Lockdown day 3 - Spring arrives on the socially distancing marina

I've just come in from a wonderful half-hour or so sitting at the end of the pontoon, looking across the almost mirror-like marina pond under a warm, clear, blue sky, drinking coffee and listening to some of my current favourite music. Jan and Ed came back to Emma Jane a couple of days ago to make social distancing easier, and they're parked up next to us as usual. But they're inside the boat, and we're safely socially distanced. There seem to be very few people around. I can see one man on the other side of the water.

Well, we did our Paracetamol hunt yesterday, visiting four smallish supermarkets and one pharmacy, and coming home with two packs of caplets. We'd have liked it to have been four, so we'll keep our eyes out on those restricted shopping trips for food. Once again, the supermarkets were remarkably well stocked with almost everything, and shoppers were casual and sensible.

In the afternoon, we went for an hour's walk. It's not difficult to avoid people when you're living in the heart of the countryside, and the canal towing-path and a local footpath together offer some lovely walks of up to several hours duration. One Dutch barge passed us. The canal was very quiet. The weather was lovely - as it is today - and we only had to hold our breath on a couple of occasions when we passed other walkers. After the rough weather we've all had over the past weeks it's so good to experience the spring. The swans have nested here again, on a tiny island in a remote corner of the marina. They knew what season it was!

This really is the place to be at the moment, and I'm feeling very privileged, very grateful.

My new book has had its first review already! It was written by fellow blogger and author Valerie Poore, and I couldn't have hoped for a better write-up.

Check out Val's books. She lives on a barge in Rotterdam, and she writes about her years spent in South Africa as well as her boating experiences in Europe - very different from ours.

And don't forget "Out of the sunrise", will you?