when she leaves work and again when her bus reaches the Old Street Roundabout. That will enable me to go out and meet her at Jusaka. There, she can tell me about her day at work over coffee.

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At 1:30 pm my phone rang. It was Tigger calling from work to see how I was doing. Nice surprise!

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I managed to keep myself occupied during the day, always with my eye on the clock, so as not to miss the important time of 5 pm. This duly came and with it a text from Tigger, saying she was on the way to the bus.

We continued to keep in touch (aren’t modern communications wonderful? 🙂 ) as Tigger wended her way towards the Angel. When she reached Old Street I set out to meet her. There was surprisingly little traffic on the roads for the time of day (this ought to have been the rush hour…) and so the bus and I reached the stop at more or less the same moment.

Joyous reunion! 🙂

We crossed the road to Jusaka and had our coffee. Then we made our way home. Tomorrow’s schedule will be the same as today’s.

I cannot say that I feel as though “normality” has resumed. The feeling is more of this being an imitation of normality which, I suppose it is.

Whether the world will ever return to what we once considered normal seems uncertain, according to today’s briefing by the Director-General of the WHO which contained this statement: “However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be.” In other words, there is as yet no evidence that an effective vaccine has been developed or even that one can be developed. As we are living now may be how we must live for the foreseeable future.

Since the beginning of lockdown, Tigger has carried out the weekly shopping on her own, in response to the supermarket’s request that people shop singly, not in pairs or groups. Now that restrictions have been eased, I thought it was time I joined her as I always did.

We went to the shop early, thinking there would be fewer people then and hoping to avoid the heat forecast for later in the day. We were successful on both counts: the weather was cool and the shop was not crowded.

Chapel Market
Photo by Tigger

On the way, we passed through Chapel Market which was fairly busy but not like a usual Sunday “before”.

There was no queue to enter the shop and so we went straight in and did the business. We knew what we wanted and shopping didn’t take long.

Jusaka

As a reward, we went for coffee on the way home. There were other customers in the main part if the shop and so we asked to sit at the back where we often sat when calling in after work.

All done!
Photo by Tigger

As usual, we had taken our reusable cups with us to save on throwaway cups. The latter are now used universally in coffee shops whether you sit in or not – greatly increasing wastage and pollution, I imagine.

According to the news, Covid-19 infection rates in the UK are increasing again. This is an inevitable consequence of the easing of restrictions. We will not eliminate the disease completely unless and until an effective vaccine can be produced and mass vaccinations carried out. Until then, we will have to accept a continual stream of infections and deaths.

Jacques Prévert 1900-1977

After our trip to a hot and sunny Brighton, we are spending a restful day at home. We did have one – well, actually two, if you count our usual coffee – errands to run.

The first was to drop off something in Naoroji Street (named in memory of Sir Dadabhai Naoroji).

To go there, we took the longer route which passes near the New River Head. Through the railings, you can still see these two buildings belonging to it. That’s as close as one can now go without an invitation. I, for one, would like to see them closer and know more about them.

On the way back we took the shorter route which goes through this narrow lane. I call it the “Garden Passage” because it passes through a community garden and seems not to have an official name. At the best of times you need to give way to people coming the other way and even more so now.

The passage leads to Lloyd Square and thence to Myddelton’s, where we bought our usual coffee. (Didn’t really need to say so, did I? 🙂 )

There was a pleasant breeze but it was still hot (and forecast to become warmer still). From the look of the cloudy sky, however, there could be rain or storms later.

As for us, we shall probably stay at home for the rest of the day.

I know I nominally ended the story on the train home (see previous post) but…

Don’t you find that the return journey always feels longer than the outward journey? As the miles scrolled past the windows I found myself becoming impatient and started following our progress on the map on my phone.

As we reached the outer boroughs of London I began to feel excited.

London Bridge Station lies south of the river but it’s already London and nearly home.

On the move again, we see Southwark Cathedral sail past. We approach the Thames…

Crossing the Thames is like breasting the tape at the end of a marathon. We stopped at Blackfriars Station and started rolling again. That is when I took the above photo of the Thames glinting beyond the glass windows.

We reached St Pancras at last and left the train to pursue its fortunes further north. Tigger proposed stopping for coffee and why not? A restful pause for refreshment before the final few steps to home.

We went to the stop for the 214 and a bus came with a minute or so.

Time now to rest and reflect on the day’s outing in comfortable familiar surroundings.

Yes, now that is the end of the story!