When I was a little girl, one of the excitements of the week was the Corona Lorry. How many of you out there can remember the innocence of begging Mum and Dad for a bottle of cherry flavoured Corona? It turned our tongues vivid red, the vibrant crimson of the drink and that amazing feeling of your teeth afterwards. I wasn’t often allowed cherry, it was mostly lemonade (boring). Do you remember the refund on the empty bottles? The trundle of the lorry as it travelled down our unmade lane and the cheeriness of the delivery driver. I remember rushing out of our garden when we heard him approaching, my sister and I so excited, the simple childish pleasures which were reminiscent of the late 1960’s.

Today’s children will have a very different understanding of the word Corona. I’m not sure if I’m being naive, but in my opinion I’m struggling to believe the global panic over this new virus which is sweeping across the world. I know it must be serious because the Premier League have cancelled matches. I don’t understand why we are taking this to the extremes that we are. So far, in this country, 10 people have died of Corona or COVD-19, in a population of 55.6 million I can’t work out that percentage but I think it’s very small. More people have died from seasonal ‘flu than have actually contracted Corona in this country. I know the dire warnings from our government, indeed, even today’s front page headline in the Times no less has Boris Johnson warning us that many families will lose loved ones. I am reminded of Neville Chamberlain and the forebodings of the Second World War. There is outrage that we haven’t closed our schools and colleges, not least from eldest daughter because she’s angling for some time off from the pressures of teaching. There is family worries about my vulnerability as an MS Warrior and youngest daughter’s much anticipated travel plans have been seriously impacted by the USA’s over-zealous protectionism.

Apparently, our government have moved from ‘Containment’ to ‘Delaying’. I am a bit confused about that, how can we delay this? And what was the containment phase? I don’t understand it. Why are we delaying, can anyone please explain this to me?

What is the fascination with toilet rolls? Why would anybody need to stockpile toilet roll? Is it because they want to blow their noses on it? I’m on the understanding that sickness and that other word that I can’t spell (diarrhoea) are not symptoms. Recently, a shopper was seen leaving Tesco with £30 worth of baked beans. Now, if that doesn’t cause a need for toilet roll, I don’t know what would! There’s a shortage of common sense and if anyone wants to know, I have 22 rolls of toilet paper, due to Husband in a hurry buying 4 today because everyone else was. There’s no antibacterial hand gels or hand washes to be bought. Tesco have been patrolling the aisles in order to ration shoppers panic buying cans of soup.

It’s absurd and the profiteering that appears to be happening is making misery out of other people’s fears, mostly generated by the Media.

Luckily, I have plenty of chocolate if anyone needs it.