Good evening, I am sure most of you recognise my subject line from the open of a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It probably is an apt quotation for our times….what isn’t quoted in the next two lines:  “it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity” and those sound far more suitable to our times.

I read a post from a lady, whose parents had scrimped and save for her to qualify as a Doctor and then go on to be a Masters in Infectious Diseases, wistfully complaining that her opinion counted for naught on FaceBook against that of Chantelle from the poodle parlour who now held greater sway that a PhD Virologist. She is right, we see it here, “this is the most important message I have ever sent, I will show you how to make a cloth face mask” for god’s sake (not for humanists) follow the advice and stay in.

In these trying times, a shout out for my neighbours two boys, excellent young men who spent last night camping in the back garden. Change your routines, it keeps you fresh. Jun has been eyeing me suspiciously all day as I air the sleeping bags. I have done camping with the kidults, they mutinied one year in Rothbury during an Easter camp, when the temperature suddenly dropped overnight to about -5 and we woke in our thermal sleeping bags to discover that the tent was now a solid structure, breaking camp was a reality that Easter. Phoebe never camped again apart from a couple of excursions to the Reading Festival and after returning it, the tent despite being aired for months still smells like a hippopotamus wallow.

I digress, with new laws our Police can stop you without the stigma that has been associated with ‘stop and search’ in the Metropolitan Police Area. They can now judge if your journey is necessary, they are already well backed up by curtain twitchers here in Somerset and social media is now full of links to grass up your neighbour for going out again. I am not criticising our boys and girls in blue, I would not want their job at the moment and our Chief Constable is preaching caution and common sense; those who abuse the rules need to be held to account, but I cite it as an example how the freedoms so hard won in this country can be easily taken away. I hope that the police also advise those who are grassing up Mr Jones from number 3, who went out twice today; that they might not be around when this is all over and the neighbours come with bricks and hair clippers. You can see how easily this will degenerate.

The weather has been good, as I have no reason to go out, other than to post a letter to my Aunt I haven’t. I stay at home, with neighbours, we are coming up with cunning plans to buy food from local suppliers and by sharing we reach the minimum spend for delivery without the risk of it being in the recycling at the weekend. It is ‘the best of times’.

For those fans of my dressing up box, today has been special.

For my long suffering neighbours, this may be ‘the worst of times’ as I take up bass guitar. The dark glasses are so I am not recognised by Avon and Somerset, as they tazer Rastafarian’s.

Well they said make the most of all this time and learn something. I am.

Last night our daughter, Chenxi, asked if we were damp in Somerset as she heard England was wet. Not at all I replied sending a picture after my evening walk around the garden.

Please do take care, the next three weeks will be crucial, avoid any unnecessary travel. Staying in can and will save lives.

I close with an article from the Spectator by Rod Liddle. Freedoms are something we should not give away too readily. I will find something pithy from the New Statesman. Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet should throw up something! As I would hate to be viewed as partisan.