Day 28, Thornhill to Muir Dam

Muir Dam with Ben Ledi beyond

Monday 20 April 2020, Day 28 of Lockdown

We were served another bright spring day with strong easterly winds, clear skies and extra clear visibility. After 10 days of not going out apart from daily exercise I had three places to visit in Stirling to collect essentials including some materials for house and garden DIY tasks. The traffic was almost non existent, the click and collect procedures of the stores I visited were excellent with a far quicker turnaround than in normal circumstances. The professionalism, care and friendliness of the assistants was quite exceptional. I returned for an afternoon of hard work in the garden before Gregor and I set out for our daily exercise, a walk to the Muir Dam. It was only the second day Gregor had not run all year and he relished the relaxation of a walk to hidden places.

We passed a couple of people I know trailing their dogs around the North Common before crossing the fields and beginning the walk up the Cessintully burn. The evening light was exceptional, the only particulates being the tree pollen and ammonia brought over in the strong easterly winds from farming activity in Eastern Europe. In the 4 weeks since my last visit, conditions had changed remarkably. The ground was rock hard after 10 days of dry weather and strong moisture extracting winds. The fields had been sown, the leaves were budding and the colour palate was splashed with the vivid yellows of the gorse bushes and the white blossom of the blackthorn. 

After clambering over the four or five crumbling stiles that need replacing, a job when lockdown eases, and crossing a wobbly two plank bridge over a burn that had now become a bog, we made our way over the hill and far away to a place that looks like teletubby land, all green and gentle. After enjoying the spectacular 360° panorama of views, we headed down towards the Muir Dam. There was a tall stile to climb to reach a splendid birch wood that extends down to the reed encircled bird haven that is the Muir Dam..

It is about a kilometre from the dam along forest paths and eventually a track to the road. We passed the several fields of Christmas trees and the large modern Scandinavian looking house that is hidden in the estate and found our way to the road. It was traffic free and therefore a pleasant walk back to the village; all downhill with hedgerow birds, lambs and distant tractors the only sounds apart from a game of croquet that was taking place in the garden of one of the farmhouses. It was the perfect spring evening bereft of all the intrusions of modern life.

Crop drills

Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Gorse

Gorse time

Towards the Ochils and Stirling

Thornhill and Campsies

Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorlich

Braes of Doune Windfarm

Muir Dam

Lambing time

Campsies from Braes of Boquhapple

Tree of Life and the tip of Ben Ledi

Flanders Moss - Raised Bog

Flanders Moss

Sunday 19 April, 2020

On another glorious day, I had to find a way of escaping the confines of the house for some exercise. The spell of weather that was forecast for the next four or five days would normally have me packing a tent and disappearing to the far north of Scotland to climb some of the remoter hills that I have still to climb. It would have been extreme social isolation with only myself for company.

As compensation, I decided to explore some more of Flanders Moss. The visitor area has been closed off by SNH but it only gives a 700-metre walk on a boardwalk. Instead, I cycled to the south of the Moss and followed the road to the airfield at Easter Poldar and then walked westwards alongside the meandering river Forth before entering the raised bog through some gates and sampling a walk across part of the Moss. The ground had been sun-dried, the straw-coloured grasses and mosses cushioned my footfall and allowed me to walk across a section of the Moss.

The raised bog sits about 4 metres higher than the surrounding agricultural land. There are copses of birch trees that punctuate the edge of the Moss and then just the humps of grass and spaghnum moss stretching to the agricultural land north of the Goodie Water. My hour of exercise was almost up so I returned to the bike and pedalled home, serenaded by the birdsong in the April sunshine. We are fortunate to have good air quality in this part of the world but the clarity of light has been exceptiional and the night skies are quite inspirational during these dark days of coronavirus.

The raised bog

And Quietly flows the Forth

Looking east from South Flanders

Invasive Birch at the edge of the Moss

Sphagnum mosses 

Looking west across the Moss to Ben Lomond

Bonsai Birch

Our Fantastic Response to Covid-19

"Let’s not forget – we already have a fantastic NHS, fantastic testing systems and fantastic surveillance of the spread of disease.

