The Coronavirus courier
After much thought in these unprecedented times I have decided to write a few blogs relating to experiences connected to the Coronavirus period. According to reports it is a virus that started in Wuhan in China in apparently, an open air meat market. I remember in January listening transfixed to ITN’s China correspondent Debbie Edwards’s daily mind boggling reports from Beijing. At times it felt like watching sci-fi movies, not for one minute did I ever feel this very same virus would hit the UK with such a force that our lives would change dramatically. Was I still living in La La land? .
It was early February when the first Coronavirus cases were confirmed in the UK but few took much notice until an infected Brit who had flown from Singapore and stopped off in France for a short ski break joining a group of friends in a private chalet in the Haute Savoir. Half the guests ended up testing positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, two weeks later on February 19th to be exact, I had flown back from a short winter sunshine holiday in Lanzerote fully aware that several cases were already confirmed in the UK yet the *Grand Tequis hotel where I stayed was blissfully unaware of the unfolding dramas in Europe.
As Covida-19 started to raise it’s ugly head in the UK, confirmed cases increased daily but nothing too alarming although I did rush out to buy face-masks and hand sanitzers. Following my return, life in London continued as usual at least for the next couple of weeks. Invitations to any receptions and lunches were readily accepted and the first of these was to attend the arrival of IDEC Sport, an enormous trimaran that had sailed all the way from Hong Kong to London in a less than 33 days knocking nearly four days off the previous record. The boat was moored at Butler’s Wharf near London Bridge and an easy journey by tube. Skippered by veteran sailor, 60 year old Frenchman Francis Joylon along with a crew of five including his son, we all chatted freely about the trails and tribulations of the race, A couple of centuries ago original Clipper boats sailed this very same route in about three months, Joylon not only beat the the previous record by four days that has been claimed a similarly designed Italian boat, Masserati last year but somehow had managed to arrive before the Coronavirus seriously hit London and also avoided much of the rainy weather that had flooded parts of the UK.
Media were also invited to clamber aboard and inspect IDEC Sport’s interior which was full of high tech equipment not that I understood much of what I saw but the most daunting, in my opinion, was the ten meter gap between hulls covered with what looked like fisherman’s nets where crew members would jump from one hull to another adjusting sails in all kinds of weather. Later crew and media rubbed shoulders during a delicious buffet lunch held in the nearby Chop House restaurant. Noticeable was how exhausted everyone looked including Joylon but all were happy to answer media questions. Afterwards I remember travelling back on a packed tube and for the first time feeling slightly uneasy after reading the latest number of confirmed Coronavirus cases and made sure to wear gloves throughout the journey home.This was only five weeks ago and now the entire UK is in almost lock down.
On top of all the problems emerging around Coronavirus during this time there was also extreme flooding in some areas in the UK. The following week, a dear friend’s funeral had to be hastily re-arranged to another church near Dorking when Randall’s Park Crematorium just outside Leatherhead was closed to the public due to flooding. That evening my girlfriend came to stay and we ended up having supper at Queen’s club – little did I realise this would be the last time I’d dine at the club for the foreseeable future.
End – Next blog to follow!