Another Sunday

I think I'm not alone in finding the weeks sliding past incredibly swiftly these days; as far as I'm concerned it's because of the lack of landmarks - holidays, visits, rehearsals, concerts, events - that slow time down in our minds. Today I realised should be our last Church at Home service: we hope to be away next Sunday (a landmark!) and the following Sunday we should be back in church (another one!). I look at photos of churches where they've already gone back for a Sunday service, and I'm afraid that at the moment my main reaction is revulsion at the vision of everyone wearing a mask; I realise it's even more than my dislike for actually wearing one myself, which may be odd ...

I'm blipping the turning point of our walk this afternoon, in the middle section of Glen Massan, the hanging valley with the young river peacefully running through it towards the lip of the gorge which forms the first section and up which we'd walked on the road. When we arrived and decided that we were going to turn back there was a family playing on the tiny beach and in the pool in front of me, so I didn't think I was going to get my desired photo. However, just as we turned back we realised they were packing up and leaving, so we retraced a few steps and popped down onto the beach for a short while. I'd just taken the pic when I realised that yet another car had pulled up just above us; two people got out and clambered down, complete with small dog on lead, and suddenly the beach was ... full. The man with the dog let it out on its crazy long lead so that it could come and sniff, smiling indulgently. Social distancing was about to go out of the figurative window, when I spotted an eroded section of the bank and managed to leave the beach by this alternative route, closely followed by Mr PB. 

As you can see from the photo, this is a reasonably open bit of countryside, and often we can walk up here without seeing a soul except perhaps someone working a field. But this staycation malarkey has fairly changed all that, and I can't help feeling disgruntled. It'd be less irksome if they showed some realisation of what 2 metres looks like. Maybe they'll all go home soon.

Meanwhile the exam fiasco in England rumbles on, having survived the brief distraction afforded by the lemming rush from France to beat quarantine. There is nothing to be gained by diluting the achievement of pupils who do well in their final year, but to try to assess by algorithm is an idea dreamed up by a geek - and of course our feckless PM is governed by one of those. It makes this teacher seethe even more ... You can tell I need some more walks in utterly deserted places.

Maybe in the rain?