Simple Pleasures

China blue skies above deserted streets. Britain - the world - in lockdown. An Easter like no other. I count my blessings and take delight in life's simple pleasures. Birdsong through my open window. The kiss of the sun, and caress of the breeze, as I sit in the garden. My daily 'permitted exercise' walk round St Mary's Island:

Out of the house and along the boardwalk to Gillingham Docks. The Arco fleet are still operating - ships coming and going daily, in an endless variety. Crew isolated aboard their roving metal cocoons. Invisible below decks.

Up over the manicured grass, and neatly trimmed hedgerows, of The Bund - toward the comfortably sagging stonework of the old slipway. Sparrows and tits flit and trill among dense green foliage. Thrushes and blackbirds peck busily at the fresh mown sward. 

I take in the view downriver, beyond the point, to seaward. A faint mistiness hangs in the air, giving the scene a dreamlike quality. Warm spring breeze over winter chilled sea. The tide laps sonorously on the masonry of the slip. An evocative waft of seaweed, seashore, fills my nostrils - part sharp ozone, part rich ripe vegetation. A calm sense of endless possibility washes over me, like a balm .

The sun is hot and the air still as I walk back upriver, along the sea wall. I'm in the lee of the island now and pause to take off my fleece, draping it over my shoulders. Luxuriating in the warmth of the afternoon.

Trees are awakening. Bursting into verdant life, behind tethered boats.

I have arrived at the drydock, my walk almost over. Reflections shimmer on the sculpted granite work . Blocks hewn, exquisitely trimmed, and laid in 1875 - to service the ships of Queen Victoria's navy. To protect her Empire from its foes.

Now the basin is home to Chatham Marina. Its gates are barred - locked down, to protect from the deadly spread of the Coronavirus. Today's foe.

Ducks doze, oblivious, on deserted pontoons.

I glimpse Stargazer, waiting patiently on her berth. And return to the house. I'm counting my blessings, reflecting on the simple pleasures - and looking forward to a day when we may put to sea once more.