We will make sure the NHS gets all the support it needs to continue their brilliant response to the virus so far.

Our country remains extremely well prepared, as it has been since the outbreak began in Wuhan several months ago.

Finally, crucially, we must not forget what we can all do to fight this virus, which is to wash your hands with soap and hot water for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice."

Boris Johnson, Statement on Coronavirus Action Plan, 3 March 2020

I should have known better when the PM and the government ministers kept repeating that they were being guided by scientific experts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. It is what they do, introduce the designated scapegoats early when faced with wicked issues.

Neighbours who had booked a cruise to South East Asia had seen the spread of coronavirus and cancelled their holiday by mid-January. In early February we decided not to make a trip to London as the first UK cases were announced. By March we had battened down the hatches and were not eating out and only shopping at quiet times. Our son's employers closed their offices and asked everyone to work from home for more than a week before the government finally announced the lockdown on 23 March.

Like others, I could not understand why the UK was going into lockdown a couple of weeks behind many European countries. But Europe is usually ahead of us in most things as it is with time zones. Although France and Spain have the same longitudes as the UK, they prefer being ahead of the curve with the one-hour lead that the Central Europe consolidated time zone provides.

I had assumed that given the superlatives that the government were lavishing on the NHS and their "world-leading scientific experts" they had procurement of equipment and testing well in hand. I also assumed that it was self-evident that the population most in danger would be those in care, both in residential homes and receiving daily visits from carers. There are over a million people in care in the UK and any rudimentary study of demography indicates that this is where the highest proportion of deaths would occur.

I was wrong on all counts, the medical and scientific advisers had been part of a wider group where behavioural scientists had pointed out the frustrations that could occur with an early lockdown and the government were anxious not to close down businesses and put the already fragile economy into freefall. The government were playing Footsie with the pandemic and displaying their true laissez-faire credentials.

When the PM began his daily briefings, he was supported by his wingmen - the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser. They watched his back and gave some gravitas to the briefings, much needed given the PM's tendency to wing it, as in his briefing statement above. It is only in the last week or so that they have both admitted that they thought the slow response had cost lives and that testing wasn't ramped up fast enough. But they are too late, the PM has already strapped them into the box seats for the blame.

Whether they were culpable for the equally disastrous failure to focus attention on those in care is uncertain. The daily announcement of the numbers who have contracted Covid-19 and the number of deaths were presented as an absolute total for England although the figures only related to deaths in hospitals. The statistics from other countries that are further ahead of the UK show that up to 50% of deaths have occurred in community settings. Even the Scottish figures are showing that 30% of deaths have been in care homes.

Surely the government advisers and demographers must have known this and yet until the past few days, these statistics have been knowingly, or unknowingly, ignored. The ignominy that goes with this is a result of the almost criminal failure to ensure that personal protective equipment and testing have been a priority in the care sector. This has included a failure to test patients who have been released from hospitals to care homes. Does the Health and Care Minister, Matt Hancock, really care about Care?. His propensity to change his mind, make idle promises and fudge issues is the stuff of legend?

We are now hoping for some advice from the government on when and how lockdown will be scaled back. In Germany, the Chancellor has had meetings with the heads of the 16 German state premiers and there has been an announcement of an easing of lockdown based upon genuine scientific reasoning with an App to assist with social distancing. In Denmark, Austria, Italy, and Spain there has been some loosening of the lockdown and more transparent discussions. In the UK, there is merely an announcement that we don't want people being diverted from staying inside, complying with the guidance, and thus intensifying their anxieties. This lack of trust in its citizens to observe lockdown together with its fundamental laissez-faire attitude suggests a government in meltdown. What a bunch of charlatans in charge of our over-centralised ship of state.

