The first four weeks

Well, it's almost four weeks since the first coronavirus restrictions began to bite. In the UK they began on 17th March, and the whole country went into lockdown on 24th March.

When I went shopping on 17th March, panic-buying was very evident, and even more so next day, 18th March, when I ventured out for things I hadn't been able to buy the day before. I returned without them. I also returned to a week of self-isolation, having learned by text while out that I had been eating with a friend who had just discovered that a work colleague, taken ill and now home, probably had the virus. So I was part of a chain of infection - or could be. So I had to do my week, even though it gradually became clear that it had all been a false alarm. Thank goodness I live alone, otherwise it would have been two weeks. Meanwhile the country got used to life under the necessary but hugely impactful health restrictions.

Nearly four weeks on, things have settled down. Shops have restocked. Some manufactured things are still in short supply, but fresh food isn't. And because I live on fresh food - some of which (like meat and fish) I freeze of course, for later consumption - I can usually buy exactly what I want. In the last two weeks I've managed to bring my household supplies up to normal levels, with a just little bit extra in hand.

But I've no big stash of toilet rolls and tins of baked beans! It's unnecessary when these things are on sale again. Some families will have bought (and squeezed) humongous quantities of manufactured frozen food into their freezers, and it's easy to predict that some of this will have to be thrown away. They won't be able to eat it all before it time-expires, or it will all defrost if there should be a power cut. I can't blame them for initially stocking up well beyond their actual requirements - that's just human nature, driven by perceived need - but it's such a pity that (a) this food will be junked, and (b) they will have spent so much badly-needed money on things that will go to waste.

Then there's the mental and emotional strain of coping with dislocated routines, enforced idleness, being cooped up, and waiting around for a change that is probably weeks away. I can easily imagine that being stuck in a cramped city flat is no fun whatever in these times. And I don't think the sudden upsurge of video-calling and conferencing apps is the complete answer. There's no substitute for the warmth of a face-to-face meeting with somebody you miss badly. Nor is turning to binge TV an answer. It only reminds you of what used to be normal. You know, when you could go to places, be with people, and enjoy things presently denied.

Me? I'm coping very well. Ordinarily I spend most of my waking hours, whether at home or on holiday, entirely on my own, although still very much in touch with my friends through my phone. So my daily routine hasn't actually seen significant change. I do miss my normal social life, but the ability to contact friends through my phone and laptop, and 'attend' my weekly pilates class via Zoom, both keep me happy enough.

What bugs me is not having the freedom to jump in Fiona and spontaneously whizz off for the day to some distant place. I thrive on getting out and about; and having to 'stay local' - within ten miles, in my book - chafes a lot.

But it's necessary. I am determined to play fair with the health restrictions, keeping well clear of other people at all times. There's no point in cheating. Apart from the clear health risk, the odds are short that I'd be discovered where I shouldn't be, to my intense embarrassment. And possibly there would be the ignominy of a fine and a criminal record. It's not worth it. So I keep local, and just do more at home - there's plenty of time for a lot of blogging, naturally!

How long will this last? I should think that's a question on everyone's mind. I think the government will find it very difficult to plan an 'exit strategy' that will keep all of us safe from mass-infection. The lockdown may well be succeeding in its prime purpose of slowing and then stopping the spread of infection, but it's left most of us vulnerable to getting ill as soon as we start mixing again. And yet we can't stay like this for months, or a year, until a vaccination is ready and we've all been inoculated. Money will run out, and too many businesses and services will vanish forever.

One hopeful-sounding bit of news is that an app is being developed that will track people's movements and warn users when they may have passed too close to somebody found to have the virus. Use will be voluntary, because there are obvious privacy issues. But I for one will install it on my phone and sign up to this kind of benevolent surveillance, because it will be highly reassuring to know whether or not I've avoided infected people - and can assume that I'm still infection-free. It'll be a decent alternative to a formal test.

That's the prize: checking out so many people that a general lockdown becomes unnecessary. And most people in this country own a mobile phone. It offers the prospect of a return to ordinary life, of once more picking up the threads of our individual lives, of being able to make definite plans for the future again.