1 going for a coffee
We’ve already been there of course and it made life so bearable through last summer. We’re blessed in Histon & Impington in having a choice and the St Andrew’s Centre, the Geographer and Delicious all provide good coffee and they’re each different from the others.
Last year though a fourth option was presented with the Urban Shed opening at 0900 and offering all day coffee with breakfast in the morning and cakes at tea time. I’ve been a great fan of its morning offer and its scrambled eggs with smashed avocado have been the staple of many of my morning meetings. Such meetings were eminently preferable to the alternatives by phone or with the dreaded Zoom. I imagine if we’re lucky we might get this option presented sometime in the second quarter.
2 booking a vacation
We very fortunate in having the time and the resources to be able to take more than one holiday plus a few short breaks each year. In 2020 we were lucky to have just got back from a long trip to Indonesia when lockdown hit in March, in fact Juni reckoned she got Covid when we were in Lombok, and then we squeezed in a short trip to Yorkshire in September but that’s all. Our planned trip to Naples in May was cancelled (we got our money back) and I’m really keen to rebook it or similar for travel later in 2021. I was just about to do so when lockdown 3 was announced so I don’t know when or even if it’s going to be possible later this year. The vaccines are going to have to have a dramatic impact if it is.
3 having a meeting
Zoom and the other have proven invaluable and to be honest some of the meetings have been more efficient than they normally would have been. But they are soulless. The last face to face meeting I had was mid summer when meeting outside in groups of six was allowed and we met on the deck of Delicious. I confess to a handful of meetings at the company I’ve been working with in St Ives but they have been very strictly socially distanced. I haven’t had a county or parish council meeting in person since the beginning of the first lockdown. We won’t have real meetings again until I step down as a county councillor (May 21) or, as threatened, as a parish councillor (similar time frame) and business meetings will creep in as lockdown is relaxed through the summer.
4 getting on a train
I’m no longer a commuter, I did the Cambridge King’s Cross run for the best part of a year in 2001 but I’ve still had the need for occasional train journeys to London. I also have a habit once a year or so of going further afield to visit a UK city which I want to walk around and get to know better. So far this has included Cardiff, Edinburgh, Durham, Plymouth, Salisbury and Manchester. Technically speaking I could do that now if travel was allowed and as soon as overnight stays are permitted. However it wouldn’t be much fun until there’s a little more freedom for the hospitality sector. I’ll probably feel safer travelling by train than sitting on an aeroplane so maybe quarter 3 will be possible,
5 making physical contact
This is my biggest gripe. touching people is a part of socialising and that doesn’t mean banging elbows which just looks stupid. It means a handshake, a kiss on the cheek or a simple hug. It’s a part of your relationship with people and life won’t be normal until we can all do it again. I guess that’s unlikely before we’ve seen another winter through and proven that the virus has been normalised.
