OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

The Rosebank Glasspecker strikes again! This bird is IMPOSSIBLE. The moment the old towel I hung over the widow began to slip, the bird returned. I will have to readjust the towel again tomorrow. The bird deserves something for his tenacity; I just don’t know what.

My love brought me more groceries today and we sat for a few minutes together on the stoep. Distance, masks, misery of being in this situation. But, only a few days left.

The day was reading and admin and arranging things for ‘after’. Our self-catering cottage for the McGregor Poetry Festival is booked. I am not sure the festival will take place, but there are safe ways of doing this, and McGregor has the open spaces for safe, small events to make it work, so fingers crossed.

I felt like a walk today and considered driving to somewhere remote to enjoy a solitary beach or forest path, but personal safety considerations and my own ‘luck’ – knowing me, I would have had to perform CPR exactly when I am not supposed to be near others – crushed the idea, and I decided to keep it worry-less and completely safe and just do my lockdown-level-five-proof Tour de Garden (fifty rounds around the property, collecting one fallen leaf for every lap – cats supervising at all times, of course).

Heard this evening that the Alma Café Folks are also self-isolating after exposure to someone who subsequently tested positive for the coronavirus. The third wave is here and we all need to be super-cautious and take care of one another.

Off to bed to watch the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, “Prison Heat”. (The latest episode of my personal Last Week Tonight could be called “Isolation Cool”.)

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD