By now things were starting to get worrying. Nonetheless life went on. On 28th Feb we’d had our Village Revue which was great fun but in retrospect may have been a grave error. There were 100 people crammed into the village hall both nights. Meanwhile we’d finally sold my gran’s house – after ten years. Mary did a talk to Tackley WI on the 3rd, and afterward mingled with the audience.
Govt advice remained sketchy at best: stay at home if you can, avoid unnecssary travel, wash your hands. The govt admitted we were no longer able to stop the disease entering the country but were now in a “containment” phase. This meant that they would try to trace the contacts of anyone who tested positive. The UK had 35 cases by the start of the week – and 206 by the end. It was ramping up quickly.
I began to work from home full time this week. I had been off ill two days the previous week and as i felt i was increasingly a risk i thought it best. I am glad I did.
On the 4th of March though I was still skeptical – there had been 87 cases and no deaths – but already people were panic buying loo roll and other “essentials”. And even by the 7th i still wasn’t too worried. I posted a humorous picture of our wine rack and gin collection titled “stocking up on disinfectant and mouthwash”.
On friday night Mary and i went to an acoustic gig in Woodstock. Some friends of ours were playing and we had a lovely time. Again, in retrospect this was a mistake.
That weekend Italy imposed a quarantine on the whole of Lombardy, 14 million people.