Bleary-eyed UK slowly emerges from lockdown
Life is slowly returning to some semblance of normality for Brits as lockdown eases but it is not without its challenges as the traditional polite facade begins to fade.
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I kept looking around, trying to work out where it was coming from, and then I realised it was me.
My stinky runners, with a hole in the left toe, have followed me like a bad smell during lockdown, but now, things are starting to ease in the UK.
Shops have begun to open and I was able to buy some new kicks from a store on the high street.
I was happy enough to sit on the ground to try them on as they were passed from behind a plastic protective divider.
I only tried on one pair though, because otherwise the shoes have to be quarantined for a day under official guidance.
Other customers were lining up to buy tennis rackets, which has been one of the only official activities allowed.
The local public courts have been heaving, constantly booked out.
Parks in London have been crawling with activewear covered people as if they were brightly coloured ant hives.
Friends have been meeting up for beers in the park, which has always been a UK tradition.
A cafe down the street has reopened, turning its tables into a fully decked out grocery store and there was even a chance to sit in the outdoor area.
The barista at my local cafe was despondent when I asked her how she had been coping — it’s been a long three months.
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There are now 2 million people unemployed, and 8 million on government paid furlough.
The death toll has been dropping and it’s still amazingly warm and sunny — 25 degrees here feels like 35 degrees in Sydney.
The warm weather has been a bonus for the government after Boris Johnson’s right hand man Dominic Cummings spent the week defending why he drove 400km, in what 71 per cent of people say was a breach of lockdown rules.
The UK, famous for polite queuing, have been angry at Mr Cummings for his perceived breaches.
He stood his ground, which is actually quite refreshing in the everybody needs to be sacked keyboard warrior Twitter age.
However, he would have saved a lot more skin if he had apologised when the story broke, rather than waiting three days to hold an unprecedented media conference where he raised more questions.
Schools will reopen for some of the younger children on Monday, with more shops coming soon too.
It’s now likely that we will all be able to have a pint, at least in a beer garden, by July.
Until then, the parks will still be packed and I might be jogging so much that I will have stunk up my latest pair of runners.