What would you do with one day of “normality”?

As things get back to a new normality, it’s got me thinking back to normality as we knew it pre-March 2020. Doesn’t that time feel like a previous life? A completely different world to the one we know now. It got me thinking, what would I do with just one day of that old normality? What would you do with it? To be honest, for me, there are too many things to fit into one day, but if I did just have one day these would be the top five on my to do list (in no particular order):

Sligo – not a bad place to spend a day of the old normality!

1. Hug people.

Okay, by this I mean people I would normally hug – not random strangers! As for this one day I would still be here in Sligo, that would mean my Mum and my close friends who live nearby. It’s my usual way of greeting people I’m close to, and it’s so weird to not do it (and, I think, unnatural too). When will we be able to hug freely again? I don’t want my little man growing up in a world where the norm is to keep your distance from people who you are close to, but you don’t live with.

2. Meet up with as many friends as possible.

Now I have been fortunate to meet up with friends for socially distanced walks (I’m getting a bit fed up of those – anyone else?) and I know that technically we can meet up in a café or restaurant etc. but I am still a little wary of doing that. Plus it wouldn’t be the same, having to be so careful to socially distance etc. Just to meet up, as we did in the “old days” would be pure bliss! Who thought that “going for a coffee” would ever feel like such a luxury?

3. Eat out for every meal!

My god, I am so sick of cooking! I’ve mentioned before that it’s not something I particularly enjoy anyway, and lockdown has highlighted that fact! I would just love to go out for a meal, not have to make it or clear up after it. So if I had a day of normality I, my husband and little man would eat out all day! I know it is possible to go out now, but with all the restrictions in place and a 13-month-old child who doesn’t understand, it feels like a meal out wouldn’t exactly be too relaxing at the moment. 

4. Take my little man to soft play.

Will soft play ever reopen? We went once. Once. Two weeks before the shutdown in Ireland. We were going to go again and then something else got in the way, so we didn’t go. Now I wish we had. I know that hygiene can be questionable at soft play, but back in our old normality we didn’t think about it as much as we do now! And that afternoon we spent at soft play was just lovely, my little man loved it (so did mummy – especially the slide!) and I enjoyed seeing him have so much fun. There’s just nowhere to take him anymore – except for a socially distanced walk, or to see the ducks (I’m sure the ducks must be getting fed up of their excess of visitors all the time).

5. Browse around the shops.

I love a good browse around the shops and the fact that it’s not really possible anymore has made me want to do it more. I’ve always loved shopping so to have to have the mentality that I can only shop when I know exactly what I want and have to go in, get it and leave, sucks out the fun for me.

So that’s my five. What’s yours? To be honest, there are so many other things that I’d love to do – go for a facial (not that I ever had those often, they were a real treat); go for a seaweed bath (a west of Ireland speciality – I actually think that is now possible in the new normal, I must check that out); meet up with my book club in person; go for a swim; go to the theatre; go to the cinema – I could go on and on! But a day only has 24 hours in it!

What I would loveto do, more than anything, is travel over to the UK, but that takes longer than a day so that can be a plan for the future. Hopefully a future that has a more recognisable normality than we are experiencing today. 

But, with everything we’re going through it does make me wonder – will things ever go back to normal as we knew it?

Colette x