With the announcement last week that coronavirus testing has been rolled out to anyone with symptoms, many more are likely to be tested in the coming weeks.

Myself and my partner took the Covid-19 test last week. Getting a test for coronavirus is a surreal experience.

Neither of us had a fever, but we were experiencing most of the other listed symptoms. Having gone into self-isolation as soon as we began feeling unwell, we were lucky enough to be able to rely on family to deliver food to the front door.

Coming down with coronavirus symptoms must be a truly terrifying experience if you're not lucky enough to have that help.

The booking process was straightforward, though it left me with one question. You have to turn up in a car, not on foot or in a taxi. What do households without access to a car do? I haven't yet found an answer to that question.

Turning up at the car park adjacent to Carlisle's Sands Centre, we were greeted by a masked soldier who silently waved us towards a marquee, under which another soldier was waiting. He looked tired. They had clearly been doing this a lot in recent days.

Silently, the soldier held up a laminated sheet of paper. “Ring this number,” it instructed.

He took down our details, and handed the tests to us through a crack in the window, then directed us to a second soldier.

We phoned the number on his sheet of paper, where he explained how to administer the tests ourselves as I pulled a long swab from the pack and held it up.

"You need to push that to the back of your throat, where your tonsils are, until you feel yourself gagging," the soldier said. Like I said, it's a surreal experience.

We had heard stories of long delays in receiving the test results, so were glad to receive our results just two days later. Thankfully, both negative. Just a cold, then, and a welcome end to our self-isolation.