Day 8...

One of the strangest things to get used to currently is how quiet everything is. Barely any cars on the road due to the "no non-essential travel" decree, a massively reduced number of aircraft in the sky - at the time of writing there are less than 30 commercial aircraft showing in the skies over the whole of the UK - a fraction of the usual number for this time of the evening. The drop in ambient noise levels is astonishing - in our part of the country it's rarely "properly quiet", but at the moment, it frequently is. and then when out and about on foot, as well as seeing fewer other people generally, we are also having to come to terms with seeing places that we are familiar  with seeing bustling full of cars and people all closed down and quiet. The two photos above are two of our local trading estates - Queensgate Centre at the top is completely closed at the moment, and The Oaks, below, has a pet supplies store and two food shops open at the far end. B&Q is also open for Click & collect orders only. At the weekend we had to pop into the town centre as I needed to collect an order. Superdrug - where I was collecting from - was one of only about three stores open in the main shopping centre and the town as a whole felt somehow slightly abandoned.

While all this is going on around us, services continue to be provided. Our recycling bins were emptied yesterday, and the rubbish bins today - I made a point of calling out a thank you to both sets of bin men, they are in a position where it is difficult for them to socially distance while they are working so they are taking risks, yet still they continue. There are so many workers currently who could never have imagined themselves as key workers, yet suddenly they are; teachers; supermarket workers; delivery drivers; the staff at the Department of Work and pensions - and so many more quietly going about their business in order to keep the country running. And they of course are on top of the more obvious heroes in this situation - the NHS staff, emergency services, military and merchant navy. We owe them all the most tremendous debt of thanks, and maybe when we come out of the other side of this a few people will appreciate them all rather more than they have in the past.

Robyn