I went into the west end today – the first time for three or four months. I felt unexpectedly apprehensive, not looking forward at all to the resumption of minimal human contact, sitting at a distance from people in the tube, all masked up, and walking the streets with almost no-one there. So many familiar shops now closed. Bond Street: empty. Piccadilly: empty. The gates of the Royal Academy firmly shut. I found it incredibly melancholy, walking the streets where I lived and worked, but with no possibility of meeting anyone from a former life. It’s hard to imagine it starting up again.