Early Lockdown days in Redruth

On Monday evening the PM made a historic announcement that all UK citizens are instructed to stay at home as a measure to tackle the Coronavirus/COVID19 pandemic. What is clear to us all now is that this situation is completely beyond control of government and we can only sit in our locked down houses and await the tsunami of critically ill patients that are surely going to overwhelm our cherished and heroic medics in the NHS.

Here we have a natural liberal/conservative PM who has spent his entire career espousing the benefits of liberal democracy issuing an edict worthy of the most authoritarian regimes in history.

This lockdown trend was started by the Chinese government in Wuhan, China in late Jan but that kind of response seemed very alien to our western liberal and free societies here. When Italy followed suit a few weeks later we should have seen it as a wake up call but still business as usual prevailed. No staffing up or kitting up of the NHS occurred in the UK at that stage, no arrangements for mass testing were put in place despite the apparent success of that strategy in South Korea
The Italian and Spanish trgedies have unfolded day by day before our very eyes and so it was, I think, inevitable that our Government would follow the lead set but the French to put the country into a formal lockdown situation.

For the first time in my life UK Police have powers to disperse gatherings and fine people for leaving their homes. Unbelievable! My Dad has received a letter from NHS to tell him not to leave his house for 12 weeks. My wife and 2 brothers have been furloughed from their employment. No one knows how long this is going to go on for.

We are allowed to leave our homes for daily exercise - initially many people interpreted this as driving to beaches and local beauty spots but that is now being clarified - daily exercise should begin and end at your home.

The economies of the world are closed. Only essential activities continue - public services, food retail. My work in public administration can continue through working from home. We use teleworking extensively anyway so for now we can carry on making our plans and strategies for tyhe future in the hope and faith that this will end at some stage and life may return to something like normality. In truth though it won't ever be the same as it was. Many of the businesses that have closed will never reopen. Many workers who have habitually commuted to work places each day will going forward work from home more often. How long will it be before we have confidence to be within 2 metres of other humans without catching a killer virus?

Initial lockdown days have been not too bad in truth. Most people I speak to have been gradually adjusting to this new normal. My family has bonded in a way that we generally only do on a family holiday; conversations have been had, truths have been spoken, board & card games played. The internet has been helpful from a work and play perspective and it helps that the weather has been glorious making it possible to eat lunches in the garden and enjoy the stunning Cornish scenery around our house whilst out for our daily exercise.
Let's hope that continues.