BACK IN THE COVID - The Lockdown Diary Day 10

Help for the self employed has been announced, trillions of financial stimuli are floating around the globe, half the country is going on a paid furlough, the NHS is suddenly everyone’s friend and yet two things 1) people have just voted for the party that has spent 11 years downgrading and underfunding the NHS and 2) there is never enough money to invest in science, technology and education, living pensions are not affordable, the cost of welfare has been driven down, austerity is necessary and yet trillions can be spent fighting a virus at the drop of a hat. Let us fight this virus then reflect upon the lie exposed before we vote again. Too much of Britain’s wealth is in the wrong bank accounts and in normal times they are very clever at not only holding on to it but convincing the gullible that they should be allowed to. They are like so many stinking Smaugs smoldering under their country piles but raiding the country to grab more of our wealth and build and an even bigger pile to gloat over.

Little things. Focus on the little things. The Bee Flies I mentioned yesterday are little things. Small but very beautiful beasties. I never knew we had them until I found one indoors about 4 years ago but they are quite common. You will not generally find Bee flies amongst the cloud of nectar feeding bees, wasps and hoverflies that fill our gardens with their noisy vibrations in summer. Bee flies emerge earlier to feed on spring flowers using their long proboscis and at this time of year are to be seen alternately darting and hovering in the sun between plants or at rest on a sunny patch of soil or a leaf before quickly darting off again. Bee flies are a harmless type of horse fly in the family Tabanidae and go by the name of Bombylius major and here is one captured today.



This patch of ground itself is interesting, it is where my long dreamt of pond was going to be dug,  Was! Yesterday I decided to call it a day on that dream and take it as collateral virus damage. I am not going to go out, cannot get supplies and by the time this is all over I will not have the energy left to see it through. Work started today on clearing the ground for what will become garden planting areas.