Six weeks into self-isolation and I’m now past the half way mark of how long I expect to be in quarantine for, as a precautionary measure during the coronavirus outbreak. Things are going as well as they can, given the circumstances.

Although, I’ve been a little disheartened hearing accounts of occasions that ‘lockdown’ restrictions have been broken. I even saw posts on social media of people sharing their get-togethers, surely all in attendance could never not be from the same household?

There were also plans being circulating to try to encourage people to meet up for a mass gathering. It’s sad to hear of people flouting social distancing guidelines; they’re in place to stop the spread of the virus. Now that we’re weeks in doesn’t mean we should treat ‘lockdown’ any differently than we did on day one.

I hope these cases are minimal. Now the UK has “past the peak” of the virus, according to the Government, that certainly would suggest so. However, getting the virus is still a possibility until a vaccine is found and developed. Many can recover from it, as did Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but the unpredictability of how it affects people is still there. These series of Tweets show the stark seriousness of the virus. My thoughts are with all those who’ve lost loved ones:

The spirit of the UK people remains strong, as demonstrated by the fundraising efforts of Captain Tom Moore for NHS Charities Together. He raised more than £30m by his 100th birthday this week by walking around laps of his garden. Also, every Thursday evening we continue to clap for our key workers. The applause on our street, and no doubt across the country, gets longer and louder each week.

I’m grateful to all my colleagues, fellow key workers, who are going into work each day to keep the radio station running and keeping listeners informed and entertained throughout the pandemic. I’m contributing from home and this week, my computer has been set up successfully. It means I can do everything I could in the newsroom from home, without having to have help from someone back at base to put cues or audio in programme running orders. My thanks to everyone who helped with that over the past few weeks.

The computer’s set up in a home office area, which helps massively when working from home to keep it separate from the living space. I now have an even better view of the back garden to provide fresh air and inspiration for the week ahead.