Day 39 of Coronavirus Lockdown

I submitted the revised version of my paper yesterday. It is much better and I'm very happy with it. That has taken up much more of my time than I expected, so not much blogging. The glorious April weather we have been having up until a few days ago broke and it has been pouring, so not too difficult to sit working on the paper.

While the sun has been out and it's been lovely and warm, I've really enjoyed walking in the woods and discovering more footpaths. I'm so fortunate to live here. It feels like CoronaVirus is a million miles away. Last Sunday we recorded ourselves playing the tune for a Morris dance called Hells Bells. This was to be the master music track so I uploaded it on YouTube. Then the dancers and musicians from our side, Wicket Brood, can record themselves dancing or playing along to it and we can post it as a video on our Facebook page. Stuart, a brilliant melodion play in our band who has also demonstrated spectacular video editing skills is editing all the footage down. I can't wait to see how it looks.

After recording ourselves in the courtyard playing our instruments, we recorded ourselves doing a bit of the dance, then we recorded ourselves at the end of the garden. As we did so, a couple of ladies and a dog walked past in the field at the end. There is no footpath on the field, but one of the ladies said she was from the victorian house up the hill and owned the field. It was lovely to meet our neighbours in such an odd way (we were in full Morris kit with face paint and everything). She said they heard the lovely music and came along to see what it was. She invited us to come for their midsummer celebrations. So, Coronavirus can be a great way to meet new people.

 

Other news, well Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds had a baby boy on Wednesday morning - 29th April. I wonder if they will call him Tom after the veteran who has raised £26million by walking round his garden in Marston Mortaine, not far from here, who was 100 years old on 30th April. They did a spitfire flyby for him which was lovely. Boris is back, but the noises from government are that this lockdown is likely to continue. Recent surveys suggest that 60% of British people would feel anxious and uncomfortable about going out if the restrictions were removed.

That number doesn't include me! I'd be out like a shot. I know somebody who has the virus. He is in his 30s and on day 12 of the disease. It sounds unpleasant, but not unbearable. It seems to me that the choice is to wreck the economy by keeping able-bodied people and school children at home, yet coping with a huge toll of elderly people in care homes, just in case we catch it.

It sounds like the Govt are considering options for lifting the restrictions. Financially, it is getting dire. I've read that 1 in 6 retail businesses are not going to reopen. British Airways are making 12,000 staff redundant. Ryan air and Easyjet are looking to do similar, focus being on pilots and air crew. People are being asked to take pay cuts. Others are furloughed at 80% up to a fairly low ceiling, so many families are wondering how they are going to survive economically.

I read an interesting article today in the Telegraph, written by an American, that suggested that lockdown i the best cousrse of action. I find it quite convincing, especially since here in the UK we failed spectacularly at protecting our most vulnerable elderly people in care homes. Mass testing and tracking and tracing as outlined by the Government is very welcome, but this should have been attempted much earlier, and the social care sector really needs to be treated as part of the NHS, not siloed, making elderly people into some sort of second class citizen.