social distancing – don't confuse the narrator

a change of title

Some writers seem to be full of ideas and inspiration; they write every day and always have new work to share. And they think it’s a jolly poor show when you admit that you aren’t working on anything new.

I write every day, but it’s not usually creative writing: most of my ideas and imagination get used up on emails to family and clients, on articles for the business or client projects, and on social media posts and interactions. That said, I think I’ve written more poetry in the last few months than I had in the last couple of years put together.
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variations on a theme

Once more, I missed updating the blog last Sunday as I was out and about, travelling on public transport and risking contagion.

Back in late March, at the start of the lockdown, the government’s message was clear: we were told to “stay home; save lives.” Then, in mid May, the message changed and we were told to “stay alert”. Although both “stay home” and “stay alert” are simple phrases, the former is a straightforward instruction that was easy to follow, while the latter is vague and unclear.
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far and near

One of the most notable things about the current crisis is how easy it has become to use words such as crisis, pandemic, unprecedented… And another is how easy it is to speak of thousands of deaths as if each one of those statistics didn’t refer to a unique and cherished individual.

For me, another of the most notable aspects of the last few months is how much contact I’ve had with people all through this “social distancing” time.
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frustrated plans

During this coronavirus lockdown, times and dates have become less important than they sometimes are for many of us.

For those who have been furloughed, normal office hours are irrelevant, while for those who are working from home, even early morning meetings seem to start later – the breakfast meetings I attend are at 9 instead of 7am – and since there’s no commuting time, there’s no need to set an alarm clock.
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being reasonable

I don’t think that I’d really realised how Anglo-centric the UK news is until the recent lockdown. All the reports about recommendation, rules and regulations that I’ve seen are based on the law in England. But I have family in Wales and the rules there are rather different. For example, while here in England the once-a-day limit for exercise outside your home is merely a recommendation, in Wales it has actually been the law for some weeks.

Or has it? I’ve read the guidance on leaving home to exercise published by the Welsh government and although Regulation 8 section 2b says one of the reasonable excuses to leave home is “to take exercise, no more than once a day”, the guidance immediately continues “(or more frequently if this is needed because of a particular health condition or disability)”.

So you must only go out once a day, unless you need to go out more than once a day.
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