An economy in turmoil but things can only get better

After all, there are some good headlines, i.e. Vaccine for 30m could be here by autumn; Terrorists could face 39-year jail sentences; Virus deaths could tail off by end of June; An ‘air bridge’ plan to save holidays abroad.

With all this optimism around, why have so many of us taken to whingeing, nibbling between meals, visiting the off licence more often, leaving dishes unwashed and watching absolute rubbish on television?

I hold up very well sometimes, but it’s hard since my beloved, usually well groomed, dog runs about looking like a scarecrow as his groomer isn’t allowed to work yet, and, my own mop has suffered since I attempted to cut my fringe. The scissors were blunt, which I hadn’t realised, the results leaving me unable to go out without a hat even when the sun’s out. When my hairdresser is allowed back into her salon she will survey the damage and give me a lecture.

I’m sure I’ve lost the knack of entertaining because entertaining guests means exactly that and being indoors so much means I haven’t heard much gossip I could pass on, nor would I want to hear the sorry tales of others in the same boat.

I did prepare my vegetable patch hurting my dickey back in the process, only to find my usual physiotherapist wasn’t allowed to work, except in emergencies. I wasn’t on all fours exactly so I didn’t fit the bill for treatment.

When the job was finally completed and my plants began to grow nicely I had a running battle with slugs and, no, used tea bags do not keep the wee blighters away from your lettuce. I should get some tips from that County Tyrone photographer who dug up his front lawn to grow vegetables when he couldn’t get out to work. Jim Kerr said the gardening acted as a kind of therapy for him. I must remember that.

Sticking to the safe distance rules isn’t easy. I forget myself at times whilst out walking the dog which leaves me having to perform a quick jump right or left with him yelping as I almost fall over him. I’ve tried taking him to out-of-the-way places, but he prefers to see other pooches approaching and gets bored and whingey when it’s just me and the trees. The Government stipulates that walks have to be short. I suppose that’s ok if it’s winter time, but this is summer.

There’s been a lot of sunny days and what I wouldn’t give to take off in the car to the North Coast just to see something different.

Ahead, there’s the possibility of a severe depression if we can’t get our economy back on track. Unemployment is soaring into the millions and, no, the people do not want to go and pick fruit and vegetables from the various English farms. That’s too much like hard work I suspect though I recall, as a young child, many men leaving the province and catching the Liverpool ferry and then going by train to the fruit and vegetable farms in the south.

Farmers are currently looking for 70,000 UK workers as there is a shortage of the usual seasonal workers from Europe who are facing travel restrictions.

When the furlough arrangement, where the Government pays 80 per cent of people’s wages, ends, for many there may be no jobs to return to. It could be back to the 1970s when massive workers’ strikes could not save jobs as technology was turning industry upside down.

There is the other possibility that working from home can be more profitable for employers and employees – a headline in the News Letter’s business pages this week indicated that workers were getting more work done at home.

The possibility that home could be the next workplace is not as far fetched as it seems. It could solve our pollution problems, doing wonders for our planet.

No more smog hiding the world’s most famous buildings? Our children would be healthier.

The advent of Covid 19 has been seen as a disaster but it just might produce a cleaner, healthier world.