In and around a London lockdown. A Cartoon Diary by Pidge.

 Staying home was less bother for some:

 People coped with ‘Stay home’ in different ways and with different degrees of success:

 Sales of well known plague books soared.In the beginning it had been taken for granted that recovery from the virus would confer immunity but now it was becoming appreciated that this was far from certain and so it it seemed ironic that these books could also make a comeback.

 Also up to then Dominic Cummings had been regarded by some as a genius but now this was wearing a bit thin:

 But before any of this came about Dominic Cummings took the law into his own hands violating his own edicts by driving to Durham with his family. Perhaps he shouldn’t be blamed for putting his family first but he certainly should be blamed for not resigning when he was found out. What was even worse was the fact that rather than sacking him the Prime Minister supported him with the help of his cabinet resulting in the collapse of the the moral authority of the government. This made some people quite cross! The government had been against international comparisons but this time it was inevitable: Some might of thought this cartoon was a bit harsh but I really think the government’s loss of authority started here. 

 Sneezes  and coughs obviously were to be avoided but for those people in the middle of a pandemic who didn’t have the foresight to carry handkerchiefs the government provided helpful official advice. They were advised to sneeze or cough into their sleeves. As with most government edicts this had some unintended consequences, especially for dry cleaners:

 Social distancing became totally ingrained in society to such an extent that it would have impacted even at Easter had the pandemic been around then.

The government came under daily pressure from the opposition and the media to say when the lockdown would end even though the general public in whose name these institutions claimed to be speaking seemed less keen to be re-exposed to the virus that the media themselves had so successfully demonised  with horrific pictures of its victims. The government held its nerve by continuing to add to the list of conditions that needed to satisfied before lockdown could end.  

 The government’s message which was displayed everywhere was “stay home”but  this proved too much for some:

 The city became divided between those with access to outside space and those who had not. 

 In contrast to beauty spots many  traditionally crowded areas, remained abnormally quiet:

 The craving to be outside as a result of the compulsion to stay at home for 23 hours a day led people to seek out open spaces where they could but the the law of unintended consequences, ensured that the social distancing rule would be broken as everyone wanted to be in the same place at the same time. Beauty spots became magnets for daytrippers: