It wouldn't be the right thing to do

What a lovely sunny weekend! And what a strong caution - no, instruction - from the government to stick to the social distancing advice, and stay home.

And they are right. Going near other people is a risk nobody should take unless they really have to. It's impossible to say who is infected and who isn't. It's impossible to guarantee that another person won't heedlessly or accidentally come too close. It's quite certain that driving to a beauty spot, or travelling by any means at all to where people will be, is taking an unwarrantable personal risk. Or putting it another way, exposing them to risk - from oneself.

Over and above that, any action that might divert a member of the emergency services from a more urgent task, or put them in danger because they had to come close in order to render assistance, is unjustifiable - and probably illegal. Who wants a criminal record?

Fine words. But the reality is that if I choose my time and destination carefully, I have an almost complete expectation of evading the police and enjoying a sunny change of scene. A short sunset drive to any of several places not far away will be just the ticket.

But I won't.

Oh yes, I've discussed the possibility before this, and how tripping out a short distance to somewhere that's still 'local' must surely be reasonable, and within the legal provisions.

But now there's something else: a moral responsibility not to go anywhere this weekend. As a kind of practice run for next weekend - Easter Weekend - which will probably also be Peak Crisis Weekend. I feel I must respond to that. I'm not someone who likes to do what she's told, and I don't follow the herd, but I do feel that I need to pay attention to the government's call on this occasion, and show full restraint. And not sneak off quietly for what is, in the last analysis, selfish personal pleasure.

I dare say I will feel, on cool reflection, a little foolish for not taking that short drive. I will kick myself if I miss some great photos. I could say to myself, who would you encounter? Nobody. Would my car break down? Unlikely. Would you be gone long? No. Where's the harm?

But my car would be seen, and somebody might say, 'If she's going somewhere, then so can I'. Maybe dozens of people might see my car and think the same. So that I would have encouraged dozens to trip out, overcoming their own wavering determination to stay at home, and putting them at risk.

And if I were unlucky enough to be stopped by the police (Sod's Law operating, as it often does), what could I possibly say to excuse being away from home? It obviously wouldn't be a shopping trip. I'd feel awful, hearing a lecture and then being fined, as I well might if the police had spent all day intercepting argumentative people who ought to know better, and were by sunset thoroughly irritated.

I want to do the 'right thing'. So, on this weekend - and most certainly on the next - I'm going nowhere in the car. I'll just make the most of what I can do on foot, from my front doorstep, on the one daily outing allowed.

Weekends are obviously times when people through force of habit (and if they're still working, of necessity) tend to go out and meet a lot of others doing the same. It's quieter Monday to Friday. I might go out on one or two evenings then, when all is quiet and most people are indoors, so that the expectation of encountering someone is very low. Let's first see how things go this weekend. I'm hoping that, in the main, people do respond to the government's plea, so that a certain leeway on driving-to-walk remains.

But maybe, human nature being what it is, too many will be silly - and the lockdown screws will have to be turned a bit more.