Friday, April 10, 2020, Day 26, Week 4, of Self Isolation.

Global Cases 1,710,817
Global Deaths 103,513
UK Cases 73,758
UK New Deaths 980 Total Deaths 8,958

It’s Good Friday. How ironic. It is far, far away from good for anyone, let alone the grieving families of the 8,958 people who have died of Covid-19 in the last few weeks.

I’ve added the Total Deaths to my daily statistics. New deaths tells us where we are in the wave of the outbreak, but total deaths gives us a sense of the absolutely mind-boggling impact this thing is having on the country.

But, we soldier on in our little isolation bubble. Eating, sleeping, cycling, reading and watching TV. So weirdly detached from what is going on in our hospitals and in other peoples homes. We hear the occasional story and see the occasional ambulance but mostly it’s as if we are watching a drama unfold that we are not really part of. It’s so hard to explain.

Another glorious day weather wise. Spent the morning writing my homework for the next writers group meeting next Friday. The brief this month is that the story must start with the line; Rachel’s first trip to England didn’t go as planned.

Another 6 mile bike ride. We’re going to step it up to 8 miles tomorrow. I’m using the Bikemap App to record our rides. Rather insultingly it automatically labelled the route we did today as a “Restful Route”. The cheek of it!

On our “restful” ride today, I stopped to take a photo of a gravestone we pass every day. It sits on the grass verge at the side of the road and just contains the words:

JJ June 13, 1895

It seems so unusual and intriguing, that I decided to do a bit of Google research! Well, who’d have thought it? It turns out it’s number 7 in Birmingham Ghost Hunters Top Ten most haunted locations in Birmingham. 

The story goes that Jack Johnson (JJ), the owner of Fulford Hall, was beheaded by the branch of a tree, on that very spot, when he stood up in the saddle of his horse to get a better aim at a couple of poachers he was chasing. It is said that on the 13th of June every year strange things happen near the gravestone, usually involving unexplained car accidents and strange noises and bumps in the night.

We’re going to have our Writers Group meeting next Friday using  the House Party app, so we had a trial run today at 4pm to sort out the technicalities and enjoy a virtual glass or two of wine together. A delicious chilled bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc slipped down far too easily and by 6pm it was gone! Oops!

I was just about able to throw together a Vietnamese Turkey and Noodle Salad before collapsing on the sofa to watch an episode of Messiah and the recent Terminator movie – Dark Fate.