Pages from an A3 sketchbook drawn during a pandemic

“Now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel. We need people to start working from home where they possibly can. And you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.”

Norwich Cathedral this afternoon - it was virtually empty, except for a cleric and a guide, and a visitor standing by the altar singing hymns to the empty church.

Julian of Norwich - all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well...lived through a time of plague and pestilence, and self-isolated for more than forty years. One of the most influential thinkers of her time. Top woman.

Horsey - first day of social isolation, in the company of a few friends, a lot of families, and hundreds of grey seals.

Sailing By, with social distancing. A waltz before the shipping forecast, and rough waters ahead.

The Feast of St. William - today (March 26th) is the feast day of William of Norwich, supposedly ritually murdered in 1144 by a cabal of city Jews, and his body dumped in a shallow grave on Mousehold Heath. It was the first ever recorded case of blood libel, and an early example of how fake news can be used to whip up hysteria against a particular group of people.

Sir Keir Starmer elected as leader of the Labour Party.

The Queen addresses the nation, and tells everybody to stay at home.

We are all in this together.

In the winter of 2020-21 there was a dramatic increase in the number of births recorded, no doubt due to the Coronavirus lockdown of the previous spring... many of the male children born we're given the name Boris, in honour of the great leader who steered the nation through the international crisis caused by the pandemic.

In come I, Saint George

From England did I spring

I fought the Scotch and French

My wonders to begin.

I'll clip the dragon's wings, he shall not fly

I'll cut him down - or else I'll die

When shall we three meet again?

Today is Shakespeare's birthday, and the sisters are defying governmental instructions on unnecessarry social contact to meet up on the blasted heath to celebrate the occasion.

Tonight is the anniversary of the start of the Baedeker raids on Norwich in 1942.

Mrs. Sanderson's address to the nation:

"As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day today and remember the fears, losses, courage and sacrifices that our parents and grandparents experienced during those wartime years let us also remember that these same people were determined to live in a better world when it was all over. To create a country in which everyone had opportunity through the provision of social housing, access to education, support for the arts and creativity, the provision of welfare for those in need and of course the creation of a National Health Service, universally available to all. All of this while they continued to live with rationing and austerity. They made a better world for us their children, for me personally that led to opportunities of which they could have only dreamed. As we now live through our own crisis I hope that we can think and plan for a better world for our children, finally understanding that when we work together we can achieve not only our own dreams but create opportunity and better lives for all".

"We're simply doing what the scientists tell us..."

"I'm so angry I can barely breathe tonight, so please forgive the rant. This government's contempt for our lives.....last week I watched my Nanny's funeral on a webcast. My dad couldn't be at his Mum's funeral, and I couldn't be with him either. A 13 year old child died in hospital without his parents. His siblings couldn't go to his funeral. All over the country people have not seen dying relatives, not attended funerals, sacrificed in terms of physical and mental health, lost their livelihoods, been alone in grief and bereavement. And we did it to keep to the rules and protect others, just to have it thrown back in our faces. And it's not just the suffering in the past....we've got a second wave coming and this pisses all over public confidence in pandemic guidelines and willingness to co-operate. More people will die because of this. I'm just so so furious."

G.W.