I live in a leafy part of London full of swanky design shops and yummy mummies.
The local gastropub, is just as cool and packed to the rafters at weekends with well-heeled customers kicking back after a tough week in their city offices.
Still, I thought, walking past on Thursday night, at least they’ll have well-stocked wine racks and packed freezers to tide them over now we’re all social distancing.
Erm, social what-ing??
I couldn’t believe it – the place was heaving. Because the locals in that pub decided THEY didn’t need to stay home.
But I’d bet my bottom dollar that the majority of the selfish quaffers had been on social media tweeting their support for our NHS heroes or posting heart-covered thank-you messages on Instagram.
Many had probably signed the petitions calling for doctors and nurses to be tested for Covid-19 and to get all the protective equipment they need.
And they must have seen the photos of hospital staff holding up signs saying, “We stay here for you, please stay home for us.”
Yet they, and all the other corona-crisis hypocrites in Britain, calmly carried on doing whatever the hell they wanted... until the pubs, clubs, cafes, restaurants and leisure centres were forced to close.
We are living through an unprecedented national emergency and at war with an invisible enemy.
So it is time for every single person in this country to step up and join the fight.
And that means challenging the “me, me, me” mindset and starting to think of the WE.
It means shaking off the herd mentality and learning about herd immunity – educating ourselves about the way this is transmitted.
It means taking responsibility for our actions and how they affect those putting their lives on the line for us.
Like Dawn Bilbrough, 51, a critical care nurse from York, who came off a 48-hour shift and went to the supermarket to do her family shop.
Only to find the shelves stripped bare by locust-like panic buyers who think THEIR needs come first.
Dawn shared a video of the empty fruit and veg aisles and had a little cry.
“I just don’t know how I’m supposed to stay healthy,” she said.
“You need to stop it. It’s people like me who are going to be looking after you when you’re at your lowest. Please.”
Social distancing is crucial to tackle this pandemic.
But society’s heroes need us all to pull together.
