I’ve been out on my Suzuki Bandit. It’s the 600cc in-line four version. It is 22 years old so considered a veteran even though it looks two years old. It is a for-pleasure thing, not for commuting. I enjoy the freedom motorcycling gives and the feeling of independence. It has an element of danger that makes it so exciting. I drive very carefully and am always fully aware of my surrounding. The distance travelled is not great at the moment. It can’t be, there is nowhere to go until C19 is over. I simply circle the city with the odd glide out on the B-roads. Things may change soon; this imprisonment of the world can’t last much longer.

My good friend, Liz, has gone off to visit relatives. It has been a long wait for her. They live in the countryside so she will be taking the dogs over the fields and along lanes. The hedges will be in bloom with various blossoms overhanging wildflower verges. In my garden, my favourite blooms are out now. Bright red Crocosmia Lucifer. Like the hedge blossoms, the fronds arch out over the other flowers three to four feet above the ground. They look like a frozen firework display, Beautiful. There are other beautiful flowers to admire but the timing of the Lucifer, coming in mid-July, heralds the beginning of the summer holidays. That is, they did every other year, but not this one as no one is going anywhere.

I have taken delivery of a beginners’ Clarinet. The stand I bought for the Saxophone has a peg on one leg to place a Clarinet on. The clarinet was bought off eBay and cheaply. It has a plastic body with silver scaffold-work. The plastic is blue and it counterpoints the antique brass saxophone. They both make a wonderful ornamental feature when not in use on the stand. It took half an hour to put it together. Fortunately, I have cork grease for the sax so the clarinet did slide together smoothly in the end. I spent another half hour messing about trying to get the Clarinet sound out of it. I only seemed to create a squeak most of the time. Relenting, I read the booklet that came with it. It would seem that I put the reed too far into my mouth as I do for the Sax. That’s wrong, you only put the tip in for a clarinet. That made all the difference, I got the correct sound then. That finished my practise, “always stop at a success” is good advice.