So, how’s Lockdown 2 going for you? Somehow, this one seems a little easier. Maybe that’s because as it stands, we know the autumn lockdown is time constrained.

Thinking back to earlier in the year, it seems to me that restrictions were much more rigid and much more keenly observed back then.

I can remember taking my state-sanctioned exercise in April and town had the feeling of almost being post-apocalyptic.

There was hardly anyone else out on the streets, there were very few cars on the roads, public transport had very few passengers and everyone seemed to recognise just how dangerous the coronavirus pandemic was to both personal and public health.

And of course, the key was that schools, colleges and universities were closed throughout.

But this time, it somehow feels very different. Yes, I know pubs, restaurants and ‘non-essential’ shops are closed but for someone like me, that doesn’t make that much difference (yes, I didn’t have much of a social life before the pandemic).

I wonder if people have just got used to the ‘new normal’ and have adjusted their lives to take into account a potentially fatal virus and feel they don’t really need to be locked down.

Maybe keeping schools open sends the signal that this isn’t a ‘proper’ lockdown or maybe people are just weary of the whole thing, shrugged their shoulders and become very phlegmatic, adopting an ‘if I get it, I get it’ attitude.

Perhaps greater survivability because of better treatment and therapeutic drugs has made us all a little more complacent.

And of course, we haven’t forgotten the Dominic Cummings Barnard Castle eye test scandal and the subsequent rallying round of the great and good of the Tory elite to support him, sending out a clear signal it was acceptable to break the rules. It looks to me as though there are many people following his example.

Anyway, we are where we are. I’m still treating everyone as being potentially infected and having no contact with anyone not from my household. I have an overwhelming desire not become a coronavirus statistic.

But there is some good news. According to a report on the Guardian’s website by chief reporter Stephen Topping, infection rates across Cheshire are showing signs of falling.

Cheshire West and Chester Council issued a hopeful statement insisting the area was in a ‘strong position to turn the coronavirus surge around’ after its two weeks in Tier 2 restrictions.

The figures from Public Health England revealed that Cheshire East and West were beginning to see lower Covid-19 infection rates in the days leading up to Lockdown 2.

According to Guardian’s report, the fall in infection rate over that time is clearer for Cheshire East, which includes Knutsford, Wilmslow and Middlewich.

In the seven days up to November 1, there were 792 cases of coronavirus, giving the borough an infection rate of 206.2 per 100,000 people.

That was the sixth day in a row that Cheshire East saw its seven-day infection rate fall, from 225.7 per 100,000 people on October 26.

In Cheshire West, including Northwich and Winsford, the borough’s infection rate has also fallen for two days running.

In the seven days up to November 1, there were 824 cases of coronavirus, giving the borough an infection rate of 240.2 per 100,000 people.

That compares to a figure of 249.8 per 100,000 people in the week up to October 30.

Maybe there is some hope that people in Cheshire are really sensible enough to keep the virus in check until a vaccine is found.

And on another hopeful note, I was a little delayed in writing this column when the news broke that American drugs manufacturer Pfizer (the company that famously discovered Viagra while searching for heart medication) and German partner BioNTech had released the results of the stage three trials of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The very promising news indicated it is more than 90 per cent effective in preventing people from getting the virus.

And quite remarkably for our current government it looks like it has actually got something right in pre-ordering 40 million doses (enough to vaccinate 20 million people at two doses each).

That should provide enough of the drug to vaccinate front line health workers, the clinically vulnerable and everyone aged 65 and over, of which there are about 12 million.

But be warned, the anti-vaxxers will be out in force. No sooner had the Pfizer news broke than my Twitter timeline was full of idiots claiming the vaccine was a conspiracy (not quite sure who it is who’s meant to be conspiring). Apparently, the vaccine is a supra-national plan to control us all via 5G phone masts and the ‘Deep State’.

Just goes to show, there’s no cure for stupid.