Is it time to go out and play yet?

In a previous post I mentioned how we used to feel like the angry offspring of bickering parents in the run-up to Brexit.

Now, however, we’ve become the good little children of a proud Mum and Dad. “Well done!” they say in their daily briefing. “You’ve done a great job! You’ve stayed at home, protected the NHS and saved lives. Keep it up!”

As a child I was a bit of a goody-goody so I respond quite well to this sort of feedback. And Brian and I have actually kept pretty much to the rules. Though there was that one road trip to Dunstable to pick up some pre-ordered toilet rolls from Brian’s office, with me riding shotgun….. a big day out it wasn’t.

But even the best-behaved child can become restive sometimes. And an increasing number of us are beginning to say: “Enough already! I’m sick of being inside. Why can’t I go out and play? It’s not FAIR!”

The Americans are going one step further and are taking to the streets, honking their horns and waving placards in protest against a virus that doesn’t seem to understand The American Way.

Sometimes it feels as though we have all sleepwalked into this situation. How did we get here? When did we suddenly reach the point when we were no longer allowed to go on holiday, eat out, or even drive to the next town? 

Of course, things could be worse. Until very recently people in Spain were only allowed out to buy food or walk their dogs, and even those tasks had to be carried out extremely locally. I heard of a dog-owner who was fined 1,500 Euros for exercising his pet a mere 700 metres from his home. And there were stories of people hiring out their dogs to neighbours desperate for an outing.

In South Africa, meanwhile, dogs are expected to keep their legs crossed for the duration since dog-walking has been banned altogether. Also banned is alcohol as you’ll recall. Last time I heard from my cousin he was planning to do something amazing with a pineapple (make beer, or something? Can you even do that?)

After five long weeks of lockdown we’re all becoming restless and increasing numbers of us are starting to emerge, blinking, into the daylight. It appears you can only keep 66 million people confined to their houses for so long before little clusters start breaking out and it becomes like a game of whack-a-mole trying to push them back into their boxes.

I’m not advocating rebellion. I know we need to stay inside. But given the national mood, I can’t help thinking that some sort of let-up is around the corner. In fact I already feel another toilet-roll run to Dunstable coming on. 

That was us. With other people. In another country. Less than TWO MONTHS ago.