It’s been my way of life ever since the budget airline got going in the 1980s: virtually every month I have taken a flight – most often between England and Ireland. I have also taken planes, ferries, buses and coaches elsewhere. This way of life has now – quite suddenly, it seems – come to an end. It looks as though I will be sequestered, almost under a form of house arrest, for the next four months. That is, if the Almighty preserves me through the pestilence. A whole lifestyle has been altered for many people from now on. The aircraft industry has been thrown into an emergency crisis by the breakout of the coronavirus. Airlines are experiencing a 30 per cent increase in cancellations, and many are grounding large numbers of their own fleets. The virus is “emptying the skies” of budget holidays and even business trips. We had taken it for granted that if we had a credit card in our wallet, and the will to do so, we could book a flight to any destination, almost any time. We had “bucket lists” of places we always wanted to see – Sicily, Stockholm and Santiago di Compostela were on mine. It was just a question of finding the time to make the arrangements. Now, I’m wondering if I’ll ever get on  an airplane again. To be honest, it has become an incrementally less enjoyable experience ever since 2001, which brought about draconian measures of security – understandable but tedious, uncomfortable and even sometimes humiliating. (I’ve even been asked to strip down to my underwear by airport security, because I have hip prostheses.) Going to an airport has meant one thing: endless queuing. And, as it happens, I have frequently picked up a chest infection in an aircraft. It’s not a healthy experience. The recycled air is, I fear, full of germs. The coronavirus has had a devastating impact on so many lives, and the fear and anxiety it has spread are part of the collateral. The end, or curtailment, of flying may be only one element in this unprecedented emergency. The pilgrims aiming for the Camino may soon have to emulate Chaucerian modes of transport: on foot all the way.