grey trench coat

 A cloth bag by Aldi in the pocket of the grey trench coat, the mobile 'phone in the righthand inside pocket of the jacket, go down the stairs and leave the house slamming the rickety old door to. The light is still on at the accountant's, even though it is bright daylight now, 

And the rain is pouring down, making the pale grey of the trench coat turn a darker shade of grey. There is no hat, the rain will keep the hair down, the white hair that has been growing steadily since the lockdown made barbers inaccessible.

The street that is normally full of people shopping and socialising is sparsely populated now, the people all with masks and some with umbrellas. It is raining strongly and steadily, the sky is grey and so is the street. Today's errand is to collect a prescription from the urologist, a telephone call in the morning had arranged this and the doctor's assistant would have had the prescription signed and ready for collection some time ago. The practice belonging to the Iranian doctor is on the second floor of the building, and the waiting room is full of patients. The woman at the desk gives instructions as to how to use the card reader, and then hands over the slip of paper, the required prescription.

The rain is heavier now, and it is cold. It has washed away the snow, all but for a few soggy heaps at the side of the road. Go on down to the  basement supermarket in the shopping mall, and buy bread, and pretzels. Wander about and buy a bar of chocolate too. And then, just as an afterthought, buy a single small salami. Stand in line at the till, carefully keeping distance from the persons ahead. The four items all paid for with the credit card, transferred from the plastic shopping basket into the cloth bag, and it is time to go again. There are few people in the supermarket, all a sign of the pandemic.

The apothecary in the shopping mall has a queue in front of it, do not care to wait. There is an older woman at the glass door confused by the fact that she has to pull to open it. The rotating glass doors beside the small door have been locked due to the pandemic. The  big sliding doors at the main entrance further on open upon being approached, silent and perfectly as always.

Walk back home in the rain, wearing the meanwhile all dark grey trench coat.