Interesting hearing Trump talk about getting back to the way things were as soon as possible after listing a long number of “friends” that will give him advice on that (and incidentally make a lot of money at the same time – so no vested interest there – being guided by the money rather than the science is a topic for another time). But he did get me thinking as he talked about getting 150 seat restaurants full again, and soon – maybe almost immediately.
If the restrictions were lifted today would I go out tomorrow for a meal in a full restaurant? I don’t think I would. I used to walk out for a coffee every day. I’ll do that again, but I think I’ll be at an outdoor table, and maybe not for the first month after the lockdown is lifted. No, I think I would rather take a flask and go sit on a deck chair on the beach, maybe even if it was raining.
What else will I choose to change? I’ll certainly stick to my milk delivery.
One thing I have been doing is setting up on-line meetings with random groups of friends. The most interesting seem to be when people don’t know each other. Something about the interaction between strangers is quite refreshing. It struck me that this is one of the things we are missing as part of the lockdown. It is nice to talk to old friends, but the conversations seem to have a bit of sparkle when people are getting to know each other. I wonder how I can take this forward. It certainly is something I would really like to change.
It brings me to an interesting conclusion – the press are pushing and pushing about the return to normal, but actually for me it is pretty irrelevant. No doubt this is partly because I work from home – but then a lot of people have just discovered they can work from home themselves.
I think I’ll take time to list the things I like about current living that I want to carry forward to the new life. Possibly the current state of affairs is more like the normal I want.
Of course the one thing I will change is that the under stair cupboard will be emptied and used as a toilet paper bunker.