Siri in Isolation

I write a lot about noticing. It’s an enjoyable exercise which lets me write about what’s happening in my small world without having to delve too deep into an inside which at the moment seems, well, numb.  There are signs. As I write this, I’m chewing ferociously on sugar-free Mentos tablets, lumps of which I chuck into the wastepaper basket when the flavor has died and then refresh (just spat one out and started another). I like to crunch the outside crust before delving into the chewier inside, and I am convinced the sharp burst of mint in my mouth helps me focus and write, or indeed do anything that requires concentration. Answer correspondence? pop a Mentos. Filing documents? Mentos again, and so on - I go through an embarrassing amount of these addictive icy-blue pieces of gum. Oddly, I do not require Mentos in the kitchen where my creativity as yet has not flagged, but there I can  beliscar,  as they say cutely here – the word also means to pinch a cheek or a bottom...

A brisk march around my house takes 40 seconds. My usual aim is for 40 minutes of uninterrupted walking, equal to 60 turns. Preferable to walking around the pool, which takes 20 seconds, and, in turn, would require 120 laps. Victor chooses this latter option, plugged into his Audible App, listening to the latest of 70 books consumed during the pandemic; he walks late, after work, in the gathering dark, oblivious to his surroundings, only kicking the occasional ball to Zaffy.  Being a morning person I prefer an early walk and choose to go around the house due to the variation of landscape – there’s the narrow path along the side of the house, lined with a bed of smooth round stones, where I once found a small frog sitting stock-still, waiting for me to pass. Then I emerge into the front garden, covered in flagstones and with an abundance of bromeliads along the wall to the street. Right now, the orchids tied to the palm trees there are in bloom and display several clusters of delica...