Eerie silence as island stays safe at home

Traffic was light, although a Lycra army of runners and cyclists were out getting their exercise entitlement.

Official advice from the States allows for outdoor exercise of up to two hours.

There were lots of dog walkers and young families out taking a stroll, with kids letting off steam on scooters.

When they crossed paths with other people they did that swerving thing, that looks awkward, but will may be feel a little less jolting in the coming days.

On Saturday afternoon, the centre of St Peter Port was a ghost town. Shops had their shutters down and the streets were nearly deserted, except for the spaced-out queue outside the Co-op in Market Street.

Very few shops were allowed to open, chemists and the health food shops are on the essential businesses list.

The occasional passer-by looked a bit shocked when the automatic doors of Boots sprung open loudly, no one had told the door machinery that everything was different.

No tumbleweed yet and everyone suddenly seemed very spatially aware and kept a safe distance.

Inside a few of the cafes, which had reinvented themselves into takeaways, there were owners beavering away behind ‘we’re closed’ signs.

More buses than people lined the bus terminus, and at La Vallette bathing pools there was just one brave soul ploughing up and down doing laps.

Along the seafront there were cars about, but significantly fewer than a usual Saturday afternoon.

A few boy racers were cruising in cars with lowered suspensions, blacked out windows and powerful sub-woofers, proving that there are some parts of local culture that cannot be suppressed.

The car park at Waitrose Admiral Park on a Saturday afternoon is usually packed, but it was very quiet at 3.30pm and there was not even a queue to get into the store.

At the Bridge it was a similar picture to Town with no one on the busy thoroughfare.

There were also none of the usual groups of young people in either place.

Along the west coast, there was a fair bit of traffic and on a blustery, sunny and cloudy afternoon, families were making the most of the low tide extra space on the beaches.

The rhythm of life has been upended by the quiet crisis, but people seemed to be sticking to the rules, while enjoying the occasional bit of fresh air.