Life is like two novels at once for me. One is by Patrick O’Brian, the other by Barbara Pym.

Life is like two novels at once for me. One is by Patrick O’Brian, the other by Barbara Pym.

O’Brian has his faults, but he does possess the rare genius of suggesting long days of forward motion at sea by a ship like the Surprise, under the command of Jack Aubrey. The fictional ship was based on HMS Surprise, captured from the French in 1796. With a length of 129ft, for war service it carried a complement of 220 men. Social distancing was uneven.

Today, the world turns, the sun rises, the trees come into leaf all on their own, just as a ship sails on constantly. But like a city, a ship needs unremitting attention: trimming, steering, cleaning. Its people need a routine of watches, dinner, grog, making and mending, dance and skylark. A crew is a more or less satisfactory community, but in urban life just now, we are all little captains in our cabins. Yet under the sun there has been a following wind. Landfall is uncertain, but we’re not in the doldrums. For myself, I am busy and feel this spring could go on for ever. I know it can’t.

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