Lockdown diary, day fifty.

A solid week and a half of bright sunshine here in West Cumbria, even if for the past three or four days it has been somewhat colder outside than it looks.

And we have now been at home for all except the most essential journeys for fifty days. The rules are relaxed slightly from today but we are still advised to "stay at home as much as possible."

All the notes and coin I put in my wallet a few days before the lockdown began to deal with normal transactions are still there: I have not paid for a single thing in cash for those fifty days. I don't think that's been true of any previous fifty day period since I was a small child.

I've only put petrol in a car once or twice in that fifty day period, have left Whitehaven precisely once and West Cumbria not at all, and travelled well under a hundred miles in a period in which I would normally have driven two or three thousand.

The latest figures show GDP down 2% - I'm surprised it's as little as that. Balancing the needs of the economy with the measures necessary to save lives will continue to take the wisdom of Solomon until we have found a reliable and safe vaccine and had everyone vaccinated.

However, on the positive side, the efforts which people have been making to support one another are truly remarkable. 

As Her Majesty said last week, our streets are not empty but filled with the love and compassion we have for one another.

Keep well.






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