For the record, I am following coronavirus restrictions to the letter, not least because going out for any reason at all has become a very unpleasant experience.

But I continue to question the underlying assumptions behind the restrictions, which to my mind owe more to medieval superstition than 21st century science.

I can't help notice that a goodly number of British people are doing the traditional gold-plating of restrictions and standing further apart than the two metres plucked at random out of the air (in Germany and elsewhere, it's 1.5 metres, rather undermining the claim that it is a scientific measure) and almost literally jumping out of your path when you are about 100 metres distant, although families with young children and dogs, and young people in general, will not give an inch and expect YOU to do all the jumping out of the way.

Others are virtually sitting on one another's laps while sipping Costa coffee.