Dear LPG,

Here is a picture that I have just taken, although I have asked LPG to save it for a year. 

Although it was just yesterday for me, I hope that Coronavirus is a bit of history now, but a year ago we were all wondering exactly how long it would be before we were all safe.  The most vulnerable people were the older people and they were being told that they need to ‘self-isolate’ which meant stay at home and avoid contact with other people. 

Both my children, and their spouses, had just received the news that they were to work from home for the foreseeable future and we had also just been told that all schools would close at the end of the week.

People were finding themselves delayed in other countries because so many borders had been closed and we all feared for the airline companies all over the world.  People had started to buy everything that they thought they would need in preparation for a world-wide lock-down situation which meant that there was very little in the shops, and to make things worse, they were getting limited supplies of the groceries that we take for granted.  The picture shows one isle in Tesco’s and on the day I took this picture there was not a single egg on the shelves and the kitchen store-cupboard items were nearly all gone.  We were all being told about the importance of washing hands and having hand sanitiser with us at all times, but there was none to be had.

The London marathon had been postponed and many theatres cancelled their events.  Church’s cancelled services, day centres and clubs closed, and if you felt that you had contracted the virus the advice was not to go to the hospital, your GP or telephone 111.  The most worrying thing of all was that the whole world found itself in the same situation so there was nowhere to escape to. 

A year ago today we really did not have a clue where we would be now and it will be interesting to look back and then forward to see how we got through to the other end.

 AY, Brockley