I keep saying that we healthy retirees are the lucky ones.  Income not affected, used to spending time in our homes and gardens, no responsibility for entertaining or educating young relatives.  Many negatives of course: many of us are completely alone, we can’t spend time with family and we can’t spend time with friends.  However, My heart goes out to families, those living in apartments, individuals whose income is severely affected, people in other countries who don’t have the health and welfare support we are lucky enough to enjoy.

In Scotland the rules have not changed: stay at home, socially isolate, be safe, and certainly in my area of the country, in general we’re following the rules.  There are certainly more vehicles on the roads recently, in some cases travelling unbelievably fast.  But also More people out walking for exercise, most smiling and ‘good daying’ , while others seem to feel they’ll catch the virus if they dare to catch your eye.  Surprisingly, less respect for the civilities of life: fly tipping and dog pooping becoming more of a problem. But also an awful lot of good things are happening: people volunteering, offering to help, sewing for NHS and donating to our local food bank.  Our First Minister is clear and unambiguous in her guidance.  I’m extremely proud of how she has handled the crisis.  I’m a supporter of independence and of the SNP, and am gratified at the positive support and comments for Nicola Sturgeon from people who don’t support her politically and even from other parts of the country.

I have friends who are now working from home very successfully.  For the last few years, my niece Lynn has spent 3 days of every week in Bristol; now she’s working from home probably putting in more hours.  All her meetings are held via video and she believes her days of weekly commutes are over. Companies own and rent huge office buildings in city centres, paying obscene amounts in rents, rates and utilities.  Looking forward, is that going to be necessary?