It's been a surreal day. We decided to close the pub until further notice. Then the government and the vintners association followed suit. Best decision, in light of everything.

I can't believe the lack of action from the governments in the UK and the US. It feels like it's only ordinary individuals making the decisions to keep the chaos at bay. As Camus's novel The Plague reveals, an epidemic demonstrates the fitness of a society's self-deemed leaders.

Bernie wanted to go to the beach, so we drove to Strandhill. Light glimmered in the sky and on the wet sand. I felt a strange lightness in the presence of beauty, and then darkness fell, and we were watching bad telly, drinking wine, a dog asleep on a chair, tomorrow's news far off for now.

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