Tulips and aliums Newlands Park

Todays walk was to Newlands Park, I hadn't been there for a while and it was disappointing that the pond had pretty much half dried up, so zero possibility of finding any ducks there. The garden walk, albeit in a small space made up for that and I was particularly pleased to see some alliums with their purple pompons looking ridiculous but they blended well with the tulips. Met a charming lab who was reluctantly jogging along way at the back of his owner who was going at a very easy pace. This meant he could stop and roll in the grass, converse with other dogs and catch up before she noticed he had temporarily disappeared.
A bit of a queue to get hearing batteries which turned out to be the wrong sort, subsequently ordered the correct ones online, grrr.
Not a good news day, the R rate is apparently rising but based on two ago of calculations. The spread in the community has surely reduced, and I wondering if the impact in care homes (R Rate does not distinguish) is having  an effect, a sort of false negative perhaps.
Extra threads arrived for the cherry tree fairy cross stitch which is only a couple of weeks away form completion. Already feeling trepidatious about embarking on the Monet one.
The extra blip is this very precise group of trees in Newlands Park, I think they may be a variety of maple.