10 Things Covid has taught me about the world I was going to write about 10 things that I’ve learned about Covid, but I realise that after 6 months I still know fewer than ten things – and one of those is that it doesn’t affect pubs until after 10am, which now I come to think of it, doesn’t seem that solid an idea to base a national policy upon. But Covid has definitely taught me some lessons about life: 1. People are resilient It is incredible to think of how much is new – how quickly we have got used to things that would have seemed incredible just seven month ago: Most people working from home and never seeing their colleagues except on a screen; not seeing family as often as we used to; regularly tuning in to the TV to hear new sets of national or regional restrictions on our lives and livelihoods. We have accepted things that would have seemed like science fiction early this year. But this doesn’t mean that we’ve accepted them without cost to ourselves. Whether this is trying to cope with home-schooling when a child’s year-group is self-isolating, or if it means living and working alone without seeing friends and colleagues – these are all very difficult things to do, and we should be proud about how well we’ve adjusted, not how little. 2. Closing things is easier than opening them. Starting a lockdown is easy, provided people know why it’s being done. Remember that sense of togetherness – especially on a Thursday evening, when we thanked the NHS as a community. That seems a long time ago now. As cities and businesses try to open up, one national moment is replaced by several smaller questions: How soon is too soon? How safe is safe enough? Is one type of business safer than another? Why are there www.bristol.gov.uk/libraries-archives such different rules in different places? 34
3. We can buy things more quickly that we thought we could My job is buying goods and services for a university. In the past seven months, we’ve bought more masks, visors and plastic sheeting than we’d ever have though possible as well as new – and found it generally easier to do than we’d imagined, as long as we support and encourage our talented colleagues to do so. 4. Family time is precious We can get too caught up in the regular routine of working lives, and of being busy and ‘out and about’. As we’ve been forced back on to simpler, more local patterns of living, the innate importance of family time – whether in the household or in the extended family becomes ever more critical. You miss it when it isn’t there. 5. I miss cinemas I’ve been to the cinema again – to watch Tenet, which I think I need to see again before I understand it. It felt good to do so, and to be honest it felt completely safe and well-managed, but very few other people were there. The experience is lessened when it’s not in a group, which is why it’s doubly sad that our local Cineworld has closed, until at least next year. We need it back.
