Coping with life during lockdown No. 2

We’re now a week into the second national lockdown, at least for those of us who live in England, but unless you’re a stakeholder or worker in the hospitality trade, an ardent pub-goer, someone who enjoys eating out, a person connected with the entertainment business (performer of venue owner), or someone living on their own who is missing the company and support of friends and family, the current shutdown doesn’t seem to be affecting anywhere near the number of people that the first self-incarceration did.

Before going any further, sincere apologies to any individuals or groups I have missed in this assessment, as whilst it’s sometimes easy to generalise, that is not the intention of this post. Perhaps it’s a stoic acceptance of what’s going on at the moment, or perhaps I’m just fortunate in my choice of work and the position I have reached in life, but luckily, I have been relatively unaffected this time around.

My workplace has remained open, and after the disastrous slump in orders at the start of the pandemic, things are looking much healthier. The welcome increase in sales has allowed us to un-furlough our entire workforce, and whilst those office-based staff who can work from home are continuing to do so, the bulk of our team are back on site.  The comprehensive, Covid-19 risk assessment we have carried out, and the measures we have put in place, allows staff to work separated from one another as much as possible, and this combined with enhanced levels of cleaning, means we can operate in a safe and secure environment.

From my point of view, being able to carry on working, virtually right from the start, has been a godsend, and more than anything else has helped to keep me sane. Just having different people to talk to, share a joke or a piece of news with, makes all the difference and makes one realise the importance of being around other people and just what social animals us humans are.

Even the really mundane stuff seems to have much more of a purpose, than it did prior to the pandemic and helps bring home the importance of the workplace, the value of camaraderie between colleagues and the importance of our relationship, not just with each other, but with our customers and suppliers. The fact that we’re all in this together is important, and whilst I don’t want to come over all Churchillian, I’m equally certain that many others will be feeling the same way.

Of course, not everyone is quite as fortunate, and even closer to home there are family members, including Mrs PBT’s, who are longing for a return to some form of normality, so they can just go out, socialise again and start enjoying life once more. 

 

The hardware chain where son Matthew works, has remained opened this time around, and he’s been doing a spot of commuting over the past couple of days. This is a result of being seconded to the group’s Bexleyheath store. So, there’s been a journey by train into London Bridge in the mornings, and then a train back out to the aforementioned town. He reported that whilst the trains weren’t exactly empty on the journey into London, there was still enough room to maintain an adequate distance from fellow travellers. Passengers certainly weren’t crammed in like sardines, as was often the case pre-pandemic.

Following on from that, here are a few more general observations regarding the second lockdown. Traffic levels remain high, especially during the morning peak period. This is hardly surprising, given that schools and colleges remain open. During the day though, the roads appear much quieter; something I have noticed during my daily lunchtime walks. I put this down to pubs and other local attractions (stately homes), being forced to close, and with nowhere for the well-heeled, retiree to visit, the "posh pub lunch" brigade is, of necessity, staying at home.

Work on local construction projects, continues apace, seemingly unaffected by any closedown, but footfall in towns does seem to have diminished. The same applies to supermarkets; either that, or I have been lucky with the times I’ve chosen to shop.

Despite these mixed messages, the impact on pubs and restaurants must be severe, and after seeing trade pick up over the summer and early autumn, being forced to shut must be particularly galling, especially when you consider all the measures they put in place in order to make their premises as safe and risk free as possible.

It’s too early yet to know whether the lockdown has had an effect on reducing transmission rates, but one thing is for certain there's been some real exaggerations, and bending of the truth coming from scientists and government advisors, who should have known better. It was bad enough for Valance to have turned up with a bunch of out of date graphs at Johnson’s bizarre, Halloween press-conference, but for officials to now admit that their grim forecasts of 4,000 Covid-related deaths a day, were grossly exaggerated.

They have now settled on a figure of 600 per day, and this is still a worse case scenario. Unfortunately, the 4,000 a day figure was what forced the government to introduce the second lockdown, and spooked (an appropriate term for Halloween), Johnson into holding his hastily convened, and twice postponed press-conference.

You couldn’t make it up, could you?