"Around here life is back to normal"

[AvenueQ]

How can people say that?
Most shops closed. No pubs, cafés or restaurants. No theatre, cinema. No schools, no university. No clubs or evening classes.
Most people working from home or furloughed.
How is that "life is normal"?

I just heard my elderly neighbour say he'd been doing some work at his son's. And there are voices and a car horn going in the next street, suggests a party to me. So yes, things aren't normal but they're more normal than they were.

My normal would be not queuing at the shops, getting my hair and facials done.
Giving my Mum and Dad a hug and going to the pub. I think it’s a long way off for me.

But if your normal is sitting on a packed beach or having noisy house parties then some people are there already.

Kids still off school, DH still working in the loft, all the shops closed, cinema, swimming pool, theatres closed, restaurants closed except for a few doing takeaway, queuing for the supermarket, all museums, galleries and visitor attractions closed... yeah, totally normal.

Around here everyone is out and about, waiting for things to open, going to the things that are open.

The roads are 75% normal volume I would say (my house overlooks a main route).

My normal would be children at school, DH at work, me working freelance around the toddlers naps, seeing my mum twice a week, going out for lunch with my dad once a week, seeing friends, out for dinner on a Saturday with DH while my mum baby sat, taking DC to ballet/gymnastics/rainbows/swimming/piano lessons... certainly not normal for me (or anyone I know).

"voices and a car horn" = party! Classic!

But I agree with you OP.

Unless people don't send their kids to school, never go outside the home except for a socially distanced walk, always work from home, never need a dentist, hairdresser or GP, never visit their family or friends, then yeah, I guess life is pretty 'normal'. For the rest of us though, it's nothing close to normal.

Bloody wish it was though.

I agree OP. People have always liked to overdramatise the lockdown - first it wasnt a "proper lockdown" because we were not welded into our homes. Now things are "back to normal" because a few people went to the beach. Some people wont be happy unless everyone else is as miserable as they are.

The roads are 75% normal volume I would say (my house overlooks a main route)

The daily briefings show charts detailing transport usage.

Traffic in almost all forms is way down and has been for weeks.

Daily breifing chart and my own view as a driver is that car use is about 55%.
Things being back to normal - outside/ at the beaches/ parks etc yes very much so and looks bad in the pictures but in the big scheme of things life is a long way back from normal yet and how much of the r rate is effected by full outdoor activity .25% at a guess?

Because some people live very small, very limited lives.

I’ve never been to a party that has had a car horn as it’s attraction

I noticed a few days ago Lidl have got rid of their queuing strip.
They’re not watching who enters now and it was mayhem in there !

I think people are just being presumed to keep apart and stay mindful

But

They’re not. Oh well.

I also think there are more people out and about than Usual because many are off work, kids off school, and good weather.

I’ve never been to a party that has had a car horn as it’s attraction

You haven't lived!

Maybe car horn parties are part of the famous 'new normal'?

@IcedPurple there’s a 5 car ish queue at the junction now, much the same as it was back in the olden days.

@IcedPurple there’s a 5 car ish queue at the junction now, much the same as it was back in the olden days

So what? Nationwide statistics are much more important than anecdotes about someone's local junction. There will be charts about traffic usage at the press briefing this evening. They will very likely show that traffic usage is nowhere near 'back to normal'. How could it be? Where are people going? To work? Out for dinner? To the gym? On the school run?

I doubt it.

Cafes here are open for takeaway as are most restaurants and chip shops, takeaway or delivery only .
Butchers are open , you have to wait a bit ..garden centres where there's a butchers van , veg stalls and all things garden related
3 miles up the road a pub is open for takeaway food and booze , it's rank there anyway so I haven't been
Supermarkets open as is local hobby shops
People over the park , it's rammed, I stopped taking the dog over there around 3 weeks ago as it was getting busier and busier by the day
The only things shut is Greggs, my local Greene King and wetherspoons the library and cinemas . It's not ' normal ' but I can pretty much get what I want when I want it . I stocked up on library books before they shut
cake shops for cakes, quiches, sausage rolls, fresh bread, coffee, the one near me is open . Dog groomers are around . Couldn't tell you about mobile nail technician or mobile hairdressers I don't use them
DH is sorting garden , screwfix is open as is b&q , deliveries for sand to mix cement .
Buses are running very frequently as is trains , roads are busy with traffic.

@IcedPurple - I would argue what you can see with your own eyes is way more important than the numbers presented to you by a government which has a challenge to keep people sticking to their rules...

Lidl they are still making you social distance at the tills.

But otherwise their version of social distancing in store has been non-existent from about week 2. Lots of couples grabbing a basket each and then joining up in store.

However being Lidl you are in and out v fast unlike Waitrose where there is supposedly social distancing but you queue for ages then keep falling over people while waiting for someone to pick which cheese they want.

I would argue what you can see with your own eyes is way more important than the numbers presented to you by a government which has a challenge to keep people sticking to their rules

Up to you. I'd prefer to rely on actual statistics rather than anecdotes about some unnamed 'junction'.

Maybe car horn parties are part of the famous 'new normal'?

Woop!

Life was just so meaningless before.

Well, I guess if everyone is sat in their car beeping at everyone, they're maintaining social distancing?

So there isn't actually a problem?

Sorry, busy planning a car horn party.

Beep beep!