A small number of you may have noticed there was no blog last week, I was on holiday, meaning a holiday from writing the blog too.
This holiday marked the first time in more months than I care to count that I’ve visited somewhere other than work. There were a few notable differences. Some good, some bad.
Good:
There’s alcohol gel available everywhere and most staff are encouraging everyone to use them. Maybe those door handles and petrol pumps are no longer the filth ridden festoons of contagions that they once were.
Bad:
Having to queue outside in the rain to get a coffee because only one person is allowed in the inside queue at any one time.
Good:
Screens in restaurants. These clear perspex screens that now separate the tables actually offer a slightly more private dining experience, muffling the sound of adjacent tables while also keeping you out of the firing line of the half masticated projectiles from Grandad on the table next to you.
Bad:
The complete ignorance and lack of enforcement of maintaining a reasonable amount of interpersonal space. It was an issue before COVID, when someone gets too close to you in the queue and yet now it seems utterly preposterous that you would stand so close to someone you can almost feel them breathing.
Good:
Having to pre-book everything means you generally have to wait less when you get there.
Bad:
Having to pre-book everything means you have to know what you want to do the in three weeks time, yesterday.
Good:
Everyone, generally, is just happy to be out of the house, doing something, anything. Most people I encountered therefore seemed more friendly and happy than previously.
Bad:
Having a mask on means not having a smile reciprocated as you walk past someone. This results in you trying to smile with your eyes but more likely results in you looking like you’re suggestively raising you’re eyebrows as you stare at passers by.
Good:
We had a great holiday, respected the new rules and felt safe. Everything has reached as normal as I think it’s likely to get for a long time.
If we can all stop pretending that things are going to go back to “normal” and embrace the changes that have come in, we can all start to move forward again.
Blog: 57