16/03/20

Not a lot to write about. Yesterday we went out for a roll with Walter - the one in Central Park that we call "the short walk" ending at the Cafe for coffee and toasted teacake, and the slightly longer route back that also circumnavigates the lake, where the big yellow plastic duck still rules the waves (or the ripples, at least). Readers who aren't among my Facebook friends won't have a clue what that's about, but never mind. Anyway, it was an easy walk and showed that I'm now past the post-harvesting tiredness.

Much of the rest of the day was filled with endless and largely circular discussion of COVID-19, self-isolation for the over-70s, possible impact on my transplant, and panic-buying of toilet roll (we have a few weeks in stock from our normal shopping habits, and my guess is that supplies will be back to normal (or close) by the time that starts to run out. Nevertheless, I might take advantage of my late-night habits to go to Tesco or some other 24-hour supermarket at 03:00 or 04:00 after they've re-stocked and before the crowds are active again...

As for the government's strategy, my feeling is that it is good epidemiological science, poor people psychology, bad publicity, and worse PR especially in the light of the more draconian policies of many other countries. I fear a dramatic U-turn quite soon which would simply put us a few weeks behind where we might have been and behind much of the rest of the world.