Staying Home: Day 47

In honour of it being the weekend I slept in and then sat in bed listening to an audio book (Difficult Women by Helen Lewis) while doing a digital jigsaw puzzle on the iPad. After lunch M and I walked into town for the first time since the lockdown. A few shops which are permitted under the government regulations were open (hardware shop, pet/garden shop, butcher, cycle shop) and there were a few people around, but not enough to make social distancing difficult. To get into town we cross this small river (the River Ouzel), which for centuries formed the county boundary between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. In the 1960s the boundary was moved so that what had been separate towns on either side could be merged into a single administrative unit - before then both had their own police stations, school boards, court houses, town council offices and so on.

The town council usually have lovely floral displays in and around the town centre, like these tubs on the bridge. I'm not sure whether much will be done with them this year. 

We did a circular tour through the park. No concerts in the bandstand this year! Although it doesn't look it from this picture, again there were a fair number of people about, but keeping their distance.  

After the park we circled round and walked back up the High Street. Normally there is a street market on Saturdays, but that is closed for the time being, and the Market Square was almost empty. I should really have got a better photo of the Market Cross (15th century), but something went a bit odd with the angle! The building behind is now a bank, but was once a pub.

When we got back I cooked fried fish for dinner and scones for afternoon tea. For the first time in nearly six weeks we didn't watch a movie - we are pretty much through our Disney movie list, and H wanted to exercise. She was also trying to work on her last uni essay, which is causing her some frustration. This evening M and I had a Dinner Zoom with two other couples (our neighbours and former neighbours), so we ate separately from the girls. It is extraordinary how universal Zoom seems to have become in such a short time.