1. The air of reduced pollution, so quickly achieved with the lessening of cars & flights, has caused such a dramatic change in the skies above our cities. I keep referring to coastal light, and this morning's weather has brought a sharp 'above sea' sky to Manchester this morning

It's caused me to revisit paintings from the pre-car age. The skies of painters often seemed overly dramatic, but maybe they were just skies free of pollution?

This study of clouds by Constable doesn't seem too far away from the sky above Manchester this morning.

This, by Millet, looks increasingly photographic?

And this scene depicted by Jan Brueghel seems a reasoned response to the light before him.

Caspar David Freidrich used subtle, varying colours in this landscape. This now becomes a normal sky, available for us to view in modern times, when free of Nitrogen Dioxide.

Out of all the trauma of this crisis, something beuatiful has emerged. I feel, like so many of us, that the clean air is something we need to cherish, to fight to keep.