Don't forget the other epidemic

I chose not to exercise any of my new-found freedoms at the weekend, however, expecting shops, pubs, cafés and hairdressers to be thronged and social distancing difficult.

Maybe I’ll venture out this weekend.

Now that we have to stay a metre apart rather than two, I wonder whether any of the reopening pubs should bring out those old yard of ale glasses? A yard is just shy of a metre. Hold up your glass and if you hit someone with it it’s because they aren’t keeping their distance.

It’s more important now than ever to support our high street pubs and shops. They were already suffering in the face of cheap supermarket booze and online shopping before they were forced to stay shut for four months.

As customers we hold the life of our town and city centres – and people’s livelihoods – in our hands.

There’s one sector that’s booming at the moment, and it’s not just the manufacture of face masks. It’s the production and sale of sweet treats.

At least that’s what upmarket grocery chain Waitrose is finding. Since lockdown, internet searches for its scones have increased by 510 per cent, iced bun searches are up 300 per cent and biscuits 379 per cent.

At the same time John Lewis has found that sales of its cake stands are up by two thirds.

Cumbria may not have a Waitrose or John Lewis but it’s probably safe to assume that the same trend can be seen here.

Sweet teeth must be common in the county that hosts the Dalemain marmalade festival, is home of the Cartmel sticky toffee pudding and gave the world Kendal Mint Cake.

I’m one of the victims of the sugar rush. I’d had a vague hope that with more time at home I’d cook healthier food, but it hasn’t happened. If anything my diet’s worse.

At work I had a weakness for the vending machine full of chocolate bars, and thought avoiding the machine would mean avoiding the chocolate. But every time I buy The Cumberland News I drop a couple of bars in my basket.

One new year’s resolution was to stop eating crisps and I had been abiding by it rather well. But to my shame I’ve found myself back on them.

Of course exercise is important as well as diet. I’m never going to be one of those people who gets up at 6am and spends two hours before work in a gym – lockdown or no lockdown.

But I used to do several sit-ups first thing in the morning. I’d sit up in bed to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock.

And I did get some aerobic exercise twice a day, five days a week.

I’ve already mentioned here that the short walk to and from work was my only regular form of physical activity.

A doctor once told me that it was probably more beneficial than I realised, and more than a lot of people get.

I would consider this when I saw so many of my colleagues arriving at work by car, and whose only walking was the walk across the car park.

It may not have been enough exercise to avert middle-aged spread altogether, but I thought it might at least ensure it spread at a slightly slower rate.

I haven’t weighed myself for a while now, because I’m bit frightened to, but I’m sure the middle-aged spread is now advancing more swiftly. Working from home only involves the walk downstairs to my laptop.

Of course we hear lectures about getting out for some fresh air and a walk around the block every day, and it’s commendable if you can manage it.

But it’s easier to fit in if you’re forced to do it. I used to have to walk every day or I wouldn’t get paid.

It’s ironic that a lockdown which is supposed to safeguarding and improving our health could in some ways be endangering it.

We’re rightly concerned about the coronavirus epidemic, but it’s taken our eyes off the other one that used to receive endless attention – the obesity epidemic.

Perhaps over-indulging these days is inevitable. One of life’s greatest pleasures is food, and when you can’t visit a cinema or go on holiday or you’re worried about your job it’s one of life’s few remaining pleasures.

So we’re all eating. What else is there to do?