The Covid 19 Diaries

My COVID 19 Calendar

23rd March 2020 will be looked back on by historians studying Britain as one of the most significant days in Britain’s history. Not in the same way as 1st September 1939 when the country started to face the existential threat posed by the outbreak of World War II but as a day when the country had to finally face up to the reality of the COVID 19 virus. For these diaries 23rd March 2020 will be referred to as ‘Day 0’ and all references to the days before and following will be referred to as ‘Day - ‘ or ‘Day + ’ respectively.

The 23rd March 2020 was when the Prime Minister announced new restrictions on freedom of movement and association in order to tackle the virus.

COVID 19 DAY -4 (Thursday 19th March 2020)

I had my hair cut today at my regular shop in town.

About three years ago the barber, lost his business partner unexpectedly. It hit him hard as these two men had worked in close in proximity for over twenty years. Sharing the highs and lows of their respective lives. Knowing each other inside out. They had a banter, a repartee that could only be grown by working so closely together and we, as customers, were only ever on the outside of. He took ages to come to terms with this seismic change in his life and was even on the point of hanging up his scissors and clippers for good.

When I arrived, there was one customer who was just being finished. There was some banter between the three of us, but it had a hollowness to it. Paul started on my hair and that was when I could see he was down. Even more so than when his partner died. He had never seen such a drop off in business and the only reason he could fit me in this morning was because of the number of cancellations that had happened. All because of the virus. I paid him and booked in for the 14th April.

“See you then mate. That is if I’m still here” Paul said.

“You are serious” I answered.

“Yes, can’t see much beyond middle of April” he replied.

He was serious.

Number of deaths today 40

COVID 19 DAY -3 (Friday 20th March 2020)

The Spring Equinox today and the official start of Spring.

I rode out across part of The New Forest this morning with a friend who owns a newsagents, art shop and convenience store in town. One of the very last of the independent retailers, including the barber shop left in town.

As we rode around Lion King Trees, I asked her how her business had been affected by COVID 19. Her overall footfall was down and obviously takings were down, but the good thing was that the shop had opened several new accounts for their home delivery service for newspapers and magazines reversing a long-term trend.

Two weeks before the “Toilet Paper and Pasta Crisis” and general panic buying started here in the UK, her Mum had gone to the cash and carry for her regular monthly trip. For no apparent reason she had bought an unusually large amount of toilet paper.

I asked my friend if I could borrow her Mum to go through some race cards when racing ever resumes.

In late February I started doing a couple of shifts at a local venue setting up halls for lunches, craft markets and council meetings. These familiarization sessions would lead to working front of house. My first shift front of house was for 3rd April which I was looking forward to. When I checked my emails there was a message from the Events Manager saying, sadly, that all events for the foreseeable future had been cancelled as a result of COVID 19.

Number of deaths today 33

COVID 19 DAY -2 (Saturday 21st March 2020)

At last Spring has started after one of the wettest winters on record for the UK. Instead of being awash with rain our part of the country is awash of sunshine. The fields where our horses graze, are drying out. What was boot sucking quagmire is now just sticky and instead of wearing wellington boots we can get away with trainers when we see the horses. There are already shoots of new grass coming through. Nature always sorts itself out. The fields have been harrowed and from a distance look like the fairways on golf courses.

Earlier this month the Prime Minister asked via a broadcast to the nation that to try to stem the upward curve of COVID 19 infections we should all stay indoors as much as possible, stop using social venues and not congregate in open public spaces in groups of more than two.

Today our first-hand experience around The New Forest showed that despite these requests people had been swept up in a herd mentality. Wasn’t the concept of "herd immunity" something the Government had considered? They had gathered in and around the car parks. If there wasn’t enough space in them to park, they pulled up on verges or on the side of the road. Anywhere, just anywhere so they could get out and go for a walk or cycle ride. Children and dogs ran around without a care in the world. It was busier than on a summer’s bank holiday weekend.

This evening in the news there were pictures of crowded roads, beaches, national parks, urban parks and shopping areas crowded with people who were less than two meters apart.

It seems like everyone is having a party and no one cares about or believes anything the Prime Minister is asking for. In some respects, I don’t blame them as he has been caught out so many times for telling blatant lies during his various campaigns.

This morning the impact of the virus on the NHS was put to me in very stark terms. This came from a friend who runs a group of care homes and had just completed a one-hundred-hour week. Yes, 100 hours. On one of his shifts a resident had been taken ill and required an ambulance which took three hours to arrive. Another friend told me that part of her family had waited five hours for an ambulance to deal with an elderly relative who had fallen. I also heard that earlier this morning, where a friend of a friend works, they had received a large delivery of body bags. That chilled me as the place they were supposedly delivered to is only a very small residential unit. I must emphasize that this comment about the body bags is purely hearsay.

The equine groups on social media are getting posts about if people should still ride their horses. Some people writing in such a way that that their anger blazes off the page from both sides of the argument.

After hearing the stories from our two friends we took the decision that we would not ride our horses until we knew that the pressure is off the emergency services.

On the general social media pages threads are saying that COVID 19 is no worse that the common colds and flu that circulate over the winter and that whatever is happening will not take away their pleasure of riding. There was even one thread containing a comment that the whole virus crisis was a conspiracy by the G8 countries to manipulate the markets to their benefit.

It seemed a good time to buy The Economist and read its special edition about the pandemic, the virus and how the world’s economies are reacting. The main article described the COVID 19 virus scientifically but in terms that people without the necessary expert knowledge could understand. My forlorn wish is that those who are so dismissive of this virus on social media would read the same article I did with an open mind, change their views and delete their original posts.

Number of deaths today 56

COVID 19 DAY – 1 (Sunday 22nd March 2020)

And the party from yesterday continued.

Despite the adverse publicity in the media overnight and in the papers this morning our part of The New Forest was just as busy as yesterday. This must have been what life was like on the 23rd October 1929; the day before the Wall Street crash. The only difference being that by Friday 20th March 2020 the world’s stock exchanges had already lost between 10% and 20% of their value. Maybe worse was to come?

This pattern of careless herd behaviour just could not continue. It was wrong as it was flying in the face of everything that was being done in Europe and recommended by the World Health Organization to try to contain the virus.

Why do the Brits always think they are so different from anywhere else in the world?

We saw our horses and took one of them out for a walk in hand.