'These Joe Wicks exercises haven't half given me a sore back.' Lockdown Pre-Raphaelite style

Speaking as someone who did nothing yesterday except huddle indoors out of the cold, eating too much and reviving some of my Greatest Lockdown Hits such as De-cluttering My Sock Drawer (*** See footnotes below), I'll give full marks to anyone who found the will to get their coats on and go out walking.

I can't remember weather so bone-freezing since what we ancients know as The Great Freeze of 1962-63 (younger members, look it up in Wikipedia) when I was stuck in a boarding school on the windswept coast of East Anglia and a martyr to chilblains, and when the  electricity failed we had to do our lessons  by candlelight. Compared to everything we're going through now, of course, those seem like halcyon days. 

My long walk on Saturday featured a sprint to dodge the crowds on Blackheath followed by an exploration of the environs of Eltham. It's not often one can say something positive about the Sidcup by-pass but one thing I can tell you - absolutely no one goes for a walk there. Prompted by my reference in last week's Jabber to walking biohazards on the Thames Path, London Group member Adam Pode commented: 'For a remote walk with parking so you don;t annoy anybody (except maybe the birds), I heartily  recommend the south Essex mashes.'

South Essex marshes
PHOTO Adam Pode

Meanwhile, escaping from his Croydon fastness where he's WFH (***), Gavin Fuller did manage to find some welcome if watery sunlight around Riddlesdown and King's Wood

'It's days like today that I miss social walks...'
PHOTO Gavin Fuller

*** Ladies, am I alone in having discovered a 35-year old bra entombed at the bottom of her sock drawer? No? Just me then.

*** If the pandemic has given us nothing else, we now have a sparkling new set of acronyms, of which Working From Home is one.

It's not just the weather and the anxiety about infection that are deterrents to getting out and about. What are the rules at the moment? I can' be the only one who's confused by the current Dos and Don'ts. You may have heard about the two Derbyshire ladies who, on a socially distanced walk around Foremark Reservoir, were stopped and fined £200 by two especially zealous police officers because they were five miles away from home and were each clutching a cup of peppermint tea. According to the boys in blue, that counted as a picnic.

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And finally...

I'd sign off with 'Happy Walking', but that might be a bit over the top. Perhaps 'Not-too-apprehensive walking' might be a more appropriate salutation. I can only reprise the anthem of last week's Jabber: Things can only get better.' Sleeves rolled up at the ready, folks - the jabs are coming.