My locked down days tend to begin early. Normally I'm woken up at 7 a.m. by the alarm but since lockdown there's no need to be up for work any more. My weird, sometimes disturbing, but mostly just weird dreams wake me. This time I dreamt I was flat sharing with 1970's British rocker Alvin Stardust. It was a pretty shabby flat, and that was about it as far as the dream went. Me, Alvin, run down flat with nothing much happening.

I woke, did a little online check of the news and snoozed for an hour or so where another dream saw me riding a scooter up Windy Hill on a completely deserted M62 motorway. It was night time, I hid from the police when they passed looking, I presume, for non essential motorway scooter traffic. Lockdown dreams are very regular, quite vivid but often without much point or plot to them. Something like my life now.

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I started running a couple of years ago after age-related illnesses began to take my friends. Although it began as an attempt to improve my physical health I soon noticed a marked improvement in my mental health too. This has been especially helpful during this enforced period of inactivity. If I end the day having achieved nothing else, I will have run.

These days I usually run about 7 or 8km every 2 days. I tend not to set goals or to set off with a specific distance or time in mind, just to run until I get bored with it. Today, though, is a non running day so my boots, not my running shoes will be getting the workout. My government mandated hour of exercise will come from a leisurely walk along the seashore.

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The government suggest an hour a day excerising outside the house is enough to keep mind and body intact. Social distancing must be observed and since all non-essential travel is banned the miles of beaches in Morecambe are largely deserted. I've had a hankering after living in a city again in recent years. I miss the hustle and bustle and culture of city life that's difficult to find living out in the sticks. On days like this, during times like this I'm glad to have this kind of space on my doorstep.

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With no work to do I've been filling my days by decorating the house. We live in an old Victorian property, full of little architectural features like these corbels. Normally painting this kind of fiddly detail would annoy me but now there is no rush to finish, I take my time and chip away at the job. 2 or 3 hours a day is enough to stop me getting bored or impatient so I don't cut corners or become slapdash.

My only wish would be for some interesting colours but I'm stuck with the only paint I had to hand, magnolia and white. Beggars can't be choosers, as they say and if nothing else I've taken my time doing the preparation, filling cracks, sanding down and what have you, so when the shops open again I can give the walls a final, and more interesting, top coat without too much extra effort.

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We almost never drink in at home but we've started having a glass or two of wine with our evening meal. Actually, we almost never used the dining room for dining until recently. There ordinarily being only the 2 of us, we'd eat in the kitchen or in front of the telly rather than go to the effort of laying out a table. But our 2 sons have returned home for the duration of the lockdown so we arrange a proper family meal, at a table, without other distractions every day once again. It's one of the few genuine benefits to come from this hiatus in 'normal' life.

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