The 1 o’clock curio

The structure of my day, as with many people, changed dramatically in lockdown. What I did notice was my increasing agitation – neither excitement nor despair – that occurred from midday on, nearly every day.

The 1 o’clock news induced this developing behaviour.

I wasn’t interested in the rhetoric; I was only interested in the numbers. Decreasing numbers gave me joy and hope, and increasing numbers gave me angst and despair.

It was only after the numbers that I could focus on the rhetoric. Whether the numbers were up or down, the rhetoric gave me hope, but with the realisation that tomorrow’s 1 o’clock figures and feelings would soon be replacing today’s.