World War III?

Whoever would have thought that by 2020 the world would be at war against an invisible enemy, a virus so insidious that it has come out of nowhere to destroy our world as we know it. That the soldiers at the frontline are medical staff wearing scrubs and personal protection equipment instead of combat gear, and their weapon of choice is a ventilator. The food shortages were surely reminiscent of war time conditions for those who remember those terrible times - though this time it was due to an excessive demand on the supply chain rather than an actual shortage of food. In addition to the medical staff we  have some new heroes, those that have worked tirelessly to get the supply chains working again to keep the nation fed and their needs met. There are selfless people who are ensuring the elderly and vulnerable are getting food and medication. Every day the death toll rises and we fight this by doing as we are told, to stay at home. Our buildings may not have turned to rubble but our economy has certainly been shredded. It will be a changed world that we face when we come out of this with hopefully many new lessons learned and a new respect for so many people.

As forecast it was a beautiful sunny day, like a summer’s day with a temperature of 21C. It was no hardship to stay home, be safe and enjoy the good weather. But first we had a lovely walk in the woods with Xena, thinking it could be our last for some time as the Health Minister threatens to stop our daily permissible outing for exercise due to the numpties who abused this privilege yesterday, by suntanning in the parks and congregating on the seafront. We enjoyed a lovely BBQ lunch and then Gavin got stuck in to cleaning the patio and the patio furniture with the jetwash cleaner. After a wet and dreary winter we are at last enjoying some lovely weather.

To avoid narrow pavements our walk to the woods takes us through our station, which is situated right next to the woods. I thought it was a good opportunity to show how quiet it was with no one on the platform and very few trains coming through due to reduced services.