Primed

It was too cold, damp and windy to paint the garden gate. But all primed and ready for when the opportunity arises.

The country was primed for the PM’s announcement tonight. However, reflecting the media trailing mid-week and the subsequent retraction, tonight’s broadcast just compounded the confusion.

The broadcast message for England was that you can go out for exercise more freely - and sunbathe. But the subsequent detail seems to be that you can sit only with one other person (presumably not from the same household) 2 meters away. how on earth do you enforce that.

And from tomorrow you are encouraged to go back to work in England if you can’t work from home but for many that means having the children looked after, taking public transport and being confident that the workplace is safe. All without detailed guidance. Does that include hairdressers? Podiatrists? Estate agents? We may find out tomorrow.

So I am primed. For further confusion, increased social blurring of what is acceptable, further border friction and growing frustration. At least for the time being there is more clarity in Scotland, and Wales, and Northern Ireland.

And all the time staff in a variety of professions but particularly the NHS will be primed in 3-4 weeks time to deal with the increased number of patients requiring intensive care if the R number edges close to or above 1.

This is more significant than just painting over the cracks.