So this is the way a pandemic ends (and I’m crossing everything here) not with a bang but a whimper. A slow and nervous emergence back into a world that went wrong for a bit.
We have occupied our lockdown time by catching up with jobs, ordering clothes online, returning clothes bought online, discovering podcasts, watching box sets (recommend Mad Men and Borgen,) zooming with old friends.
We have been grateful for our family who have emerged relatively unscathed. We have been grateful for scientists; the feeling of relief and freedom after that first jab is overwhelming. We have been grateful for living in the countryside where most of the time you really wouldn’t even know (while trips to cities are very dystopian). We have been grateful to live in a country where we can get food and medicine and oxygen.
We have learned a few things as well. We have learned with humility about the roller coaster ride of living through a pandemic, which we thought only happened in distant places. We have discovered that it is nice to have the place to ourselves occasionally and will probably close for a few weeks every year now. We have learned that if you just keep buggering on things usually work out and if not you can get used to almost anything. We have learned that a beer and a few peanuts in a pub beer garden is a great pleasure.
Thankfully bookings have gone with a bang not a whimper – everyone desperate for a break and unsure about foreign travel means that homegrown hospitality should have a good recovery this year. So anyway, we’ll be seeing you…