A Quiet Ride on Easter Monday

What a day for a bike ride

Easter Monday was always a busy time as folk visited the countryside on the first public holiday of springtime, whatever the weather. This year was a very different proposition: the roads were empty, the weather was perfect and visibility even better. I took the bike out for my daily exercise and only five cars and a bus passed me as I cycled a loop around Flanders Moss taking in the Lake of Menteith. I stopped briefly by the Lake to take some photos, took a long dead end track to check its suitability for a long distance cycle route, and met some old friends who were cycling on the car empty roads, we kept a good 4 metres away as we reprised life in lockdown and what we were missing most.

The distant views of locked down hills were tantalising, especially at this best time of the year for escaping to the mountains but the garden will have to be my gymnasium for the next couple of months. Even the smaller hills that are well within an hour's walk are now taped off. I managed 30 kilometre of pedalling, there were a few short hills but it was mainly pleasurable at an easy cadence.  There were a dozen or so cyclists all enjoying the empty roads and the cycle friendly conditions: sun, a cool gentle breeze and no exhaust fumes. As a restorative against lockdown, a bike ride in this part of the country eclipses any of the alternative options being advanced on social media.

It made me think of the traumas being suffered by all the children, families and single people trapped in flats and houses in our towns and cities. Overcrowding and lack of privacy for some, loneliness and desolation for others. The lockdown has, if anything, further exacerbated the inequalities that are endemic in the UK. Those in poor or overcrowded housing, dependent on universal credit, minimum wage jobs or zero hours contracts are suffering the most with risks to mental health escalating through the uncertainty, reduced incomes and minimal opportunities for physical exercise. The damage will be long term and recent talk by some government ministers of bouncing back with a rapid return to economic growth  smacks of the lazy optimism that defines their modus operandi. It is in marked contrast to the stoical altruism of the essential workers from care assistants, bus drivers, cleaners, refuse collectors, shop staff and health workers who are displaying both kindness and fortitude as they perform their duties.

We will live in a different era after the pandemic subsides. Home-working has been fast tracked and established in many businesses, many jobs in the service sector will have disappeared along with the small businesses and restaurants that are wiped out, there will be fears about both work and holiday travel. There will be a greater desire to eliminate the noise and air pollution to levels that we have enjoyed during the lockdown.

Many of the attractions of the cities will be less enticing with restrictions on many forms of social interaction from events to crowded bars and clubs. Will these factors reverse the centuries long flight to the towns and cities as people begin to value the simpler, less hectic, and less hedonistic lifestyles? Communities in smaller towns and villages could be re-energised as commuters jettison the unloved jobs in offices and call centres and the casual acquaintances of city life. There will be a lingering fear of more future events like this and a desire by many to escape the less dubious benefits of city living.

Overlooking Flanders Moss at Ruskie

Not a person or vehicle

Lake of Menteith

Ben Lomond if you look closely

A track into Flanders Moss

River Forth from Cardross Bridge

Ben Ledi from Arnprior

The Carse of Stirling

Jim's cottage

Plotting to Make Profits from Covid

Shitehawks II

Once again Cold War Steve conjures up another powerful image in the time of COVID-19. It shows behind-the-scenes shenanigans of our business tycoons (shitehawks) as they plot to ransack the government coffers as they procure PPE. His resurrection of some titular Irish slang is perfectly paired with a collage inspired by Edward Hopper.

No doubt Dominic Cummings, never one to miss regurgitating new ideas, will be suggesting to Michael Gove that the concept could be extended to ministers and friends, who are always anxious to make a quick buck.

The Noble Art of Politics

Altruism is for the masses

One of the pickups in these lonely staying safe days is the steady stream of collages from Cold War Steve. Trump believes in magic and his latest advice is that anti-malarial drugs will cure Covid-19 according to Fox News. However, expert opinion suggests that the drugs can do real damage. Trump has also threatened to stop funding the World Health Organisation because they are not on his message. 

Meanwhile, anxious to take advantage of Trump's tip and always willing to follow expert opinion if it matches their ambition, the Gove's have nipped along to the pharmacy to garner some of the magic drugs for the PM, who has been tested to have coronavirus. 

Day 14 of Lockdown: Certainty in the age of Uncertainty

Room with a view

In a year or so, we will hopefully be able to reflect back on the year when life as we know it was put on pause by COVID-19. The daily routine of lockdown is juxtaposed against the uncertainty of when will we exit this imprisonment and what will life be like outside of lockdown.

