And still in Winchester

Weather back to cold and grey, but no rain. We do Places of Interest today: the Great Hall and the City Museum, so now we know we're tramping about on 2000 years of historic settlement, from the Romans onward.

Although the papers have headlines like "LOCKDOWN" splashed across them, things still look pretty normal here. Streets are full of OAPs ignoring the decree that over 70s should stay home. There is no unseemly squabbling in supermarkets where the shelves seem reasonably well stocked (although I didn't actually check out the loo rolls). There were a herd of school kids in the Museum. Cafes are reasonably populated by people sitting at tables less than 1m apart.

Tomorrow we are going to catch a train to Southampton Airport, pick up a hire car and drive to Deal to visit an Aussie friend, thereby contravening another of the self-isolation rules. But our friend says there's no sign of locals deserting the streets of Deal yet either. It all leaves you wondering whether some people are being overly cautious or some not cautious enough. We're trying for the middle ground: we are going to do our remaining travel in the UK in a car rather than on PT, and if we go and stay with a friend we can stop eating in cafes and restaurants.

We will quarantine ourselves in Oz for the mandated 14 days. I wonder how things will be by then?

This blog might continue through the quarantine period to give me one more thing to keep me occupied.

Alfred the Great