Coronavirus diary, Sunday 5 April

It’s a spring Sunday. 17 degrees here in Cardiff and the sun is shining. Not much to be sunny about, though. The statistics still tell a sad story. In Wales in the past 24 hours the number of cases  increased by 4,313 and 38 people died bringing the total to 154. The figures for the UK are just as disappointing. The media, especially the newspapers, do not help by highlighting the problems. It’s a relief that they all lead their front pages with the Queen’s forthright message. 

The Queen's coronavirus crisis broadcast, highlighted in Piccadilly Circus, London

Apart from Christmas day messages on radio and later television, broadcasts by the monarch to lift the nation’s spirits in times of crisis such as today are rare, giving them greater potency and value. I still remember vividly King George VI talking gravely during the even more deadly days of war. It was just on radio. Today we are almost swamped by news - television, radio, the press and the ubiquitous internet services. As a former journalist I realise how drastically social media has changed the way we get our news but had little idea how it works. My experience over the past few days has changed that. For the first time for many years I was ‘on TV’. The first I knew of it was when Virgil, in  charge at Sunrise, asked me late on Thursday evening if I would go on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme the next morning. I did and I enjoyed it as a chance to express how I and, I am sure, everyone feels about carers. 

I was pleased with the experience and the result, not because I felt it went well, but because it expressed, simply, people’s appreciation of and gratitude for the marvellous carers who are risking their lives to save ours. I have learned how powerful social  media is, despite its faults and fake news danger, in being able to get news and views direct to the public instantaneously. I have been heartened by the  many comments I am receiving, not just from families and friends  but from people everywhere. 

Life at Sunrise goes on almost as normal as possible, thanks to the staff who keep smiling despite their own concerns over their families. They really are Jack (and Jills) of all trades. 

This afternoon we had  service in  the parlour, led by Alice, a young carer whose father is a vicar, the Rev Bradford, who is keeping in touch with his congregation from their home. After the service Alice was serving us tea and biscuits. She is somehow also finding the time to help me with my laptop and printer problems. She is now showing me how to put my diary onto my ‘Bob the Blogger’ blog, now being done expertly, and with illustrations, by Robert, my son, who persuaded me it was time to learn  the mysteries of the  internet