I was rather taken aback this evening when, during dinner, my wife pointed out that we have been prisoners of this wretched pandemic for the best part of six months. Has it really been so long? I know that the government representative I heard on the TV recently is right, in that the pandemic has not gone away, and precautions are still necessary. Even so, I now find myself with a sneaking sympathy with the young folk who have been castigated in the press recently for “reckless” socialising.
It is hard to judge what is judicious and responsible in expanding one’s activities, and what is anti-social and irresponsible. This was on my mind when my climbing partner ‘phoned tonight, suggesting that it is about time we got back to the climbing wall. Very much in two minds I agreed that we will go to Leeds tomorrow and see how it goes.
Starting up again, however, is unlikely to be a matter of simply taking up where we left off. I’m pretty sure that we will both have slipped several degrees of fitness over six months, despite my attempts to keep in touch with climbing. I realised also how much things might have changed today when I began the attempt to restore normality again in the area of art. Collecting preliminary information ready to make approaches to several exhibition venues I realised how much will have changed there. Contacts I previously thought to be “established” have moved on. How long will it be before they are even in a position to begin planning new exhibitions? Are they even open for business again?
It really is a very different world from that we took for granted six months ago. But it is time to make a break for it.