Are we about to clock on for a long, dark Covid winter?

IT may be that we’ll look ook back at the lockdown in the spring with something like affection, ion, at least compared to what may lie ahead. That warm weather, the light nights, the walks and the bike rides, the outside jobs done, the he gardens looking pristine, the neighbourhoods explored.

If there was going to be a halt to our social interaction that was the ideal time to have it. We may not have been able to mingle but those of us allowed out had the great outdoors to explore.

But now we’re set for a re-run. Though we currently have a regional policy of increased restrictions, support is growing for a national “circuit breaker’ of two, three or four weeks. Well, what a time to have it.

If it coincides with the kids breaking up for half term on Friday, October 23 we’ll have two days before another significant event – the clocks going back.

The symbolism couldn’t be greater as we’re plunged into the dark days of a long Covid winter. How inclined will we be to venture out for our permitted periods of exercise when it’s pitch dark outside? WIll the boots or the bike come out if it’s raining and blowing a ‘hoolie’? Or will we peek through the curtains before combing through Netflix to try and find something we haven’t yet watched while dreaming of that winter sun holiday we won’t be taking?

We went into the first lockdown full of the ‘Blitz spirit’. spirit.’ We had to make sacrifices to protect our nation state and our cherished NHS. It would all be worth it, just like it was for the volunteers who signed up for duty at the start of the Great War in the expectation that it would ‘all be over by Christmas’.

I vaguely remember Boris echoing similar sentiments back in March. Take the pain now and reap the benefits later. Sounds petty hollow now.

So here we are again, back to square one, all the past sacrifices apparently made in vain. Or, more significantly, sacrifices clearly not made by everybody in the hands, face and distancing stakes.

For the majority it’s as if the last seven or eight months never happened. We get a sense of ‘déjà vu’ when we hear that the hospitals are going to be overwhelmed and vital non-Covid treatments postponed. So unsuccessful have been the actions of the Government, not only here but around Europe, in enforcing previous regulations that new and pretty draconian measures are either in place or soon will be. Hospitality, leisure and education possibly shut down or curtailed, only essential shops open, and travel restricted. The overnight curfew in France is reminiscent of darker days on the European continent. Here, the gamble of restoring a semblance of normality, taking the shackles off the night-time economy and returning students and scholars to the universities and schools, has clearly backfired.

An air of resignation seems to be abroad. “If we have to close down for a while to beat the disease then so be it” is a common theme we’re hearing more and more.

But that won’t be it, will it? It’s merely a tactical retreat. The unseen enemy will still be there, lurking in the bushes, waiting to attack when we eventually venture out.

It’s not a case of whether we can handle this “circuit breaker” it’s more a question of how long will it be before it happens again and we start to get lockdown fatigue. What will be the scenario when we emerge from the latest potential temporary quarantine? Is it back to “normality”, and if so will it only be a matter of weeks before the shutters come down again? How many lockdowns can you get in before Christmas? And with a vaccine unlikely to be available until July will we be doing this lockdown hokey-cokey for another eight months?

Roll on next summer, but it could be a long and tiresome wait.