Deceptive

I made a lightning dash up to Elm Row for more coffee (definitely an essential journey!) and by the time I got back to the Shore the sun had come out for a spell and people were disporting themselves, in a physically distanced way of course, on the grass of the old dry dock. However, look closer - the strip of orange up against the office building is a sleeping bag. In fact, there were two folk there, huddled under the bag and a duvet - I'd seen them from the bus stop earlier. I suspect that they'd spent the night there even though the temperature dropped below zero. Perhaps they preferred it to staying in a hostel which would likely be a covid hotspot.

And later we heard from Syuze that an old pal had died, from the wretched virus. We'd heard that she was on a ventilator before New Year....wee J had a big personality and was one of the regular barmaids in the legendary and much-missed Homes Bar. Homes closed down in 2009 (?), the first time dug up Constitution St for the tramworkings. But I continued to bump into her from time to time at the bus stop on the Shore, as her mum lived nearby. The story gets worse; J's grandma was apparently in a care home and caught the virus and died early on in the pandemic. Then her mum caught it and had a massive heart attack as a result (current condition not certain). Now wee J has died, leaving her daughter, who's about 18 or 19, totally bereaved and bereft in lockdown.

R.I.P. wee Julie.