Like many of you I had banned single use plastic from my kitchen.

The public campaign to reduce plastic shopping bags had been highly successful. We had all got into the habit of taking our own fabric, jute or reusable bags with us when we went shopping – although I tried not to acquire long life plastic bags, because they do fall apart eventually. But I wanted to take it further.

Clingfilm was the first to go. I tried bees wax wraps, which can be used to cover anything kept in the fridge in a bowl or cup. They are also a useful way of wrapping leftovers, although they do need to be lined with greaseproof paper.

I had gradually acquired a pile of stackable boxes in two sizes and I used those to store leftovers in the fridge. I often cook enough for 4 or 6 servings and freeze the remainder in two portion sizes in the boxes.

Next to go were the tear-off bags provided in the supermarket for loose fruit and vegetables.  Instead I sourced some washable drawstring mesh bags which I took with me when I went shopping.

I then turned my attention to packaging, which can be more of a challenge. Much of it ensures that food reaches the home in a healthy state, and these days a good proportion is recyclable. I do wash and save any plastic that can’t be put in the household recycling and store it. Some of the supermarkets encourage us to return anything like that, so I dutifully take it along with me, hoping that they have found some way of recycling it all. At the moment I am storing packaging in my spare room (along with the shredded paper and other items destined for the charity shop or tip when all this is over).

The Government is exploring the options for easing lockdown and will be announcing their plans next Sunday. The lifting of some restrictions will no doubt be welcomed by most people and we can expect some slightly late, but exuberant,  VE Day celebrations.

However, no-one should forget that, whatever the new normal is, it will make no difference to a large number of people.

Everyone over the age of 70 was told to self-isolate for 12 weeks from 21st March, which takes us up to 13th June.

In addition 1.5 million people have been ask to take the more stringent shielding precautions for 12 weeks. The first wave of those letters were issued during the week when lock down began, and a second wave was sent out around 2 weeks later. So those people can expect to be shielded in self-isolation until the end of June, at the earliest.

Before lockdown Stephen Fry gave some advice on managing anxiety during self-isolation.

Anxiety and stress are almost as virulent as this awful coronavirus.

Take a deep breath and allow time to take on a different dimension, taking more time to do everything.

He says that we would be wise to redefine our sense of time. To do that he suggests drawing up a timetable for each day and allow plenty of time for all the tasks.

We should also turn off notifications so we are no longer constantly being bombarded by headlines, and then decide on a time during the day when we will look in on the news. Some weeks ago a friend advised me not to watch any news reports in the evenings – and I have found that really has helped my sleep patterns.

To reduce anxiety Stephen Fry says that we need to cut out the noise. He makes one very salient point: the real experts, such as scientific advisors, tend to qualify their statements with phrases like “We think” or “It’s possible”. Anybody who claims to know what is going on, with great certainty, probably doesn’t, and we should blank them out.