2020, and I'm on a mission to get that litter picked

In 2020, as the country plunged into the first of what was to be a wearying series of Covid-induced lockdowns, Cullercoats writer and publisher PETER MORTIMER launched a column called Planet Corona which took a wry look at our "new normal." As the pandemic passed into history the column was rechristened Beyond Planet Corona. Peter is taking a very rare break this week and will be back next Friday. Here we reproduce a column from five years ago this month

- Peter Mortimer

A WORD on the Test series between England the West Indies, played on Planet Corona in front of 20,000 enthusiastic if mainly empty seats.

Not only do the The Windies team smile more than most modern professional sportsmen. During the previous test, they also (if briefly) broke out into song.

I think of the Brazilian footballers, who - heaven forbid - seem to enjoy it all. They run out onto the pitch linking hands; sometimes each player is hand-in-hand with a child, not a scowl in sight.