By Carl Phillips
It’s been a trying time for us all. The High Street, the households, the children …and the parents!
We’ve all had an unprecedented “time off” …. well most of us. Many have continued to oil the wheels of society, notably the health and care workers who well earn our applause every Thursday evening.
But also, don’t forget the front line staff at the shops, chemists and post office that have manfully (and womanfully…) carried on working through-out this crisis.
The various take-away services, some businesses have expanded and delivery at home introduced, to try and keep some sort of earnings level. Many have been working hard to keep their heads above water at this time.
On the more positive side airplane noise has been vastly reduced as has much of the motorway background hum. Traffic has been reduced greatly in this period. As a result, air quality has improved a great deal we are told, and I for one, can agree with that.
The volume and variety in the sound of birdsong has also increased and the appearance of more of our feathery friends. These have also been welcome features of lockdown ! Maybe it’s just that we can hear them now!
Overall…. The weather has been brilliant!! Hardly any rain (to date at the end of May), generally very pleasant climate conditions indeed. I dare say the gardens have never looked better and some of those long-running DIY tasks have been sorted …. well maybe!
To accompany the weather and the extra time we have, consequently there has been a very noticeable upswing in walking activity (and cycling too, I have to admit). I have brushed shoulders (from 2 metres…of course) with many friends regularly on my excursions to Shepperton Lock, around the perimeter of the Golf Course, across Walton Bridge to Broadwater Lake and many other routes through our lovely surrounds. We are, again, lucky in that respect.
Also, I get the feeling we are more friendly to one another, the “we are all in this together” syndrome. That is always welcome!! It makes those walks and trips to the shops all the more pleasant and makes us glad to be Sheppertonians!!
I would dearly like the various forms of the national media to also take part in the exercise of positivity, instead of just trying to trip up various members of the government in their interviews. Everyone is trying to get it right!
So…. rant over. It has been difficult, but the light may be glinting now at the end of that tunnel and a, possibly slightly new, more careful normality is beginning to take shape.
There is one certainty. We will come out of this. Absolutely, we will! Perhaps we will have experienced sadness, I am sure of that, but we will also have learned a bit more about living with one another and supporting each other more in the future in all facets of our lives.