Lockdown Walks, Day 80

Are we still officially in lockdown? I assume that, technically, we are. A less restricted lockdown than was the case a month ago. And in practice, a lot of people decided that lockdown rules ceased to apply to them when the government announced that they didn’t apply to Dominic Cummings. Either way, yesterday was day 80. We still go for our daily walks. Each day brings something new.  

Pret, like a lot of food and drink places, has reopened for takeaways. They kicked open their doors with a great offer – 20 cups of coffee for £20. Card payments only, of course. Cash isn’t dead yet, but it’s on life support. The sooner it’s gone, the better, I say. Conspiracy theorists lament its demise in the belief it’s an end to anonymous transactions. That’s nonsense.The virus is doing more to kick us into the digital age than any amount of advertising, incentives action or activism.

There’s a cruise ship in Bournemouth bay. This is a first – the overflow from Southampton docks have mostly been parked up near Weymouth. There were also a couple of mysterious helicopters that flew overhead. I’m not much of a helicopter expert, but they looked like Apaches to me. Which is an unusual sight in Bournemouth, but not unprecedented.

And whoever is responsible for cloud design in the sky really put a shift in yesterday.