Keep your eye on the prize!

I'm continuing to take myself by car and then walk somewhere quiet. Today it was Wark.

There are lots of daffodils beside the river here and they are a pleasure to look at, even when it is grey and a bit damp. The sun did not appear for us today.

I walked by the riverside and passed Gold Island. There is no prospect of crossing to the island, even with wellies on. There is a lot of water in the River North Tyne right now. It was noisy as I walked.

There were fresh gorse flowers and I decided to photograph one with a shallow depth of field. I did not realise that the part in focus would be the hairs that brush the sides of the bumble bees as they enter and leave.

My extra are two exquisite lichen sharing a branch. The yellow one is Xanthoria parietina and I think the other, which is a fruticose lichen, is Evernis prunastri.  I may be wrong!

I saw a couple of dog walkers to speak to at a distance.

The north east of  England has had very few confirmed cases of the virus so far. I think this means that people are reluctant to stay at home. Once the numbers increase, I expect that they will.

Now should I go to Tesco at 0600 tomorrow?

The schools will shut from Friday, but I expect that a lot of parents have already kept children at home. The decision to keep schools open for the children of healthcare and other essential workers is interesting. Some children will not be happy with this! Equally, the parents who are on zero hours contracts may want their children to go to school so they can avoid insolvency. Hmm. Not sure they thought this one through.

The government also says that childcare should not be done by grandparents. 

Who is in the real world?!

I'm glad I don't have to make the decisions.