What did we do and how did we cope after the government introduced lockdown and asked people to stay at home? We are lucky in many ways being retired with a pension, a house with a garden and the opportunity to walk, run and cycle in the nearby countryside. So what do you do in lockdown?

In the last 19 days since imposing my personal lockdown, I have only made three trips out. Twice for the weekly shop at Sainsbury's, which is well organised, well-stocked and the staff discretely distanced. Last Friday the queue for the older generation slot at 8am stretched three hundred metres around the block. The man in front of me in the queue was playing Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty on his phone. It took me back to 1977 when uncertainty was the elixir of life, the saxophone of Baker Street provided the soundtrack of a sun-kissed day as we tacked down the Sound of Mull to Tobermory and then to Skye on a friend's yacht. I have also made a trip to the local pharmacy, which I combined with a walk-up Lime Craig, a local hill that is still accessible by village footpaths, although not from any car parks, which have been taped off with warning notices against walking. I have been out cycling twice and spent a day clearing mud from one of the local paths as part of a village initiative. The rest of the time has been spent in the house and garden.

The 6th of April dawned bright but cold, the sounds and view from the bedroom with an opened window to the garden lifted the spirits as they always do. The pheasants were crowing. the crows were cawing, the geese in the garden across the burn were honking and the blue tits were trilling. The Campsie hills were sharply defined against the blue skies and the trees were beginning to display a green hue as buds and leaves came into play.

We listened to the Today programme on the radio. Martha Kearney is a reassuring voice who usually brings out the best of her interviewees but she was broadcasting from home today and poor reception meant she lost her natural spontaneity. The Queen had delivered only the fifth speech to the nation of her 67 years on the throne. She had reprised Vera Lynn's famous phrase "We'll meet again" and according to the BBC, it was a pitch-perfect speech to her subjects.  The Prime Minister had been taken to St Thomas's hospital for tests and the Chief Medical Officer in Scotland had had to resign after making two trips to her second home in Fife despite being the voice of public broadcasting announcements urging people to 'stay at home'. The election of Keir Starmer as the leader of the Labour Party received little coverage although it might turn out to be the most significant event in today's news.

I went down for breakfast and after a bowl of muesli with blueberries and yoghurt, I opened a jar of blackcurrant jam as a treat to spread on some toast. Tony Blair came on the radio, primarily to make a plea for extensive testing so that there could be detailed planning for a safe exit from the lockdown and opening up some parts of the economy. Despite the fact that his reputation was shredded by the media and his own party after the Iraq war, he still sounds a lot smarter and more focused than any of his four successors.

Clouds had gathered and there was a fierce wind that discouraged venturing out. I have been scanning my old slide photographs and storing them on the computer and cloud since the start of the year. It generally takes about an hour to scan a box of slides and adjust the photos. Today, I scanned in two boxes from 1996 when we had a family holiday in the States. We had visited New York for five days before flying to San Francisco and then driving to Monterey, Yosemite, Mono Lake, Ridgecrest (the earthquake capital of the States), Santa Barbara, Hollywood, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree NP and Disneyland. I scanned in a box of slides from New York and one from Yosemite. Reprising these happy days was the perfect antidote to the dark days of Covid

The Yosemite slides provided a wonderful memory of one of my favourite days of my life. We had stayed in a tent cabin in Curry Village for a couple of days with the bears prowling around at night. On a perfect July day, we hiked up the Half Dome, cautiously passing three brown bears on the ascent. The scenery was awe-inspiring with the waterfalls, forests and wildlife all in their early summer pomp. We made the summit with our three offspring aged 12, 14, and 16. They had a head for heights, which was as well when you look at the climb up the wires in the photo. We spent 15 minutes sitting on the summit, gasping at the beauty of Yosemite Valley.

