I am sure most of us will have heard the old proverb “a stitch in time saves nine”, we know it means that it is better to deal with problems immediately, if you wait and deal with them later, things will in all probability get worse and the problems will take longer to deal with.

We are in just this situation as a country now, the way we were slow off the mark in getting control of the lockdown. Now because of press and fiscal pressure the powers that be want to relax the lockdown regulations. Thats fine provided it’s done in the right order and times scale, the devolved administrations all have different preferences and whilst some are cautious the English government want to dive in the deep end and send people back to work from Wednesday 13th May the problem was at first lots of people did not understand Boris Johnsons statement on the prior Sunday evening.

The statement was was short and not particularly clear enough for some people, there was a further attempt to clarify the plan in the house of commons on Monday but it was contradictory in some parts, almost as if it was cobbled together on the back of a fag packet. It was disgusting that the prime-minister could be left to go to the commons so poorly prepared, I am no lover of Keir Starmer but he made some very valid points in his cross-questioning of Boris.

I just do not think the government advisors are dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, the game plan has not been thought out, for Boris to be asked by different people a number of times in different questioning arenas that if he wants people to start back to work from Wednesday and they have school aged children, what are they supposed to do without child care? He had also just said that the schools will only go back in a phased way around 1st June! He looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an on coming bus when it dawned on him that people could not return to work without this child care in place.

I will admit I voted for Boris in the general election, I was full of hope that we had a chance. Granted no one would have forecast this catastrophe that has been thrust upon us but the government has to be more cogent in their approach to getting the country back on it’s feet. It’s my opinion that the Whitehall mandarin’s need to be culled, it’s just too important that we have the best of the best advising the PM, He needs hard concise facts and planing to get this disaster put to bed. This needs to be done immediately, no waiting just get on with it.

A wise man once wrote, “Nobody told me there’d be days like these”, John Lennon had a way with words that’s for sure.

He could not have put it better, never in our wildest dreams would we have expected to be trapped in a twilight world of muted panic, waiting everyday for our daily situation report from the chosen government mouth piece.

Since lockdown, those of us fearful to return to work because of health issues that have not been clearly defined as putting you in a shielding group and are still waiting to be given that clarification by our devolved health agencies appear to be left in limbo.

We have been told to “Stay home – protect the NHS – Save lives” a mantra that has appeared to work, but now we are we going to be told to “Stay alert – Control the virus – Save lives”, whatever that means it’s confusing to say the least and the British public do not need to be any more confused then they already are!

We spend these days trapped in our homes and if we are lucky enough to have a garden pottering around those too, the weather has helped but we know it doesn’t last forever so at some point the prison cell we are trapped in shrinks. I must admit I am filled with trepidation about what the future holds. Life will never be the same again and this appears to be the general opinion from what can be seen in social media and from talking to friends on the phone.

The whole situation is playing out like a film script, a disaster movie where super hero’s are fighting evil to protect the world population, we are lucky that we do have our own super hero’s to call upon, these brave souls that are fighting on the front line for our lives like so many did seventy five years ago, the legendary comic book writer Stan Lee could never have created in his imagination so many hero’s, all of these people have their own back story of loved ones that they are separated from during this time of crisis, not knowing if they are ever going to be able to hold them in their arms again.

We see so many criticisms about how the powers that be are handling this crisis, this unknown territory and as in the words of John Lennon, strange days indeed. I understand that everyone has an opinion, constructive criticism is helpful.

It is irrefutably clear we have been wasteful, the question of the country’s lack of planning and resources along with the amount of time and money wasted by the opposition to the result of the 2016 referendum has done a lot of damage and as a result ultimately cost lives.

Four years of vital time has been frittered away and massive amounts of money wasted on pointless arguments and counter arguments by the anti democratic opponents to the will of the people. This was criminal and it not only depleted resources that could have been used to place the country in a better position to handle the current situation, not that we were expecting this to happen.

We are our own worst enemy, we pay far too much attention to the press. Look at all the speculation on the lifting of the lockdown conditions that the gullible or ignorant amongst our population are diving headfirst into early!

Do these so called journalists seriously think that opening up McDonalds, even as a drive through is vital to the health of the nation? Do they seriously think that only a single person will go to the drive through in a car, no they won’t! It will encourage all the little “children” to get together with their buddy’s to suck on their milk shakes and chomp their Big Mac’s all in a nicely confined space… do they really think they have that much self control! Bloody idiots.

We all need our essentials, healthy food, medicines and some limited exercise to get us through this crisis. I don’t think a visit to Mc Donald’s, B&Q or the garden centre is going to save your life but staying at home is in all probability going to save you and your loved one’s.

Don’t forget your life and your families life is worth more, if it takes time to send this virus to hell, then so be it! stay home, stay safe and love your life, it may not be perfect but at least when all this is over you can look back and hopefully tell your grandchildren those were strange days indeed!