And here is the City this afternoon - a Monday afternoon - at 3pm

 First I should say, following yesterday's post, I received a nice update this morning about my aunt. According to her brother, Unce Martin, she's had a good sleep and is now eating and "(as the school reports used to say) ‘showing improvement’", which is fantastic. My mother's side of the family are juggernauts.

 

 I didn't head out this afternoon expecting surprises, although there are still streets in NW1 I haven't yet walked down and courtyards to chance upon. I just wondered how empty they'd be. Most people I passed were wearing masks, which had become rare outdoors, but they do keep your face warm. I thought of a new translation to the first line of The Odyssey: "Let's have a story about a windy man!" But how would the reader know which pronunciation of "windy" was meant? That's the only problem.

 

 Things were a lot quieter than in Defoe's day I think. I was coughing quite a bit, but I've now come to recognise this epiglottal build-up of fizzy pizza-flavoured throat-pop: it took me five Christmases to realise it doesn't mean I have food poisoning, I'm just wearing my belt too tight. And I don't have to have eaten pizza to taste it. I forgot that only one of the spires of Saint Paul's has a clock in it, like the eyes of a broken robot pirate. Here's a statue I like. Look at them shimmy.

 

 I missed the hose on the other side. Another reason I like this, I suppose, is because it's a statue of a team. A lot of people get heroism arse backward. Odysseus might be to blame for this, but its root isn't the journey of the indivual. Human beings evolved as a team. That's why we have language. We hunted as a team, gathered and ate as a team, and sitting round the fire is how we managed to stay warm enough to spread across a planet. Only once we'd got the hang of this, I think, could we find ways to be alone. Solitude isn't getting back to nature, it's a benefit of civilization, and I hope, now that another lockdown's been announced, you can still find it if you want it, or still enjoy it if you've now no choice.