Is there anything you'll miss about this when it's all over?
If there’s one optimistic thought we can share, it’s that all this coronapalaver will end one day. When, is a subject for idle speculation rather than informed opinion, but we’ll get there.
When future generations ask what the Great Lockdown of 2020 (and hopefully only 2020) was like, the general answer will be “dull”.
There’s a pub near me which has to be the most boring boozer in Sunderland. Yet right now it looks as enchanting as Narnia when I peer inside during my daily walk.
Daily walk eh? Rarely have I previously walked anywhere for its own sake. Walking has always involved a reason and set destination. Now it’s the day’s undoubted highlight (and always within the rules, of course).
Sunderland has some wonderful parks; Mowbray, Elba, Roker, Barnes and more. Speaking as one who would become a slob if only he could be bothered, they’re a rediscovered, albeit rationed pleasure (STICK TO THE RULES!).
When we resume whatever constitutes normality, I will probably return to the settee and to taking our parks and everything else for granted. This isn’t good.
With that in mind I ask: what will you miss?
I’m not being flippant. Post-1945 there were things that people began to miss about World War Two. That didn’t mean they wanted to start it again.
The vast majority are currently being more than usually considerate. Strangers I see during walks say hello, even if they don’t come within 10 metres, let alone the stipulated two. Technology also means we’re actually being more sociable than normal. We’re making the effort.
Apologies to my old English teachers, but the best word to describe all this is “nice”.
Humour is now especially valuable and happily abundant. I smiled when ITV showed the film
Contagion. Ofcom drew complaints from 160 off-button-less people. Or, putting it another way, hardly anyone was offended. I didn’t watch it, but I presume it has a happy ending involving an abundance of bog roll.
There is also some wonderful topical, if not family-friendly humour doing the rounds. I’ll miss that too.
Coronavirus is being taken absolutely seriously. But serious and solemn are two completely different adjectives. Enjoy what you can, when you can.