Today, 12th April, the first day that the retail sector, hairdressers and the health clubs open up after a long winter’s lockdown, I was keen to have a swim after 108 days.

What I had missed most this lockdown was the people, not the closest to me, (they were part of my every day family, locked-in routine),  or even my closest friends (text, zoom and chats by phone whilst walking had kept us in touch), but everyone else that fills my life. All those great acquaintances that lift me up, or I in turn lift their moment or two in casual, drop by conversations.

3D people again popping into my life. 3D people other than those we would rather not get to close to during the hurried-in-out lockdown supermarket shops.  

Back at the pool, courteous lane swimming to allow us the safety of space, my body found it’s rhythm again in water and the outdoor Jacuzzi bubbled wildly in the Spring sunshine, massaging lockdown aches and pains from a mixture of too much yoga, too much sitting or too much walking.

The pleasure of my day is the bustle of numerous voices and laughter in the hairdressers this evening.  My hair being the longest it’s been in three years & actually, all I really want is a sense of normal and a good, friendly chat with my hairdresser, Naomi.  

The relief at this first glimpse of a returned freedom, makes me want take the hair tint to flamingo-pink.