Assessing the backdrop

This was the look Juno gave to the creatures I'd arranged on the plant behind me. I thought I'd add some interest to the backdrop to my video conferences. The creatures are knitted finger puppets – a hedgehog, a fox and a squirrel – and they fit neatly between the long, thin twin trunks of one of my unidentified house plants. Ah, this has made me look it up and it's a Madagascar dragon tree, so I've learned something today.

It was much cooler today. Fred and I sat in the garden when the sun came out but there wasn't much of that. We walked to Streatham Common in the evening, which was much quieter than we've been used to – the change in temperature has discouraged some from walking out and about or they were all staying in to watch Boris (we opted for "highlights" in the news later). The skies were clearer than usual and we could see St Helier's Hospital, the high rises of Sutton and the Ikea towers of Croydon from Norwood Grove. 

It turns out the Boris hasn't said much that changes anything for us. I feel for folk who are now being encouraged to go to work if they can't work from home. I'm sure there are bad bosses out there who won't make sure safety procedures are put in place. And what do you do if you are encouraged to go to work but you have kids at home – it's all too vague.

We managed to watch a whole film that wasn't junk viewing (our film viewing is way down from our norm).  Blue Valentine wasn't a feel-good film, but I appreciated the performances of Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling and I'm glad I watched it.