It's been awhile since I posted. We are pretty exhausted, not only with lockdown (we are now in Week 13) but with the news from the United States. Like anyone with a beating heart and a working brain, I watched the recording of George Floyd's murder with a mixture of outrage and disbelief. Trump's response (or lack thereof) to the events that followed has made things worse, and has highlighted what a grossly incompetent, morally weak leader he is. The co-founder of Black Lives Matter called him "a destroyer" -- a very apt moniker, in my humble opinion. Let's hope all of this costs him the election in November.

Closer to home the UK government has scrapped its plans for all primary school children to return to school before the summer holiday. This means, of course, that Emma won't be able to see her classroom again. She won't be able to say goodbye, in person, to her friends and her teacher. She won't be able to have her birthday in school, as we'd promised (when your birthday falls on June 26, you never get to celebrate it in school in the U.S. But over here, it's a different matter). The whole thing is a major bummer, and I feel very bad for her. 

The past week has been rough, with all three of us feeling like we are hitting a wall. We are tired of being indoors and of being unable to socialize. Our frustration is exacerbated by the UK government's poor handling of Covid-19. It's clear that we should have gone into lockdown earlier (this is why Richard and I chose to go into lockdown a full week before quarantining was mandated for everyone in the UK). We should have provided Personal Protective Equipment for all medical workers -- instead of forcing nearly half of England's doctors to find (or make) their own PPE. The announcement that primary school children will not be going back to school is the latest in a series of miscommunications and, quite frankly, lies from the government. It's gotten to the point where Richard and I don't pay any attention to any of the government's announcements/pronouncements anymore; inevitably whatever anyone says doesn't come to fruition. 

The good news is that stores are going to start opening up on June 15. I don't think we will actually get to a pub before we leave England ... but at least we will be able to go into a bookstore. 

Last week, we decided to liven things up a bit by dying the ends of Emma's hair a delightful shade of purple. This involved bleaching her hair blonde before dying it. She is quite taken with it.

We've also taken some great walks over the past two weeks. Here's Emma at Magog Down (in the wonderfully named Gog Magog hills), which was full of daisies. The weather was hot and sunny and it really felt like summer. 

Yesterday we walked in the Stour valley, an area made famous by the 18th century English landscape painter John Constable. You can still recognize the house in his most well-known painting, The Hay Wain, which hangs in London's National Gallery. 

Very little has changed in this landscape; I really loved walking there. Going outdoors is still sustaining us to varying degrees. And of course Emma and I are still doing schoolwork while Richard continues to work in the shed in the garden. For now we are counting down the days til June 15.