Meanwhile...

[LowlifeDes]

Hen blackbird enjoying several year's worth of crumbs from the toaster.

[Joan]

My parent usually had a pair in their garden. They always referred to the hen as "lady blackbird".

The female magpie (Australian magpie, totally unrelated species) was always "Mrs Magpie". She would come into the house if the door was open and breakfast had not been served.

I hope the little magpie family has made friends with the new owners of the house.

[Joan]

There's a party in my street! Someone has a DJ setup in their garden. And everyone is dancing in their own back yard! Amazing!

[Joan]

It's snowing!

[Regulator]

We had a brief flurry this morning. Seems to be riding in on the NNE wind.

[Joan]

I didn't realise the clocks changed until I went to bed last night, and my 1980s clock radio was an hour out. It's the only non-internet clock in the house. I was briefly confused. I did notice that the time difference between London and Melbourne had changed to 10 hours, and thought they had changed their clocks.

I feel so disconnected! But at least it explains why I was tired on Sunday morning.

[Dunckel]

<opens the door a little and peaks in>

[Joan]

Welcome back! How are you????

[Dunckel]

Hi, slowly recovering from the virus. Apologies for bailing for a while but I've been protecting my mental health.

[Joan]

Hi, slowly recovering from the virus. Apologies for bailing for a while but I've been protecting my mental health.

That's great. I have recently learnt how serious a "mild" case of covid-19 can be - sicker-than-I-have-ever-been-in-my-life bad. So glad you are recovering.

I do try to keep this a safe place, but yeah, any online place can be treacherous. I have to step away from here sometimes too.

Did @Lullabelle manage to avoid catching it?

[Joan]

Note to universe: don't play April fool day tricks tomorrow. Funny and witty little jokes that are obviously fake, sure, but anything that seems a deliberate attempt to mislead or embarrass someone? No, it's not the time. If you do I will go over and punch you in the face as soon as it is safe to do so.

[Dunckel]

That's great. I have recently learnt how serious a "mild" case of covid-19 can be - sicker-than-I-have-ever-been-in-my-life bad. So glad you are recovering.

I do try to keep this a safe place, but yeah, any online place can be treacherous. I have to step away from here sometimes too.

Did @Lullabelle manage to avoid catching it?

I'm afraid not, she's 3-4 days behind me.

[Joan]

Oh dear

[Iris]

"I'll have a bottle of champagne please. The pink one - Lanson"

"Would you like a receipt?"

My first face to face conversation with someone other than Mrs I for 13 days.

[Sonic Budgie]

"I'll have a bottle of champagne please. The pink one - Lanson"

"Would you like a receipt?"

My first face to face conversation with someone other than Mrs I for 13 days.

If you hadn't mentioned a receipt I would gone away with the impression that Lanson was the name of your butler, in fact I'm going to ignore the receipt bit and keep imagining that anyway.