Another day, another £

It’s been a few weeks since my last lockdown diary entry so I thought it about prudent to give you an update – I wouldn’t want to deprive you of such an excellent record of our time.

Since we last spoke, it hasn’t exactly been dull, has it? Partial lifting of lockdown, Dominic Cummings and Barnard Castle and now some considerable unrest in London and other cities around the world in protest at the death of George Floyd.

But this is not about the politics; there are plenty of other platforms to discuss that, this is just about what has been going on on a mundane, day-to-day level. Work has continued as it was, Monday to Friday, 9-5 with no sign of change and an uptick in business showing that (hopefully) we’re past the worst of things…at least for now. It looks like I got away with it, which is a huge relief.

My partner has come off furlough, which is a step in the right direction and takes a little of the pressure off as we’re both back on full salary again.

McDonalds has now opened up their Drive-Thru’s again which again is great news as I am sure there will be plenty of demand and plenty of work for people in the restaurants and the supply chain. I take great comfort in things like this – it conjures up images of loads of trucks at a logistic centre, all leaving at once to head off to restaurants in every corner of the land…but maybe I focus on these things a little too much.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I (used to) travel quite a lot for my job and while I don’t expect to be visiting customers anytime soon, there are rumblings about a trip to HQ. As this is in Switzerland, it presents a bit of a problem until such point as we’ve got clarity on “Air Bridges” and quarantine, especially as I am less than keen to fly until things are a bit more settled. A road-trip has been mooted as an alternative, which I am quite happy to do; if nothing else it gives me the chance to pick up some delightful produce in France on the way home.

It won’t happen until the last week of July at the earliest, so I still have time to ride the headline rollercoaster as the rumours swirl about what the new rules will be. If July is a success, then August is already pencilled in too and I guess it will be a monthly thing until the end of the year when we can but hope that we all have more clarity.

The stock market continues to rise, which I really can’t work out. It is only 15% below its January peak, but with the massive turn-around in US jobless numbers last week, perhaps we have already passed the bottom. Nevertheless, I am still perplexed, but happy with the results and the improving position of my personal investments and my pension (we’ve also seen the positive impact on TMM’s investments).

The Premier League is back in 10 days and with that I am hopeful of more Matched Betting opportunities so we can hit our monthly targets despite all of the chaos.

I am certainly more relaxed about things than I was the last time I wrote to you and infinitely more so than the first diary post. I went to have a socially distanced breakfast with my parents last Monday with them sat at one end of the garden table and me at the other; most welcome. We had hoped to have them at ours this weekend for a BBQ, but the weather put paid to that. Fingers crossed next weekend will be kinder, but as with McDonald’s opening up, the opportunity for people to have BBQ’s with more people is great news as it should get more things moving.

At the end of the week, I’ve got another week off work. It’s not ideal as we still can’t go anywhere, but a few days walking the dogs is always welcome.

Life is slowly getting back to what it was, but at the same time, it isn’t. An easy statement to make, I know, but hear me out…

Everything takes an age. A couple of Fridays ago I went to Aldi, B&M and B&Q. A round trip that, in the good ol’ days would have taken a couple of hours, took nearly 4 hours. That is unsustainable. I cannot be bothered to queue to get into places and so in the end, I simply won’t bother. I will buy the necessities and that will be it. A lot of discretionary spend will be lost as although online shopping is already massive and has doubtless grown during the pandemic, it isn’t for everyone and those millions (and it will be millions) with, between them, hundreds of millions in disposable income waiting to be spent, will be lost.

This whole idea of queuing to get into a store is ridiculous, especially as once you are in there, no one pays any attention to the one-way systems or any sort of distancing. If this system of one in, one out continues, productivity will be back to Victorian levels before long and that is no good to man nor beast.