On Friday, before the World and its partner rushed down to Southend-on-Sea or Skegness to panic buy chips, when I have very occasionally met someone while out walking, we invariably smiled and acknowledged one another, made room and passed with an appropriate amount of space between us.Today I had to walk into the main part of my village. Everyone I came across today, bar one person I knew, looked at me, made no acknowledgement but immediately crossed to the far side of the road before I got anywhere near them. The person I know was already on the far side of the road, so we greeted one another very amicably across the tarmac, but that was fine.
We have become a nation of extremes: inappropriate social gatherings by the sea and now cold-shouldering to replace previously civil, but appropriate behaviour.
The spring scenery, however, remains consistently lovely and diverting, and traditional crafts, such as thatching, continue to the more measured pulse of the seasons.
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