London – Day 3 of Lockdown

It’s been a strange day.

My daily outing for exercise consisted of an hour’s walk through my local park. For London in Spring it has been a glorious day with bright sunshine. On days like this, even if kids were at school and most others were at work, in normal times the park would be rammed with people – dog walkers, a lot of us self-employed types, cyclists, runners, groups of mums with babies and toddlers, school groups.

I’ve never seen so few people. There are no longer the groups of mums with babies meeting up for a coffee, nor lots of over 70s out walking alone or with friends. Everyone is keeping their distance. Many kids are still learning what this all means. It will take a little more time.

And it’s largely been a day of reflection.

A few weeks ago, a friend died suddenly, nothing related to the virus. She and I are roughly the same age. It was a complete shock to everyone.

Her funeral was today. I’d not met her many times but certainly considered her a friend. The word ‘friend’ is not one I use lightly. She was one of those wonderful and rare and glorious type of people who on first meeting, you feel you’ve known your whole life. And she so deeply loved her child, her partner, her family and friends, and was so deeply loved by so many. She was in love with life and lived it.

On a normal day, under normal circumstances, hundreds and hundreds of people would have been there. To mourn her death and to celebrate her life. So rest in peace my friend. You will be truly missed by so many.