It seems weirdly normal this time. In March we were all sent into the unsettling and unfamiliar, we watched the news in Italy and France, and despite the fact we knew it was coming the message still came as a bolt. We had two days and then schools would be shut and who knew how we were all supposed to juggle working from home and childcare and homeschool.
This time though, for me at least, not an awful lot has changed. Schools and nurseries are open and you can still have a childcare bubble - I go to work and the children get educated and cared for. Activities, park and play dates have been cancelled. Still, everything doesn't feel that strange. A queue at the supermarkets and everyone in face masks isn't a shock anymore. Calling 'Hi' to the neighbours over the road and not going over for a chat feels less weird. The Covid-death numbers spiralling up on the news counters is chilling, but it is still at numbers we've pretty much been trained to feel inured to.
Then I scrolled through facebook this morning and came across this video. https://www.facebook.com/Mr.BryanDonaldson/videos/10158938828731499/
A group of dancers working their way across abandoned London locations. The South Bank; deserted, the West End theatres; signs lit, but shuttered; barely a sign of life aside from a London bus, and I almost started crying.
We don't know how this is all going to play out yet and Covid-19 is a virus that is not pulling its punches.
But there are some positives. America has elected a new president who appears not to be solely motivated by petty-jealousies and a rampant sense of entitlement, and it appears that none of the major players of news and politics are getting behind his nonsense claim of electoral fraud. I also read quite a few mentions of Kamala Harris as MVP and read it as Most Valuable Player before I realised it stood for Madame Vice President. I think either work though!
I've got to hope that the world is going to come out of this - that we'll be able to see our friends and go to the theatre and go to restaurants with our friends. But it is still so scary when you stop to think about it.