Living with Lockdown - 12

The baboons don't come here for food anymore. They sit on the garage roof next door and watch the strange happenings up the scaffold. The screech of grinders and sanders doesn't frighten them off, and swathes of dust covering the grindees seem more a source of fascination and curiosity. They jump casually onto the roof and stroll over, shinning down the drainpipe and scaling the facebrick of the house next door to get a different view. We have learned to ignore them and let them go about their business - ensuring that there is no visible food and all blinds are closed so they can't peek into the kitchen.
Speaking of the kitchen, the inmates don't want to get into the spirit of lockdown hardship, shunning my offers of tinned meatballs in baked beans, or tinned chicken breyani, or even tinned butterbean curry. They still want three restaurant quality meals a day! I spend most of my time in the kitchen now, staying far away from ladders and dust, only venturing out to put on the washing or hang it out or carry a tray of tea and biscuits up or down the stairs. In a way, this is my 'alone time'. It isn't ideal but allows me to at least get on with a bit of admin on the computer, try my hand at some of the brainteasers going around on WhatsApp (I should try my brain instead of my hand) and especially listen to music. Music is the salvation of the soul in most instances.
Spending a while on the deck every day, watching the birds at the feeder, is also very soothing and entertaining too. The constant competition for the sugar water (no seed balls or fruit because of the baboons) is very revealing of the pecking order amongst the species, and there are plenty of opportunities for fun photography.
A sombre greenbul alighted briefly on a twig right nearby, an unusual thing for this bird that prefers to hide in the canopy of a forest. There have been four of them flying around lately - an exciting sighting for us.
And so the days go by...