Nightwalking

The day just flowed away, occupied by a welter of domesticity. I finally got out for a walk at about eight o'clock, when the streets were almost deserted apart from a few gaggles of youths, oblivious of the lockdown. The grounds of Thorpe Hall were deserted, and the avenue of lime trees seemed quite malevolent in the dim light, the skinny branches reaching out to each other like tentacles. I didn't linger, but walked swiftly back to the well-lit road, feeling the uneven track carefully with my feet so that I didn't trip.