It ain’t over till it’s over

It’s taken some time, but things are finally beginning to fall into place. The garden has transformed from one big bare patch with a few tufts of grass to a lush green swathe with only a few bare patches, Bethan has perfected her shakshuka which she recently served with home made tortilla breads, and we finally managed to get the sound on Zoom to work for an online game of Taboo. I guess that means its about time for everything to come to an end.
It’s not official, nobody has said anything, but I get the impression that the vast majority of people now consider the lockdown to be over. When I go out, I see people gathering in parks, or going to the shops. At the height of lockdown, on the government mandated daily exercise run, if you saw someone else you’d both get as far as possible to the side of the path and give each other a cheery nod as you passed. Now, people seem reluctant to even move out of the way, and give you a resentful stare. In other words, we seem to be moving back to normal.
I’ll admit, it’s not to the schedule I would have preferred. Personally, I’m going to keep staying inside for a while, although we will be meeting up with one small group of friends, who we know have been similarly isolated and therefore have minimal risk.
It is odd that this is now a manner in which we assess our friends.
Still, the fact of the matter is that it is time to think about what to do when lockdown is formally over. Who will you see first? What will you do that you can’t right now? Will you still be willing to shake someone’s hand?
I’ve already made my plans. They involve a cool beer, a shady spot, and probably you. See you all soon.