Yesterday I went out with Audrey to get her new books and groceries. It’s been a while since we went back to the high street, as we have been shopping at the corner Tesco shop which seems well stocked enough even for its world foods section albeit a very small one.
From our apartment, we could see the buses are running frequently but are mostly empty. People are ‘allowed’ to leave the house once a day to exercise or get essential items so you do see pedestrians walking up and down, but just occasionally.
It felt very different actually being on the high street. Shops remained closed since 23rd March, I think eerie was an understatement. I thought of the scene in the movie Contagion – certainly not as apocalyptic but the dreary sentiments were prevalent. High street retail and restaurants do play a huge part in our social life.
When we got home, Audrey drew another rainbow. We saw the beautiful rainbow at the bookstore, as I explained to her that we should thank everyone who is still working to make our lives liveable at the moment:
Currently there are talks about easing the lockdown soon. There might be no way back to our old normality, but this pandemic has truly shone light who are the true key workers in our society that we cannot live without.