Today's my sixth day in a row in Jakubowizna, far from infectious crowds of Warsaw. Today's figure for new infections - 16,300 - would have been an utter shocker a month ago; now we're shrugging our shoulders. At this spread-rate, we'll have one million new cases between now and 14 November - which means another nine million infections below the radar. A quarter of the population infected. The hospitals will be at breaking point by then, unless people don't sharply change their behaviour. And a government irresponsibly stoking culture wars at a time like this.
Other than two visits to the shops and showing my ticket to the train conductor last Thursday, I've avoided live human contact. Plenty of phone calls and Zoom meetings and Skype chats though - technology makes isolation entirely bearable. Plus, I tend to be OK with solitude.
So - today's walk.
In Adamów Rososki, I come across this wayside shrine; at its foot, a stone tablet on which are engraved the words: "Marjo pocieszaj serca nasze - ofiara Franciszka Wichowskiego, 1868" (Maria, console our hearts - the offering of Franciszek Wichowski 1868). The shrine looks newer, the tablet maybe a remnant of an earlier monument.
The weather these past few days has been less sunny than I had hoped for, but at least it's not been raining. The autumnal colours are coming up nicely, but they need strong sunlight and the backdrop of a brilliantly blue sky for the sublime aesthetic to kick in.
Plenty of mushrooms about. And a few mushroom pickers too - except they weren't looking for this. Muchomor - fly agaric - classic toadstool. From my semi-trained eye, lots of fungi on the forest floor, but none worth eating. But then the only one I'd pick is prawdziwek - boletus. The one my parents would hunt for back in the old country; Oxshott Common, near Esher, in Surrey.
This time last year:
Remont of Metro bridge over Puławska
This time three years ago:
We are what we read, what we watch, what we listen to
This time seven years ago:
Extraordinarily warm autumn
This time eight years ago:
On behalf of the work-shy community
This time nine years ago:
Classic truck cavalcade
This time ten years ago
Suburban back-roads clogged with commuters
This time 11 years ago:
Autumn gold, Łazienkowski Park
This time 12 years ago:
Quintessential autumnal Jeziorki
This time 13 years ago:
Google Earth updates its map of Jeziorki
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