A Scan of the Half Dome ascent

At lunchtime we watched the BBC One o'clock news and had some pasta before heading out to the garden, The daffodils had finally come out and the lawn needed its first cut. The fifteen-year-old mower started on the first pull and I cut half of the front lawn before clearing some ground that had been used for builders debris. I filled a couple of barrowloads with stone, bricks and clods of clay and emptied them into a large deep hole in the adjacent field that had been left open by the drainage contractor who was no longer on site owing to the lockdown. I raked over a patch of ground and then placed a couple of large boulders at the start of a path that I had been constructing down to the burn at the side of the house. It is heavy work and I brought in a couple of barrowloads of builders sand to set the stones into. A parcel had arrived in the morning with some raspberry canes so the next job was to dig out a trench in the stony ground so that I could prepare it for the canes.

Aileen had come out and decided to attack the rubbish at the other side of the burn. It has been used as an unofficial dumping ground for garden rubbish, plastic bags and quite a few household appliances. She found a Stirling Council notice amidst the rubbish, it was a warning against tipping rubbish with a possible £40k fine for tipping. I put it aside and will affix it to a fence post and reinstate it. We took an overflowing barrowload of the said rubbish and put it in one of the spare brown bins. There are no collections of garden rubbish at present but I will transfer it bit by bit to the grey bins for general rubbish over the next few weeks. 

Daffodils are late this year

The mowing season begins

Clearing stones and digging for victory

I finished cutting the lawn, it was almost 6pm before I went inside for a cup of tea and to catch up on the news. It is a fairly routine set of items by now. How many new cases of Covid-19, the number of deaths and then the same for Italy and Spain followed by questions about why testing is so slow and PPE provision is not getting through to NHS and care homes. Unusually President Trump had made no fact-defying statements today so all we had was him wishing a quick recovery for his "good friend and a strong man" Boris Johnson.

We had a salad and pizza as we watched Channel 4 News. Matt Fry displayed his usual impeccable interviewing style and Kieran Jenkins had a sharp piece of investigative journalism on the lack of support for the Scottish care homes where there had been outbreaks of the virus and many deaths amongst residents and staff.  There had been no deliveries of PPE or testing, and the care sector does not have the status or clout of the NHS, which had made much noise about the failure to deliver these items to the hospitals or community health facilities. As a result, they had obtained the priority in procuring the limited supply. This had Nicola Sturgeon on the back foot, the government have never recognised the vital role of care in the community despite numerous reports over the past thirty years. It has been subject to competitive tendering, low pay, loose regulation and a blind eye by the government. This was an inevitable outcome and whilst the first minister has generally handled the crisis well, this was a major catastrophe and coupled with the forced resignation of her Chief Medical Officer it had not been a good day for the Scottish Government.

I had put my camera on charge earlier in the day and there was a wonderful late evening sun so I went out at 7:30pm to see if I could get a shot of the oystercatcher that is nesting nearby. I disturbed it sitting on three eggs in a hollow in a pile of earth that had been excavated by the farmer/developer of the site. He was cocooned in his tractor spreading fertilizer on crops in a nearby field. Farmers seem to be carrying on as normal. As I returned to the house, the moon was sitting above the ash trees where about a dozen crows had their nests. There was a fine sunset and Ben Ledi loomed over us, it is now beyond bounds with the lockdown but tempting nevertheless.

I transferred the photos to the computer and as I wrote this blog, the news emerged that the Prime Minister had been transferred to intensive care. But fear not, Dominic Rab and Matt Hancock would be able to steer us through the fight against COVID-19. At a time of national crisis, words of sympathy came from all sides and only President Trump's offer to send over some companies with a wonder drug that he had seen on Fox News brought any discord. The drugs had not been properly tested and had been cautioned against by Trump's senior health adviser. I sent some old photos from 1957 to my cousin in Australia, who contacted me a couple of days ago, I had not seen her since 1994 and she was housebound as a result of her health problems. 

I stayed up until 11:30pm reading and thinking about our granddaughter's 7th birthday tomorrow. The grandchildren had been intending to spend the week with us but the little people have become mere images on FaceTime during the lockdown.

Our resident oystercatcher

Its nest and eggs

Evening view of Ben Ledi

Crows nesting