November 2020

Day Three of Lockdown Two. This one feels very different from Lockdown One. For a start, we had more notice, five days instead of five hours, more time to prepare, to say our “Au Revoirs”, our farewells for the time being.

Each of my sons paid a visit over the weekend, not knowing when we might meet again, despite each being relatively local. My youngest son needs to return a desk to IKEA and had five days’ notice to do so. It was good to see the boys and partners. It is time to resurrect the weekly Zoom Family Gatherings.

My final (for now) church service on Sunday concluded with the Northumbrian Blessing, a modern Celtic sung blessing which finishes with the words “May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors”, a sort of spiritual version of “We’ll Meet Again”, the wartime song favoured by The Queen during Lockdown One. Obviously, we didn’t sing the blessing – still no singing allowed in churches. Back to Zoom church services from this Sunday.

A final Tuesday night farewell “Dog Walk” to the local pub, where we helped the landlady to dispose of the beer that otherwise would be sitting in the cellar going flat for four weeks, and consequently we had a particularly jovial farewell session. Next Tuesday The Zoom Arms will, reopen, for our weekly virtual pub get together.

A final farewell get together with close friends and neighbours on Wednesday evening, four of us (and two dogs) from our two households socially distanced around a firepit in their garden, laughing and chatting, consuming various beverages of choice, accompanied by hot dogs and baked apples. It was a clear night of stars and moonshine, an owl hooted, and a shooting star streaked overhead. There are some social experiences that Zooming cannot replace.

During Lockdown One we missed garden centres and builders’ merchants (the latter for wood offcuts for our wood burner – I’m not a builder) but both remain open during Lockdown Two, as is WH Smiths – apparently, with schools and Universities open, stationary is now essential.

This lockdown is certainly different to the last one. I have now done my first supermarket trip during Lockdown 2, and the store was quiet, no queues. This may have been because I was shopping on a midweek afternoon – it may be different on a Saturday morning, but I recall that queuing was unavoidable at any time during the first lockdown, and careful timing of visits merely minimised the waiting times.

We have visited the vet, who is now happily providing routine vaccinations. Owners are allowed into the consultation room, whereas during lockdown1 the vet came out to the car park and took away the pet.  The waiting room is still redundant – on arrival an owner, without pet, follows the one-way system to reception to collect a pager, before returning to the car park. A bleep summons owner and pet back inside for a fully masked consultation. Well, obviously the pet isn’t masked.

Covid testing is much more of a feature during this lockdown, but despite of this we know of only two people in our extensive circles of friends and colleagues who have tested positive for Covid-19. What is more noticeable is the number of people self-isolating because they have been informed that they have been in contact with a Covid-positive case.

We have two dog walking friends who are nurses, at two different hospitals, and each reports staff shortages because of self-isolation. My niece is a Junior Doctor at another hospital, and she also reported staffing problems caused by colleagues of various medical professions self-isolating. One of the nurses told us of an elderly lady admitted for a planned operation, and, as is the case for all admissions, she self-isolated for 14 days in advance, and was tested on arrival. She was Covid-positive, despite having had no contact with the outside world for two weeks, other than her daughter dropping bags of shopping at her door and leaving promptly. In a real world, self-isolation is not a guarantee to prevent infection.

We have had jobs delayed at home because the tradesmen were affected by self-isolation. In one case the wife of our plumber tested positive the day before he was due to visit us, one of the two people we know who have tested positive, and the installation of a new gate has been delayed because our fencing contractor has two of his “lads” self-isolating.

On a cold wet day I drove to work, rather than cycled, today. Regular commuters have reported normal traffic despite Lockdown 2, but in fact traffic this morning was light, Roads were not deserted, as was the case during the first full-on lockdown. Similarly, at lunchtime in the City Centre the streets were not busy, but were certainly not deserted. In lockdown 1, during a rare visit to the City, I walked across the centre, and maybe saw 20 people. Yesterday I probably saw 200 in a short walk from the office, despite heavy rain. Unlike last time our office is open, albeit for only 2 people, not the usual ten, and other offices in the city will be open too.

During lockdown 1 very few shops were open. Yesterday Marks and Spencer, Boots, WH Smith, and Poundland, in fact any shop that has at least one shelf of “essential” goods were trading as usual. At least one computer games shop was open, albeit for click and collect only. I estimated that 90% of people walking around the streets were wearing masks or face coverings, despite this not being mandatory outside of shops. Masks were unusual in lockdown 1.

After our church Zoom service, a few of us chatted. Someone reported that her granddaughter, of around 30, has 400 Facebook friends, the majority of whom have decided that they will not accept the vaccine if it is offered – in their opinion the hassle will not be worth the potential benefit. Presumably being vaccinated is not “Cool”. Also amongst our gathering was a young lady in her mid-twenties. She has fewer Facebook friends, but all propose to accept the vaccine. She has just completed a Biology degree, and her friends are nearly all scientists.