Country Mouse on early starts and freezing fog
Mark reflects on the current crisis we are facing as he faces an early morning walk through freezing fog in London

Like most families over the past weeks, the men have had ’flu and the women colds and, after a series of nights broken by sneezing and spluttering children, I resorted to Night Nurse, as much for its soporific qualities as its curing properties.
Soon, I was in the deepest of deep sleeps. I know this because the phone rang and I could barely move to answer it. It was a researcher from the BBC’s Today programme who wanted me to go on air next morning ‘to discuss the demise of Viyella’. ‘Of course’, I replied, desperately trying to picture what Viyella looked like, and realising it was too late to ring my mother.
The Night Nurse kicked in again. Then the phone rang a second time. Could I be in the Westminster studio much earlier than first planned? Well, I could if I could talk, but fluent speech wasn’t available, so I conferred with the researcher via a series of grunts, as Mrs Hedges readjusted the alarm clock.
Leaving my home in Hampshire in a dazzling hoar frost shortly after 5am, I caught the early train and had time to walk from Waterloo to the Westminster studio. As the cold woke me, I couldn’t help but think that we’ve all sleep walked into this latest crisis.
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