I think we’re all going to be OK

I’m writing this in the office. For the first time in 23 months. It’s weird. But good. didn’t think I’d like it. I could have seen it far enough when I was scraping the ice off my windscreen at 7.45am.

But I’m happy. I’m enjoying things I didn’t realise I’d missed. And as we near the date when the last of the Covid restrictions are lifted – for now, at least – I’m feeling a bit more confident about the road ahead.

I’m here to tell you that I think we’re going to be OK.

If you’re anything like me there will have been times you doubted that in the last 23 months.

It feels like yesterday that I wrote my first column for The Courier in late March 2020. On this very laptop, balanced on my knee, while I sat on the couch and the dogs tripped over cables and I wondered how the hell a person was supposed to get any work done in this kind of environment.

The night before we’d been told to pack up our belongings and work from home because this coronavirus thing that had been elevated from the foreign pages to the front might actually be the public health menace that the doom-mongers had been warning us about.

It was unsettling and disorientating and a little bit scary.

Much like the prospect of suddenly abandoning all the measures we’ve been depending on to keep us safe in the 23 months since then.

Nicola Sturgeon announced this week that all of Scotland’s legal Covid19 restrictions will go by March 21. The vaccine passport scheme ends on Monday. Face coverings will soon cease to be compulsory.

It’s probably about time. It’s not normal for governments to exercise so much control over our dayto-day lives.

But I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been feeling a bit anxious about whether it’s the right time to slip off the stabilisers. Uncertain if I’m ready to put my faith in fellow citizens to do the right thing again.

I’m not convinced we’ve put Covid behind us yet. I know it’s probably just luck and caution that’s kept me and my family safe for this long. So I won’t be rushing back to crowded pubs and concerts. I won’t even be returning to the office on a regular basis. I’ll still wear my mask. I’ll take every vaccine they offer me.

But I’d forgotten how much fun it is to be among people and to do all the silly, carefree, inconsequential things we used to take for granted.

Three of the women who have been my lockdown heroes are seated around me right now. Their messages have lifted my spirits and made me laugh a dozen times a day but it turns out they’re a hundred times better in the flesh.

I can imagine a time when this feels normal again. I like it. I think we’re going to be OK.

Waterfront wow factor

It’s 23 months since I wandered around Dundee but the rebirth of the city centre, already under way long before the pandemic, continues to dazzle.

The urban beach, and big whale sculpture are both new, to me at least. Two fantastic, free family attractions that will provide a fine focal point for locals and tourists when brighter days roll in.

But the plans for a new Dundee Arena, which we revealed in The Courier yesterday, have the potential to take the waterfront to a whole new level.

With capacity for 10,000 people, the venue could host concerts by major

touring acts, as well as esports events, conferences, darts and snooker.

The site – currently a temporary car park opposite Malmaison Hotel – could also boast a new 70-room hotel, restaurants and bars if the £60 million scheme goes ahead.

Meanwhile, plans for another 3,500-capacity esports arena at Slessor Gardens and a Dundee Eden project at the docks are continuing apace.

I’ve said it before, but as we emerge from two of the strangest, most unsettling years that any of us will ever live through I’m very glad we’re in a region that is punching above its weight in terms of ambition and confidence.

Curling champs

It’s a long time since I’ve been awake to see 4.30am on a Sunday.

But like a lot of you, I bet, I was so engrossed in the women’s curling final at the Winter Olympics that time stood still.

And watching Courier columnist Eve Muirhead and her team-mates grab a last-minute gold medal for

Team GB was worth every second of missed beauty sleep.

Not least because they all just seem really nice.

So it’s a joy to hear they’ve been enjoying TV interviews, fancy hotels, Hello magazine photoshoots and a VIP invite to Murrayfield for today’s Scotland v France game.

Enjoy every moment ladies, you gave the rest of us a Scottish sporting occasion that we’ll be talking about for years to come.

OPTIMISM: With Nicola Sturgeon announcing an end to Covid restrictions and the government’s grip on our day-today lives easing, spirits have also been lifted by our curling champions and Dundee’s shiny new developments.