Can we… should we… dare to believe it might be coming?
The day when we can resume – or even part-resume – life as we knew it.
With vaccines being rolled out and schools back for some, a glint of light is trying to get through the blacked-out window of Covid.
With it, the optimism so lacking lately of being able – even tentatively – to look ahead.
And so I conducted a scientific survey (some WhatsApp groups of pals) on what they will do first and what they’ve missed most.
To my tennis ladies. We might not have played this year but they’re ace (sorry) at smashing (sorry again) humour to make us laugh.
It wasn’t the grand, exotic holidays they had in mind, but simple yet vital things such as visiting relatives who have had to shelter, seeing a grandchild for the first time, having pals round for a coffee or a girls’ night out.
Read more from Martel Maxwell here
Irene’s “choosing from a menu in a restaurant” was one I hadn’t considered. Can you imagine actually getting to choose food cooked for you and order from a smiling waitress with no mask?
Having the freedom of choice and options for daily life were a common theme – not having to adhere to distancing of two metres and mask-wearing.
Over to my Dundee school pals and because so many have school-age kids, they want to see them play with pals and do team sports, as well as hug family and friends.
Krystyna also can’t wait for “simple things, such as eating in a restaurant with a glass or two of wine.”
With young kids, I haven’t been a regular in restaurants or – unless for a special night out – pubs.
But when things do normalise, I bet most of us will be making the kind of plans we used to say we’d get round to and never did.
My school friend Zoe has organised a night out in Dundee at the Deacon Blue concert at the Caird Hall in December. Here’s hoping it’s allowed by then.
I’m fed up of interviews I read with celebrities who are having the best time in lockdown – eating only things they make from scratch, “finding” themselves and getting in the shape of their lives with daily personal training sessions on Zoom.
If that’s their truth, fine. I just hope they don’t feel the need to showcase a lie – because a sharing of the hum-drum actual reality of lockdown, from lack of motivation to increasing waistlines would make others feel less inept, less alone.
I don’t think the “zippety-do-dah, best thing that’s happened to me” is the experience for 90%-plus of people.
For me and friends who’ve shared feelings – at times of hopelessness or of being overwhelmed at times – it’s been tough mentally and physically.
Back to that question I posed to friends: What’s the first thing you’ll do when lockdown lifts?
Nothing dramatic such as “leaving Bob/starting a new life Down Under/getting my nipples pierced and a tattoo of a rainbow on my forehead” was proffered.
Though, I guess there’s still time.
Do let me know what you miss and want to do first.
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