Seems to me that not only are we experiencing the biggest global epidemic for a century but also, along with it, we are also seeing the very worst and the very best of the people we are supposed to be.  And also - for me at least - there now seem to be two extremes by which life is being led.

First things first.  The very worst of people has been demonstrated by things such as the rampaging, thoughtless, mindless, selfish panic buying of an extraordinary selection of items ranging from toilet rolls to bottles of wine in the supermarkets around here.   And I heard today that there are apparently people going around, knocking on the doors of elderly residents, offering to do their shopping for them, `borrowing` their bank card (and presumably their pin number) and going off never to be seen again.  To quote Dylan Thomas - " There should be a law!"

The best has shown itself through volunteer groups being set up to help local communities get through these difficult times and individuals volunteering to help, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, in a variety of ways - anything from dog walking to shopping (without needing bank cards) and a whole load of other genuine offers of help as well.  

But I also detect some extremes in the way things `feel.`   One extreme is of course the pace at which the me-me snowflake brigade go about things and the other feeling is that , away from the shopping mayhem, there seems to be a kind of almost awkward quietude - as if we should feel guilty about going about what business we have left with a resigned acceptance; que sera and all that.

Getting a bit tired of the endless, wall-to-wall 24-hour `news` though.  I know we need to know what`s going  on, what we should be doing, what HM Gov. is up to and all that but my goodness they don`t half go on. I`m pretty sure it`s all making it worse.   So I`m looking elsewhere - Talking Pictures TV takes me back to a different era when films might have been rubbish but when the world faced epidemics and other disasters with a more balanced and semi-detached approach.

So, given the choice between war and peace, I`m on the side of peace every time.