Social distancing

It's the third day of staying away from others for the differing branches of the family. From my point of view I was happy to start the day with a drizzly dog walk listening to Rob Newman's series on the radio about extinctions, in this case the pigs foot mussel.

When I got back I turned back out again to get my run done, just over 3 miles around Remedy Oak golf club. It was then a case of checking with Joy and Bridie if they needed anything while I was out, as I was off on my bike to go and put Joy's bins out for colelction tomorrow. I'd meant it to be sharing stuff we have here but Joy misunderstood, she is 86, and asked for just a couple of items from Morrisons i.e. custard tarts, on a 2 for 1 offer giving her 4 for just £1.00 and a jar of marmalade.

It was busy in the store with queues at the tills and a good deal of space on shelves as they were stripped of basics. I just got myself a jar of marmalade and a pack of brazil nuts, as we are pretty well stocked up for now and there isn't any need to panic despite seeing others doing so and feeling drawn into it. to a certain extent.

I also rode to Bridie's and dropped off some potatoes and had a quick chat. Joseph is happy to be home from school but Bridie is concerned about what this all means for her university course. There are just so many unknowns.

It is a relief not to be in school any longer and have to deal with the fraught situation which I know will be causing a good deal of concern. Further details from Gavin Williamson will be released today and tomorrow to add some clarification but I can't see any but a fraction of the practicalities being addressed. I'm not casting blame here, it is an extraordinary moment in our lives and despite contingency planning, the realities have taken everyone by surprise, especially the rapidity of the spread. It is easy to say more should have been done months ago when China was struggling but you have to get the country behind you and I'm not sure people were ready and you just need look at some behaviours even now to get a sense of the problems of jumping too soon.

However, there will be a need to hold the govenrment to account and they seem to have been a little slow in understanding the scale of the issue and to have been keener to forge their own path rather than follow what was happening elsewhere. They can also be criticised for being too timid in their response, however big a departure from previous norms it has been. Thus the budget planned for one thing and was quickly seen to be inadequate, no matter how much the chancellor may claim that they always planned to do more when appropriate. I don't believe they were expecting such a rapid shift in requirements and expectations.

Now I'm off to the local farm shop for some potatoes.