Planes. Ministerial waffle. Sunshine.

The oddness of seeing a plane fly over the house. And yet, according to this article some 1800 private planes landed in the UK during the lockdown. Who knew? And the occupants were not necessarily tested for the virus or quarantined. Truly, the mind boggles.

Lots of waffle from the prime minister about what went on in care homes. There’s a bit of a difference of opinion about how quickly steps were taken to protect care homes but the prime minister says we should pay tribute to the health staff, so that’s all right then. It is generally agreed that we need to get testing done more quickly. Well, yes, I would agree with that. And I have just heard the PM say that we are well en route to having a working track and trace system. We shall see. 

Today we should have been in sunny Sicily but instead we are in sunny Saddleworth. And today is very sunny and warm. I set off to walk to Uppermill market early this morning in a light jacket - a mistake! The jacket ended up in my bag after five minutes. Maybe we need more of this sunshine if we are all to stay in the UK for our holidays.

There is definitely more traffic on the roads today. And the plant-sellers have returned to the market in Uppermill. Large numbers of people were queueing to buy bedding plants. By midday the temperature was well into the twenties.

With the sunshine, there are concerns that it will be hard to ensure social distancing as people exercise their right to sunbathe. My brother-in-law sent us a story about a group of people having a baby shower in the open air, complete with about 30 children on a bouncing castle. They ran away when challenged by the police, but not before one was able to comment that as children are going back to school on June 1st they thought it was perfectly okay for them to go on a bouncing castle.

So some parents seem not to be terribly worried about the return to school. Here is a link to another article giving the scientific view of that return.

In this article about Porto coming out of lockdown it seems as though the Portuguese are not rushing back into open spaces. Or maybe it’s just Porto. It could be quite different in Lisbon, for example. Or maybe the Portuguese as a whole are very cautious.

I read that many couples have had their relationships tested by the lockdown. The writer Neil Gaiman decided to relieve the tension in his relationship and to give his wife space by flying from New Zealand to the Isle of Skye, where he has a second home. He has since apologised to the authorities in Skye for being so reckless. So that’s all right then! I just hope he didn’t bring any nasties with him. And could he not find anywhere in New Zealand to escape to? Or are things so dire with his wife that they needed to be almost a whole world apart?

I may need to go and sit in the garden at some point soon. So far my response to the sunshine has been to do a load of washing. On the menu today we have leftovers of various kinds and a substantial salad.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!