Small Things

Nearly three weeks of lockdown, and no sign of anything changing yet. The warm Easter weather is very tempting but, like everyone else, we’re staying close to home. As someone who likes to go out and photograph landscapes, the past few weeks have been doubly frustrating: with my hand in plaster I can’t use my camera properly, and, even if I could, there are limited places to go.

But it’s something we’re going to have to get used to, and find a way to make the best of our time. I’m using some of this time to work on my family tree, and this week I was going to publish an article on genealogy. But then it struck me that, as one of my great loves is history, it would be crazy not to record one of the greatest historical events of the last 75 years. Most of the time things develop slowly, but I can’t think of anything so obviously and momentously historical as the events of the last few months.

And this is a great dilemma: we are all witnesses to something extraordinary, and yet can’t get out and about to record it. So, in the midst of great events, like most other people, I’ll have to make the best of the small things around me.

Today’s picture is of Brindle, our cat, sunning herself in the garden earlier this week. It just goes to show that, while us humans are facing our greatest collective challenge of a lifetime, the animals around us barely miss a heartbeat.

Next Thursday I get my hand back, just as the garden is coming back to life. It’s a good chance to get outside with a camera photograph some of the amazing small things around us.