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Now into Week 8 of lockdown. We are trying to fight the good fight against boredom, anxiety, and fear. Some days are better than others.

On weekdays we continue with our daily routine of schoolwork, Zoom calls, arts and crafts, and TV programs (or, for Emma, Youtube videos). There is enough going on that the days feel relatively full. There is also some variability. On Tuesdays Emma and I watch a children's astronomy session on Youtube. This is a live presentation by the Institute of Astronomy Cambridge and it's excellent. On Tuesday afternoons Emma has art club. On Wednesdays she takes an online Minecraft course called "Exploring Ancient Civilizations." On Thursday mornings she has ukulele club. And on Friday afternoons she does a yoga class.

Weekends are harder for us, as we ditch the schoolwork and therefore our daily routine. This past Saturday we went for a 12 mile bike ride to Wandlebury Country Park, a place we'd never been before and knew nothing about. It turns out that in addition to offering beautiful views of the Cambridgeshire countryside, Wandlebury is the burial place of the Godolphin Arabian, one of three stallions responsible for literally all of the Thoroughbreds around the world. 

The park is in the Gog Magog hills, which lie just south of Cambridge. I love the name Gog Magog, which is so fantastical. Apparently in English folklore Gogmagog was the last survivor of a race of giants that once ruled England. Who knew? 

Spring continues to be in full swing here. The roses and poppies are blooming.....



.... as is the wisteria which covers quite a few of the homes of Cambridge. 


We continue to wait for Boris Johnson to lay out the British government's recovery plan. That was supposed to happen yesterday. It didn't. In our opinion, the U.K. has clearly flubbed its response to the coronavirus. We are now third in the world for total number of deaths, just behind Italy but well behind the U.S. And we are fourth in the world for confirmed cases, at just over 191,000. A month ago the country's Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, promised 100,000 coronavirus tests each day. We continue to fall well below that number. There is some talk about primary schools re-opening on June 1. We can only hope and pray that that is the case.


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