Grey.

Grey again with some drizzle. I woke before 5.00 and had done my exercises by 7.00 which left me feeling very self-satisfied. I was able to get out for some shopping at a reasonable time.

Lidl's wasn't too bad in terms of what was on the shelves. Lots of shoppers but for once they had every till manned, usually it's one or maybe two, and I got my £13 of shopping through quite quickly. I just bought some of the things we would need if we had to stay at home for two weeks. Even got two bottles of milk to put in the freezer.

Tesco's was also very busy with many shelves empty. Top photo shows the hand soaps all gone and the one below once held pasta sauces. Lidl's had a limit of four of any item and Tesco's limit was three. I only failed to find two things on my list which were both in-case items, honey which I use to make a honey and mustard dressing and peanut butter for home baked cookies and as a guilty pleasure. Paracetamol had all gone but we have some at home and are limited in how much we can take because of our other tablets.

Tesco's aren't usually very good for reductions but occasionally there are some bargains. Today I found these gift bags and sparkly tissue paper. They had been reduced to 10p and when I scanned them the 3 for 2 offer still held so you got three items for 20p. Not bad. Then I spotted a reduced climber in somebody's trolley. I looked in the plant section and even got the security guard to watch my trolley while I went to check the racks in the entrance before I found them along with the reduced fruit and veg (no bargains there). At £1.50 each I thought they were a good buy though sadly the special offer didn't come up on the scanner. I bought two varieties of honeysuckle, three of passion flower and five clematis. They are destined for the enclosed back garden in Borth which by my rough reckoning is 12ft x 30ft. The back garden has a hodge podge  of fairly high walls and fences so my plan is to put trellis panels over the whole lot and grow climbers. They are all in the conservatory for the moment and I shall harden them off as the weather improves.

The windows chap phoned this morning after measuring up the hole for the front door. Because we've chosen a composite door there isn't enough room for the side panel. This is because it comes up wider than a standard plastic door (plastic is not as strong) but also means you can get a wheelchair through it should we need. So the side panel has gone and also the problem of visually centering the door from the outside when we have the porch built.

Latest covid news- No cases yet in North Devon. All schools in the country will close on Friday indefinitely though children of key workers and vulnerable children will be able to go to school to be looked after. It's all a bit unclear. Teachers are supposed to provide on-line lessons and/or resources though how well Broadband will hold up to everybody using the internet all day is doubtful. Also this year's GCSE and A level exams have been cancelled. University places are usually given according to A-level grades so what's going to happen there? Right now I've got my window open and there is a noticeable reduction of traffic noise. I'm guessing a lot of people will have done their shopping earlier in the day. I've noticed some of my neighbours who are definitely over 70 still coming home with bags of shopping.