I have not posted here since the beginning of 2020. All is well, my family and friends are well.

I am 69 and well into the vulnerable demographic and so my year to date has been spent in relative isolation. Not wishing to waste the summer I have spent a large amount of time out-of-doors, mostly motorcycling.

Now that the weather is turning autumnal I am resigned to a kind of monkish isolation, with none of the comforts and psychological props to see me through the winter – meeting friends, going out to pubs, taking walks in Bristol, making plans for 2021. Lots of people have much worse problems, but it does no harm to admit to my own. There are many things we require for our physical and mental health, and they may seem like little things when we have them, but they are not small things when we lose them for an extended period.

If you are reading this, then I hope you remain well, your family is well, and your friends are well.