Inside, looking out ...

A gloomy day. We knew it was forecast to rain by midday, but in fact we were having some light rain by the time I was going out to Pilates, at 10.30am, and it was downhill thereafter - heavy rain, strong wind, cancelled ferries (again).

It was indeed a day to be inside, looking out - though in fact I was out again, after Pilates. There has been a steady trickle of requests for my poetry collection, and today I had three little parcels to post. Because I have really good waterproof gear, I decided not to take the car to the Post Office, so we both splashed the half-mile and back and were soaked in the process. This is the photo I took afterwards, when we'd dried off, hung up the jackets, dangled the waterproof trousers from the loft ladder (really - very handy!) and had a cup of tea. I had come upstairs to start looking out clothes for our forthcoming holiday - a strangely stressful thing to do with the global health situation right now - and thought, when I abandoned it in favour of some Italian on the computer, that the study looked a haven of security, with the grey view of the wild sea and rain beyond.

I shall continue to assume our holiday will happen, though it becomes harder with every passing day to remain sanguine. But I tell myself that I grew up with my parents' anxiety that every cold I had might presage polio, and later with the constant talk of the 4 minute warning of a nuclear strike. You can ruin your life speculating about what might happen ...