As the numbers of coronavirus infections soar, particularly in Gauteng, those of us who had begun to glimpse in the corner of our future eye the promise of a vacation are feeling a little less hopeful and a little more downhearted.

Things are of course a great deal worse for the infected, the ill, the caregivers and the bereaved, but I’m trusting that this goes without saying, and that the plight of those merely robbed of a holiday might also be indulged...