How is it July? How is it that I have been in lockdown in my flat now since the 17th March? Back at the end of March and start of April who of us really thought we would still be here now? I thought by July we would be back to some sense of normality, but really we are not. The pubs and restaurants may be reopening on Saturday but they are having to follow strict social distancing rules, we are a long way off normal.

The rise in infections around the world this week in China and the US especially as well as Leicester being lockdown, highlights we are a long way off normal.

Not much has been going on at our end, but I did get to see my friend Stu yesterday which was lovely. We met at Wandsworth Common for a picnic. I haven’t seen him since the 15th March at my hen party. It was so lovely to see a non relative and just natter about stuff. It may have rained on and off but we had cosmo’s in a can so all was ok!

I am also trying to change up the meals I am cooking as being in the house for all meals is starting to get boring.

Being out and about running errands the last few days you can see businesses getting ready to reopen. Every supermarket now has screens up around the self check outs, like the ones below at M&S. Its a bit weird scanning and packing in a tiny closed in space. The non essential shops that have reopened have their queuing systems marked out on the pavements.

On my walk this morning I noticed the pubs are getting ready to reopen  – jazzing themselves up for the people. I am not entirely sure how I feel about the pubs etc reopening on Saturday. I know that they need to reopen as business are struggling but all the pomp going on about Super Saturday feels wrong. Why is it being hyped? Even the treasury is trying to get people in the pubs for a pint.

I wandered through a different part of Battersea Park today and noticed the toilets in the centre have a queuing system set up. My sister was there a couple of weekends ago when it was hot and said they had to queue for 40 minutes as there were so many people in the park. Madness. Now I have been to Battersea park on a weekend in the summer and have never had to queue anywhere near that long to use the toilet. It just shows how many more people are using the park right now.

Things may seem like they are getting normal again but they definitely are not.

I know its going to be a slow way back to normal  – or I guess whatever we each call normal, but the park is definitely coming back to life. The fountains are back on and people are painting again, which was lovely to see this morning.