Quarantine is such an ugly word,which is why our dear government calls it isolation. Hmm, yeah, that's loads better, although not worth as many points on a scrabble board.
Ironically, in view of the concessions introduced for those of us whose MOT expires after the thirtieth of this month, the motor trade is still alive in these parts, my mate's garage is still doing tests for those who need them in these last few days and is complying with the rules by having just the one person doing the work, the customer parks up outside and puts the car keys through the letterbox, then the guy comes out and cleans the interior of the car to make sure that it's not full of germs (a free, extremely thorough valet by any other name), then takes it inside, performs the necessary work, then drives it out, parks it and places the key in a safe place which is disclosed to the customer by text to their phone. The customer then comes in, either paying by paypal or shoving the cash through the door - which may be the weak link in this otherwise entirely sensible approach - and drives away, a copy of the certificate being sent by email rather than risking having to touch a piece of paper.
Punters whose tests run out before the thirtieth are being given priority, very fair given that a supermarket run involves anything up to a sixty+ mile round trip given the sparsely populated area, and those like my daily driver, whose test expires on the 14th of April, will have the exemption granted though naturally, as is the case with age exempted older motors too, we must still keep our vehicles roadworthy. I had been for a new pair of front tyres (I know, but understeer is far worse and besides, the rears on the bB last for ages and are still on 6mm after some 52000KM..) last week and because the ATS branch that's Black Circles' fitting partner was four staff members down because of the virus' impact on just one member of the crew, I had to cancel my test, which had been booked at the import specialist place where every one of its 4 UK MOTs to date had been carried out with nothing more than an advisory a couple of years ago for a slightly baggy ARB drop link bush. So thank you, government, for the concession. I'm fully expecting to be stopped at least once by the polises every time I go out - quite right too as many selfish sorts still seem to think that sensible precautions don't apply to them. Such people should feel suitably embarrassed when a member of NHS staff is standing over their hospital bed, telling them that they'll be fine and can go home, virus free and able to shop without fear of spreading anything to anyone.
Roll on June the sixteenth, it'll soon enough be here for those of us who are into middle age and ordinarily spend our time moaning about how short the summer is when you're the wrong side of fifty!
By the other side of this, my van's interior should be almost habitable, the house should be sparkly clean, even in the garage and behind the cooker and I may even change the beds, even though it's not Christmas yet.