Moon Struck

You never get used to the moon.

It always comes as a surprise.

Every time you see it is the first time you see it.

Yesterday evening, when the sky was deepening I caught a first glimpse of it, low in the sky behind trees, and thought, "But it's so big!"

You never get used to how big it is- even though it isn't really big at all. If you stop and think you realise it's no bigger than your thumbnail- but that's the rational mind at work. At a first glimpse you never go, "Well that's rather disappointing."

Tonight there'll be a "pink moon" I think that means it'll be in the earth's shadow or something.

Ailz's online newspaper has information about how to see the pink moon. "I should think looking up at the sky would be a good start," she says.

"Yes," I say, "You could look in the bushes but experience suggests it's unlikely to be there."

There is of course the great story- which is told everywhere with variations- about the village people who saw it in their mill pond and tried to drag it to the bank with rakes...

As It Was

We went to Waitrose in Paddock Wood.

Ailz stayed in the car while I queued.

The queue stretched halfway round the car park perimeter with orange cones at intervals to show how we should space ourselves. The cones- which isn't quite the right word because they're more like upturned soup bowls with a hole in the top- are embossed with the word Forza; I'm sure I've seen their like before but I couldn't say where. There were trains stopping at the station next door but I wasn't in a position to see how many passengers were getting on and off.

Only one person per household was being let into the store so when I reached the entrance Ailz took over to do the shopping. She could have bought toilet rolls if she'd wanted to but there were no chickpeas, brussels sprouts or incontinence pads. There was a staff member out front disinfecting trolley handles.