These pics are from the same trip into town on opening day of the National Gallery. Walking around the streets did not feel good. Not living in central London to see what the reality is, it was quite a shock to see how empty and closed up it still was. Our government had been telling us that the shops, restaurants and pubs were back open again, but that was clearly not the case. As people have lost their jobs, or are still working from home, there is no actual reason to be there at all. To see Piccadilly Circus this empty in the middle of the day was so strange.

I was too weirded out to have my camera head on, so I ended up coming home with hardly any pictures. Somehow this bag of tortilla chips made it on to my camera though.

At one point we walked past the Harold Pinter Theatre where I’d seen ‘Uncle Vanya’ three weeks before lockdown in the cheap seats. It was now sealed off, and will be for a while yet.

The two Masketeers. Me and D at the Marian Goodman Gallery where we went to see the Rineke Dijkstra exhibition (trying to double up on the art in one go) after a very late lunch. We had to walk for ages until we found an open restaurant, and upon arrival we had a temperatures and phone numbers taken before we got seated outside.

Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch photographer who has done quite a few series like this. Here she took portraits of three sisters over seven years. This was the first set.

And this the last. Fascinating, and as a parent… a bit terrifying.

Afterwards we fancied something sweet, and same again, we had to really hunt to find somewhere open. I’m not one to take pictures of what I eat, but this black sesame soft ice, the first non-homemade treat in four months, felt worth capturing. My mouth is watering as I type this.

And finally, the one thing me and D have become experts at in lockdown, spotting a really cool building, and crushing hard on the first floor window.

The whole experience was so interesting though; after feeling a bit fed up with always staying local I was gagging for a change of scenery but when I finally got it, I realised how grateful I was for my ‘hood, still full of life, and feeling almost like normal. The expression “You can’t see the wood for the trees” has never been been more true ;0)