At the time of writing this we are still in lockdown and dreaming of the day we can do something, anything in public. As much as I want the world to return to normal I am patient and realistic that the prospect of this not happening anytime soon. I know that we need to carry on adhering to the restrictions until we have all been vaccinated and only then can the lights go on. It pisses off all rightminded people to see the anti-lockdown protests (let's start calling them Covid Cavalcades) and idiots claiming that the whole thing is a hoax. A recent Covidiot Cavalcade took place in Nottingham beginning at Trent Bridge, and I received a 24 hour ban from Twitter for trying to help the police to deal with the situation.

Charming. I was only trying to help.

Looking to the future, there are certain behaviours that we have adopted over the last year that I will take with me into the return to normality. As much as I am keen to shake hands and hug again, there have been changes to our lifestyles that makes sense even when there isn't a global pandemic hanging over us.

Shopping

Although queuing to get into a supermarket isn't the best way to spend time in the colder months, it is worth it when you get indoors. Aside from the occasional non-mask wearer or dickhead who doesn't understand how the one-way system works, shopping is a much more enjoyable experience. Even the Aldi checkout staff have dialled down the Olympic standard scanning.

Facemasks

A divisive topic this. Some people think that being 'forced' to wear a face covering is a diabolical piece of legislation orchestrated to turn us all into puppets of the state, these people are twats though. Personally I can't believe I haven't thought of this before, in built up public areas especially traffic heavy cities, a filter protecting our nose and mouth makes sense. If you have ever spent time picking what appears to be lumps of coal out of your nose during a London summer then you might be in agreement that a mask is an idea worth continuing with.

Working from home

The fact that you can't open a window due to the risk of snarling up the air-conditioning is one of the most hairbrained pieces of logic that anyone who works in an office will come across, much better to have someone else's coughs and sneezes blowing out all over the building. Only a couple of years ago working from home was discouraged and even refused on logistical grounds, but suddenly it was workable. Okay so you will miss the banter and the tea making rota (a good way to skive ten minutes) but you won't miss constantly feeling under the weather. If 2020 taught us anything it is that we can wake up an hour or two later in the morning, finish at five and not have rush hour to deal with and not have to get dressed yet still be more productive than when you had to spend half the morning talking idly with everyone. There's the added bonus of nobody noticing when you're late logging in (blame it on connection issues) and by leaving a weight on your laptop trackpad you can keep your laptop awake while you have a shower and extended lunch.

Hand washing/Hand sanitiser

All our lives we have understood the need to wash our hands after using the toilet and before preparing food. What is less obvious is the amount of germ handling we were seemingly less aware of. I always take a small bottle of sanitiser to gigs because music venue toilets (as far as I can remember, eh?) always have a part of the hand washing cycle missing, whether it is water, soap or hand dryer. Personally I have never had a lot of faith in hot air hand dryers. The handwashing awareness that came into being right at the beginning of the pandemic, even before lockdown, (aside from ruining 'Happy Birthday' for everybody) has made me think about those daily occurrences in which we should be squirting a drop of sanitiser on. Mundane activities like pressing the buttons that stop traffic, inform the bus driver that we want to get off, and entice money from the ATM are just three examples of touching other people's germs. I know we haven't used cash since last year but how often did you hand over coins or a note for a sandwich that you ate straight away with dirty money hands? Door handles, railings and that book you picked up at the book shop have all had other hands on them and how do you know the person before you didn't tend to a troublesome bum itch immediately beforehand?

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