Late Night Walks

Before the lockdown was put in place, Flyfour and I would fairly often go for walks in our local neighbourhood or at one of the local Supermarkets. We'd always ask the children if they wanted to come with us, but normally they'd have an excuse as to why they couldn't come and if I'm being honest we didn't mind that they didn't come because we'd spend the time talking together about everything and anything and if we were at the Supermarket buying snacks for us to share.

And then the lockdown happened.

Really, it doesn't affect us as much as it does other people. We are both blessed to be in jobs which are "safe" so we don't have to worry about losing an income or having to find new work. Flyfour is able to do a lot of his job from home, although does occasionally need to travel to take part in logistical "things" and as a School receptionist, believe it or not, I'm actually needed in work too. Mainly I'm needed to ensure that the children or parents who are calling to speak with a staff member can, but I'm also there sending out the work to the children who can't access it via an electronic device and of course we still have students in the school each day too.

We haven't changed our routine for going for a walk, although now we are only allowed to walk around our local neighbourhood (as the Supermarkets shut at eight pm and don't tend to let more than one person from a family in at a time) and with Spring having well and truly sprung it's not like we mind as the weather has been quite nice and it's enabled us to see many exciting things about our local area that we might not have paid all that much attention to before.

Things like the elderly neighbour who has a working lighthouse ornament with a rotating beam of light in her front window.

Things like how annoying I am waving at every front door that has a Ring doorbell, just in case the house owner looks to see who walked past their home.

Things like the foxes, who despite having always been brave seem to be a little braver in their walks around our neighbour's gardens.

Things like the neighbour who has a bonfire in their garden every night for four nights (We're pretty sure they were disposing of evidence. Evidence of what we have no clue, but we know what we know)

Things like the starry skies, which I'm not sure I even need my app to tell me what the installations are anymore as I've become that familiar with their shapes and names and stories.

Things like the dodgy people hanging about a map outside a closed shop, for what I can only assume was a drug deal because nobody around here needs to look at a map to know where they are or where they are going.

Things like the hairdresser coming out of her shop in PJ's and dressing gown having been to her saloon to pick up beauty products.

Things like how quiet it is with no cars rushing by.

Things like how fresh the air smells.

Once this lockdown is over, the world will change back to how it was; and Flyfour and I may stop our daily evening walks as our lives slowly fill back up with the various different activities, clubs and responsibilities we have in our community, but I hope that they don't. I hope that we will be able to enjoy the little moment of time together each evening, walking in our neighbourhood when it seems like the rest of the world has gone to sleep, enjoying the freedom and the quietness of the night together.