20th March

Prime Minister Johnson has closed all pubs and other places of public entertainment, effective immediately. This is what a lot of people thought he should have done already.

Expedition to Mall with L: she needs a better phone so she can work from home, I have girded my loins to buy much planned and considered Apple Mac computing device to replace antiquarian P.C. (Last tiime I mentioned buying a Mac I triggered a sectarian war among my friends.) John Lewis, which discounts Apple Product and is never knowingly undersold doesn't have the model I wanted, and all Apple Shops are apparently closed. Mall quiet but not empty. People keeping their distance but clearly impossible to stay 2.5 meters apart consistently.

Prime Minister Johnson thinks we should be able to "beat" the virus in twelve weeks. I suspect this will rebound like "it will all be over by Christmas"; it isn't exactly clear what "beating" the virus would mean and indeed who "we" are. No-one imagines that it is going to wipe the whole human race out; and presumably everyone who does not die will still be alive at the end of it.

I go for a long walk across the Downs and along the harbour. Just because there is a Pestilence is no reason not keep my 10,000 steps up.