From gigs to going abroad, we have so much to look forward to

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, though this time with ever-growing confidence: it feels like we are over the worst. I’m so confident, in fact, that I have even dared book our first foreign holiday in more than two years.

Travelling is the thing I’ve missed the most during the pandemic but I must admit I have come to miss smaller everyday stuff too, like wearing proper shoes to work.

I don’t mean to sound flippant as I know the infection rate is still very high but the success of the vaccine programme has tipped the scales firmly in our favour.

For performers like Barbara Dickson it has been an incredibly unsettling time. On pages 6&7, she admits to shedding a tear when she got a small taste of freedom last October, when she played on stage for the first time in 18 months. And I think the singer, who is about to embark on a UK tour, speaks for us all when she says it’s time to be brave and get back in the saddle.

There’s much to look forward to with so many halted theatre productions and music gigs waiting in the wings.

If you turn to this week’s Going Out guide (on pages 18&19) you’ll find out about the latest stage shows coming to Scotland, including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s riotous musical, School Of Rock.

And from page 30, we have travel inspiration, from weekend breaks in Belfast to a once-in-a-lifetime exotic holiday in the Maldives.

The pandemic has felt a bit like a long-haul flight, hasn’t it? But now, finally, the passengers on flight Covid-19 are preparing to land – and I am ready to hit the ground running.