Week 13 of lockdown and here is how it looked.
This is the week that we were told we could form a support bubble with another household and next week the shops re-open and secondary school children are heading back to school.
No news on restaurants yet though, the hospitality industry is going to be decimated by this, as is the holiday industry. There is talk that some hotels might be able to reopen from July 4th but how that will be workable if the insistence on the 2m distancing rule is still in force is beyond me. Just how kitchens will be able to operate whilst keeping staff apart, and ensuring that tables are far enough apart (though I must admit that being able to have a meal without hearing the next table would be a blessing) remains to be seen.
Airlines are threatening to sue because of the insistence that people self isolate on their return, but that isn’t the bit putting me off travelling just yet; it is still the idea of all those people at the airport. Of the loos! How can they keep surfaces cleaned and Corona free?
Gahhh so many questions on how we get back to doing all the things we love.
Within an hour of the announcement this week that people living alone at home could form a “support bubble” with another house we were on the phone to Lady Barrow in Cheshire working out when we could go and pick her up in order to bring her down for a few days. This feels like a real turning point and I am really looking forward to the weekend with people sharing pics of their first cuddles with grandparents / single friends etc. It’s been a long long few months for those living alone, or apart from friends and family and I can’t begin to imagine the struggle with mental health many people will have experienced having to be alone through all of this, or having to shield. So this is going to make a huge difference.
Schools are now being asked to ensure that all children are back to some extent by the end of the month but whether that happens or not remains to be seen, as many schools are saying it just isn’t workable. There was also a rumour this week that some schools won’t actually be back to any kind of normal until January but nothing more seems to have come of that. Tomorrow though children doing exams next year will be back in school, and “non essential shops” will be open again. Not that I will be in one of the queues just yet.
The big news of the week has been the Black Lives Matter protests that have been taking place all over the country. Protests that were peaceful, until they were infiltrated by thugs from the far right who were determined to cause disruption. There’s more discussions around statues being removed after the one of Edward Colston in Bristol was taken down and thrown into the River Avon. I worry about what the protests might do to the R number but it’s right this discussion is being had and action taken.
As I watch the road we live on during the day, or as we drive to a supermarket it strikes me that people are putting all of this behind them now. Week 13 and already it feels like it is behind us.
Photo of a mug of tea courtesy of Shutterstock.