Lido detector

In the morning I visited the ancient Jacka Bakery, where I can report the coffee was energising and the raspberry flapjacks were syrupy and gooey. I’m sure the late medieval urban slum dwellers of Plymouth thought the same. I munched the flapjack whilst I loitered around the Mayflower Steps. I felt thankful to have come to Devon last month before all the tier malarkey kicked in, but there was an equally ominous feeling of new nationwide restrictions being announced, which would force me to make a longer-term plan.

The weather was cold and rainy so it put paid to another coastal walk. I was a little obsessive with news checking through the day. Maybe it’s because we all need lighthearted diversions, but I did wonder why the Guardian gave more prominent billing to speculation over whether Jodie Whittaker is to quit Doctor Who above the latest Covid updates.

After the latest Prime Minister address, and a decision to be made about where I go next, I went back to the Mayflower Steps, this time to munch on a bag of chips from a place on Southside, one of Plymouth’s oldest streets. Yes, the new coronavirus variant is more transmissible. It’s convenient for the government to hide behind the new urgency, as they had made a relatively bad mess of managing the pandemic up to the point of identification of the new variant. This does absolve them of some of the criticism they would be getting, as post mortems of the March-December 2020 period will be put on hold whilst everyone copes with lockdown #3.

The picture is of Tinside Lido, open during the summer, and looking a bit murky and dejected in the winter.