Nominally day one of the last week before release, but I doubt it ends there. Still no say-so or text either way for me on next Monday but given the opening up of just about everything retail, I doubt I'll have to change my habits - outside just became a bigger minefield and in the absence of advice, you sit in the foxhole and don't drive to Barnard Castle in a blindfold.

Short loop with my daughter as company, while about the park, the dog peeled away from us and pretty much did...

Cormack

Couple of dial-ins, got a bit done and both kids had maths to cover, which was pretty good, but not as good as the main event.

Son had another net tonight, a three-hander, and his shot selection and offside work has come together immeasurably over the winter. Needs to work on his defence a touch but the impetuosity of youth... He also used the bowling session to try out a few things. If my shoulder were not hanging like a wrenched ham at the minute, I'd have found it difficult...

Cormack

Cosy Sunday as well. Technically, the cupcakes were of today as I worked the icing very late on, eldest made a sponge from scratch with jam and buttercream filling, youngest did the brownies. So a baking treble (a quad if you include a batch of honeycomb).

Short loop with the dog who has fully re-established her and my routine with a couple of add-ons. There is something tremendously uplifting in the gusto of a dog who goes frankly nuts when she gets to go out. Even the short...

Cormack

A quiet day about the house today. The 2013 Welsh Cup Final was being shown on Youtube/Facebook (so Youtube, then) in its entirety so there were two hours of my life I relived in full, the chant of "Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio' still making me laugh when Parky skips past the already-booked full back who takes him out and I predicted the outcome of the free kick to my eight-year-old son to an unrelenting degree of accuracy.

I caught on BBC2 the back end of the '84 Lord's Test where...

Cormack

The joy that is nets.

My eldest got to swing a bat in anger for the first time since Feb/March, and it was a pleasure to see, as it was coupled with a "car-bridge" outing to the ground, one of the most pleasant settings I attend on a regular basis. His offside play is now so metered and improved as to be deemed his stronger side by his coach, which is some development.

Rest of the day was pretty routine - the hound got to go with us so I wasn't walking her...

Cormack