Dear Reader,

AMONG the phrases we’ll be keen to see the back of is the one repeated rather too often by the Prime Minister about ‘bumps in the road’. We know what he means, but when does a bump become a major incident that requires the road to be closed to traffic altogether?

We’ve come close this week. The EU’s epic failure in its roll-out of the vaccine has been a significant setback for the early resumption of overseas travel. This was compounded by the posturing of leaders such as President Emmanuel Macron, who succeeded in encouraging his fellow French countrymen to doubt the efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab,

It takes two to tango through the departure lounge, and with the EU’s inoculation rate running at 11.8 jabs per 100 people compared with 39 per 100 in the UK, there are doubts that the green light for holidays in Europe will be given much before June 1.

This is hugely disappointing now that Brussels has come up with its Digital Green Certificate scheme, which will give us the same freedom of movement within the EU as that afforded to its own citizens. If ratified, the certificates will offer digital proof of vaccinations and negative testing.

We can only hope the vaccination programme in the likes of Spain and France picks up pace before April 12 when Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’ Global Travel Taskforce makes its recommendations to Boris Johnson.

The longing to stray beyond one’s neighbourhood and head to somewhere like the Lake District (pictured) is growing; shops are starting to dust down their shelves and good old Travelodge is offering rooms for £29 or less to celebrate the great escape.

Prince Charles caught the mood this week when he said that visiting a pub or restaurant is ‘essential to the enjoyment of life’. No, he might not be in the darts team at his local boozer, but he’s right to suggest we’ve taken some simple pleasures for granted in the past. Not any more.