Testing

It's getting on for six months since I was last in Bradford city centre. In the last month or so we have emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot, and the whole district is under extra restrictions, along with much of West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

The clearest sign of the times was in front of City Hall, where this large, tented walk-in testing centre has emerged. It seemed very securitised - heavily fenced in and narrow entrances guarded by uniformed security. And walking through the streets many of the advertising displays were driving home that message that: "This is a Covid-19 hotspot."

I'd travelled in on the train to secure 15yo's birthday present - a purposeful effort to spend some money in a local business. I walked around a bit, but I found my psychology is rattled and the experience was indeed a bit testing. This no longer seemed the familiar and comfortable place that I used to walk through twice a day as I traveled to and from work.

Still, 15yo's present was secured and as the trains are down to one an hour I patronised a local coffee shop. Many people seemed happy popping in and out of the shops, but I think I'll be keeping things largely to the essentials for a while yet.