Eighty days since we decided to stay at home as advised, only going out when we had a good reason. We feel as though we’ve created a new routine for ourselves, the days follow the same pattern and today, Thursday, was shopping day. I got my list together for the coming week and off we went - my Hero with Bettine’s list of the ten things she needs this week (I know…)

But things are not quite the same as before. The message is changing and as part of my record of our daily lives I’ve been tracking the subtle changes in the advice coming from the government. Since Monday, we’ve been told that it’s safe to meet small numbers of people outside, as long as we maintain the 2m social distance. The glorious weather we’ve had means that we’ve spent quite a lot of time outdoors and the idea of sharing a couple of hours on a warm evening with a couple of friends was very tempting.

But first, there were all the social niceties to work out. Not so simple as “come round for a drink in the garden on Tuesday” any more. First, “would you be comfortable joining us for a drink in the garden?” “Would you prefer to bring your own glasses and bottle, or are you happy to use ours…trusting us to use clean hands taking them straight from the dishwasher” “Be reassured that we will observe the social distance and so on”. In return, came the reply “Would you prefer us to bring our own?” and so on. We pussyfooted around for a few emails eventually ending up with the mutual “we are fine - no worries - oh for heaven’s sake!” But we were breaking new ground here, working out one step at a time how to manage this and remain responsible…sensible, even.

As we looked forward to some company on Tuesday evening, I worked out all the small details such as moving the chairs diagonally across our outdoor table to ensure we were sufficiently distant. I set two pairs of crockery, two pairs of glasses before realising we’d not want to be passing a wine bottle between us. Two identical bottles of wine then…and two identical sets of nibbles and a large bottle of handsan on the table in between the two settings as a reminder - as if we needed one.

It was so lovely to see them and it felt so good to relax, to chat and enjoy their company. I don’t think we stopped talking for a second. We agreed, it was sitting around a table with family and friends that is the best part of being able to relax the rules a little. Much as we are eager to see those we love best of all, however, we are all unsure about the next step - we’ll take it slowly, gently and one small thing at a time and continue to pussyfoot about to make sure everyone is happy with whatever precautions we need to put in place. We need a new dynamic set of social codes as our lives adjust and adapt to whatever situation we find ourselves in at that moment.

As we sat chatting though, there was a roar from the sky - we all looked up and I grabbed my camera to take a picture (of course!)

A little red aeroplane was doing loop de loops over the village. How apt was that!?

As I packed my little bag to go shopping this morning, I scanned my email and spotted a FB alert to a YT video I remember seeing right back at the start of the quarantine and that I’d not been able to find again. This morning, I sat and watched again and realised how far we’ve come in the last ten weeks.

Remember when?