Escape Rooms. A new experience for me, and the most fun I've had in years with my clothes on.

The first half term in 20 years that I have had off, really, really off.

waking up to see the first snowfall of the winter

Trees in blossom, seen from my home office window. And being able to make use of the good weather to get the laundry dried outside on a workday.

Finding a home workaround for restless legs
I get restless legs. Lying awake in bed at 3.a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m. with a pair of legs that think they want to go for a half mile run while the rest of me just wants to go to sleep is like Chinese water torture . My known exercise workarounds are to tire 'em out by going for a long walk, or running up and down a flight of stairs 6-10 times or pedalling furiously on an exercise bike for a couple of miles. But I live in a flat and have no stairs (and no exercise bike), so the two quick and easy workarounds were not available to me at home. Very, very glad to have found a life hack that I can do at home that also works and doesn't take the couple of hours the walk takes.

[Simons] You're going to tell us what it is, aren't you...? Sorry to hear of your case, it must be horrible to face up to confinement. Very glad you have found a solution.

[Simons] Yeah, what is your fix for the problem? (I bought a treadmill on Friday. Half of it was delivered on Saturday, the other half came this morning. I have paid for it by not having to buy petrol to drive to work for the next 6 weeks. I am imagining walking and listening to half-hour episodes of the Goon Show or Poirot or Paul Temple)

Well it's a home hack; I realized my futon base is at a usable height for 'step training'. Really it's far too high for proper step training but as I need the equivalent of running up at least 6 flights of stairs two steps at a time it'll do.
Normally a divan-like bed would be too soft, but mine's got two tatami mats in it so it's firm enough to step on repeatedly.
For restless legs, the NHS suggestions include taking a hot bath in the evening, or applying a hot or cold compress to your leg muscles - only cold works for me. In fact I also discovered that my legs don't get twitchy as long as they remain cold, so I sleep with not just my feet but my legs outside the covers, and provided it's not too warm a night that also works. Unfortunately my exercise tolerance and cold tolerance are increasing with practice, so my legs and I are locked in an arms race.
And when it's too hot, tiring them out (by any expedient method) is my only fix.

[Simons] Tried lying on your back and pedalling furiously?

I haven't actually, but that probably wouldn't provide heavy enough resistance to work against.

Strap bricks on your feet?

[Pablo] No, that's cruel. Poor bricks.

The silence.
I also heard there was a petition out to switch the street lights off so we could all see the stars.

And no junk mail either, have you noticed?

Pathetech's jumping pillar box pp Stevie

Practising pedal notes on the trombone. It's taken me 25 years to get the hang of this, for some reason. A wonderful rich farty sound that shakes the very walls.

So,Rosie, it wasn't trumpets that brought down the wall of Jericho?

(Dujon) Nah, it was a load of King 3B's. Pricey, aren't they? Mine cost £595.

The day I realised that my musical skills would never lead me to buying a musical instrument, brass or otherwise. It was the brass involved that disillusioned me.

(Duj) Musical instruments, especially new ones, are a ludicrous price and there's a lot of pretentiousness involved. The keys of a bassoon, so I was told by a bassoon player, are made put of silver. Why silver? Brass would do, or chrome-plated mild steel or even cast iron or even nylon, which is strong stuff. It's all bollocks, I tell you. Everything is. I could go on.

I would postulate that when it comes to the quality of metal, we are talking about the difference between a responsive brass instrument and one that has as much life in it as a 3 day old dead ferret. Like my French horn - complete crap, but then so am I as a horn player so it doesn't matter. There are, however, cases where it matters very much. Like real brass players.