My Dad, who was 93, was in a care home in Barnard Castle.
Without warning a lockdown was imposed and family visits forbidden from 18 March even though neither we nor he had symptoms of coronavirus.
He found it very confusing and distressing. We tried to do Whatsapp face calls, but he couldn't hear properly or see the pictures on a little mobile phone.
As he said to one of the carers: "I don't understand why Helen can't come and see me, she only lives 200 yards away."
Like many people in care homes he found this demoralizing.
So when I heard this weekend that the Prime Minister's top adviser Dominic Cummings had driven 260 miles from London to Durham and was spotted in Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday I was appalled.
On that day I'd delivered a little bar of chocolate to my Dad's care home, but Mr Cummings had behaved like a lout, defying the government's stay at home message and plea for people not to engage in tourism.
He had travelled while his wife was infected putting other peoples' health at risk and apparently broken the law.
One rule for us, another for friends of the Prime Minister.
To date 476 people have died of coronavirus in Co Durham. Dozens more have died from other problems.
My Dad died on his own a few days later. We weren't able to say goodbye, or hold his hand or give him a kiss.
One rule for us, another for friends of the Prime Minister.
What was the point of our sacrifice?
What was the point of my Dad's lonely death, if the whole Cabinet rushes to defend one of their friends breaking the law?
