Forbearance

When things are as tough as they are at the moment and people are confined to barracks, it is important to be considerate to each other. Now the initial panic is over, there is no need to stock pile food, road rage should be a thing of the past, given there are hardly any vehicles on the road in our part of the Country, and people can adhere to the 2 metre separation guidelines as there is loads of space in our parks and on our footpaths and coastal borders.

The boys in blue are keeping a watchful eye on  Birkenhead Park walkers and riders so at the moment The Wirral is doing OK.

That is more than can be said for the people who find they are out of work, or the back street entrepreneurs who find their once profitable cottage industries blown away in the blink of an eyelid. It has also hit multinationals and all those companies and organisations who sit in between, certainly in size terms.

Martin Lewis used the definition of forbearance to try to get us all to understand the struggle that business has at the moment, and it is useful to take that on board. My mate and I had paid a lot of money to a golf travel agent to go to Augusta for the Masters golf in April. When the event was postponed and then rescheduled, we asked for our money back. Rightly or wrongly , that was not one of the options they gave us, so rather than fight a battle over what the definition of 'force majeure'  is, we have given them the slack they need and said we will rebook for 2021. They are now fighting battles to repatriate other golfers they have sent on holiday and,  I suspect , their cash flow to ensure they are still in business next year.

We have a milkman and he has been delivering to us for years. I have just paid in advance for the next three weeks to help his cash flow and hopefully see him continue the service he provides to us and to allow him to keep his milko's employed.

I am also philanthropic in a small way towards my ex-rugby club. I'm in it as a business venture, but have today let them know that there will be no further payments due to me in 2020. That may help their cash flow somewhat as they will suddenly have nil income from rugby for 6 weeks and social functions and catering for probably three months. The grass will need to be cut a few times, but major outgoings like rent, rates  and utility  bills  still need to be sourced.

I have a small part to play at the golf club as a result of the closure of all courses for the time being, so the lockdown provides opportunity. Having just completed the painting project, we now have to redress the room. I have discovered the sofa springs are out of life so that forces me to participate in my favourite lockdown game, buy on e-bay. So far I have brought one new golf club, a pre-war Totopoly game with proper lead horses with four legs (fans of horse racing games will know why this excites me), an extra five horses of the same structure for display purposes, and I am now in prime position to win a Mont Blanc pen for a steal as it is listed in the wrong category!!!

Unfortunately the sale of my mothers old flat has had to be put on hold as a person in the chain is an NHS worker and does not feel she has the bandwidth to handle a house move just yet, but hopefully that will proceed in due course. We shall see.

So time to rehang the curtains plug the TV back in and resume some sort of  normal like, although we have not really missed the TV these last few weeks, I wonder if we might be right in the middle of a permanent life style change. Husbands and wives talking to each other, now there's a side effect I didn't anticipate!

Bat Out of Hell

Who would have thought an experimental dish from a soup kitchen on the other side of the World could create such problems, not just of the population involved, but for the whole World. What started out as a potential crisis for China has now escalated into a World pandemic the likes of which we have not known for 100 years. Imagine the difference in population numbers and the difference in scientific analysis when Spanish flu swept throuh Europe. This corona virus takes no store by technological advances and at the moment is blasting all away in its path.  We anticipate it will peak in May on the Wirral.

It is hard to imagine that only two weeks ago I was at Twickenham watching England beat Wales in my 49th season of such pilgrimages. The night before we went to see Magic Goes Wrong at the Vaudeville Theatre in The Strand. Even Penn and Teller can't make this virus just disappear, and the theatre stands empty now for who knows how long.

Golf, and the excitement of becoming Wallasey captain, is really no more now than an illusion. The senior Seniors are self isolated, all the prestigious events are cancelled and we wonder what is next for us and what we have done to deserve it. The Masters in Augusta to which I was going,  is postponed, and as I type Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott have announced they are postponing their arena tour. We were going to that too.

What does one do while self isolating, we aren;t 30 years old any more when the options would be singularly more attractive!! At the moment I am decorating the living room in anticipation of an event for the ex-Captains wives which will not now take place! I can at least give some attention to my piano playing and try to se if by the end of it people will be able to recognise some of my tunes.

My wardrobe needs some attention, how many polo shirts does a man need? and the garden is starting to bloom so that can give me the excuse to potter out of doors, should the golf course itself ever have to close. 

Will shopping on-line become the only option, what will all the DPD and Hermes delivery drivers do, and who will deliver all the e-bay and Amazon stuff if they are confined to barracks?

Boris Johnson has been handed the poison chalice, and inspired by his hero, Winston Churchill, he is being stoic and trying to get things done. It is disappointing that opposition members and retired scientists and medics are publicly challenging the approach, when all the Country needs is one face to the Nation. Have your grumbles behind closed doors, not on Newsnight and Question Time.

The Country will survive, particularly as it is the youngsters who seem to have the greatest immunity to the virus. It's the complete opposite of  World War II in which all the future captains of industry were the ones cut down in their prime. At the moment it's those who have lived their lives, but would quite like a bit more please, who are in the firing line.

Good luck everybody, stay safe.