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Newsrooms across the world usually spend an unhealthy amount of time and effort coming up with stories to fool their readers on 1 April, but in reality, what could be more unbelievable than the situation we currently find ourselves in?
The Express newsroom had been discussing what our 2020 April Fool should be for readers recently. We wondered how just one school would go down with everyone? Or how about some new charges being brought in to pay for a new public service – that always gets people riled up. We had struggled in all honesty to come up with a good one this year. So it’s a good job the matter was taken out of our hands.
I haven’t left my flat in a week, except for a couple of short walks to the supermarket, a couple of slow runs, and an utterly soul destroying walk with my daughter (she’s 13, and what 13 year old wants to go for a walk with mum when they can do yoga in the garden because that counts as PE, right?)
Time is ticking by quite quickly for us on this lockdown though. Trying to keep on top of the day to day developments of a global pandemic which arrived on our doorstep earlier this month, coupled with trying to homeschool a teenager, means there isn’t much time for moping.
Bossing it today: Pizza and smiley faces for lunch,googling male populations pre/post WW1,discussing impact of punctuation/capital letters in a story to signify emotion, trying to work out what's happening in a random field,all while spking to various people about one topic... x
— Laura Clayton (@Laura_radiogsy) March 26, 2020
I have however, found plenty of time for housework. It seems sitting on my backside all day long in my lounge (working…) means I am less inclined to do so (watching tv…) in the evenings, so instead my kitchen surfaces, door handles, skirting boards, and window sills are currently cleaner than we’ve ever seen them before. If the lockdown goes beyond 14 days (and the rest…) then my windows will be next on the list – if only because cleaning them means I have to get some fresh air.
Being inside a confined space for so long does of course give one plenty of time to think. As a chronic ‘over-thinker’ anyway, it’s actually given me a fair bit of time to empty my mind. Aside from reading, writing and watching news reports about corona virus, is there much else to think about?
Only a fool would think that, surely. But, a few things that only a fool would have predicted a few weeks ago have come true.
No one is talking about the schools transformation project anymore. Those emails about that job? Nope, not interested.
The first island wide election? You’re going to be waiting a while for that.
Gavin St Pier, the most popular man in the Channel Islands? Ridiculous.
Shop assistants are now essential workers? Pull the other one!
Healthcare workers risking their own lives, while the rest of us sit at home on the sofa? Well, actually that one is believable, isn’t it?
Pictured: Dr Nicola Brink, the woman leading the Bailiwick's battle against corona virus. The Director of Public Health has a background in virology.
On April fool’s day, a time for lulling the most gullible folk into a false sense of security only to later laugh at their hapless mistake, there can’t be anyone who wouldn’t have believed that those who follow a calling into healthcare do so knowing that what we’re currently facing has actually always been a possibility.
Dr Nicola Brink definitely didn’t seem surprised by this when she called the editors of the local media outlets to a meeting earlier this year and told us what the plan was.
If I’m honest, I didn’t really believe her predictions – the virus had barely left China by then. So more fool me. She’s had it covered all along.
The above are the thoughts of the writer, and not those of Express. If you'd like to express your views on a topic email us at editor@bailiwickexpress.com or comment below.
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