We’re now a week into the lockdown and people are getting used to it. The rhythm of life has slowed down a bit, which is probably not such a bad thing. We don’t have to turf the kids out of bed at 6am to get ready for school and my 30 to 40-minute commute has disappeared. I am still doing a full day of work from home, but we’re all enjoying having more time and less stuff to worry about. We’re sleeping more, eating better (home-cooked food does that for you) and getting fitter thanks to thrice-weekly runs. Normally after a long day at the office, I’m too tired to go and run in the evening but after a day in home-office I’m eager to get out into the fresh air. I’ve also taken to going for walks during the day when I’m on the phone for longer calls. We’re probably still in the honeymoon period, but so far the lockdown has been fine – it only we didn’t have the virus to worry about.

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It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Just a fortnight ago we were starting to think that this virus thing might have an effect on business and now we are expecting to hear that we shouldn’t leave the house. Angela Merkel spoke to the nation on Wednesday in her characteristically calm but stilted manner and told us that we should “take this seriously”. We were all expecting her to announce the “Ausgangsperre” (literally: out-go-lock) but she stopped short of that. She just told us to behave ourselves. I read articles in the British press praising her excellent speech and it was well-written but it was a bit short on substance really. Continue reading →