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AFTER a day of constructing papier mache volcanoes and drawing camels in the Egyptian desert, going to Reading v Blackburn came as a blessed relief.

Watching the likeable George Puscas score the only goal of the game and produce one of his most complete performances since joining the club was in stark contrast to explaining numerators and denominators to my daughter.

This Sunday marks exactly a year since Reading fans were last freely able to watch the team play.

I use the word “freely” because we did have those bizarre three games before Christmas when someone thought it was a good idea to allow 2,000 in to watch games, with masks on and at social distance.

Birmingham City on March 7, 2020, seems a lifetime ago – 11 of the 14 players who appeared that day are still regular first teamers at Reading, so in that sense there is little change, although the manager and coaching staff has changed.

Reading were 16th in the table and now they are fifth. Match days at stadiums were noisy and raucous, whereas now they are silent and ghostly.

Thinking back, there was some vague chatter about the possibility of this pandemic sweeping in from the East having an impact on professional sport, but nobody was taking it too seriously.

If anyone had worn a face mask at St Andrew’s that day they would have been given a very strange look. We were being encouraged not to shake hands with each other for the first time. I remember losing balance and kicking manager Mark Bowen in the shin as we tried to foot tap.

Nobody was quite sure of the etiquette back then and it was all a bit “totes awks” as the kids say.

Every time I go to a game, which is twice most weeks, it is a sombre reminder of how life was back then. Match days were big exciting events. Yes, with 20,000 others trying to get in and leave at the same time it could be logistically frustrating, but that did not diminish from the occasion. If anything a traffic jam, a stroppy car park attendant, security checks and queues just added to the buzz. Reading fans have missed the best season since 2017. The team has already won more games and collected more points than in any of the last three seasons, but of course, this has been the worst season, not just for Reading but for every club up and down the country.

With 12 games left the big question now is can they kick on into the play-offs, and win promotion in May? Sadly none of us is going to look back on 2020/21 as a vintage season, whatever happens.

Usually, on arriving home post evening match, there is time for a trawl through social media and maybe a quick look at the highlights of the game on the telly.

Instead, this time I had to scrub papier mache off the kitchen chairs and put away the crayons.

Life has changed in the last year.