FROM THE EDITOR: Why we must keep safe and smiling even when they can’t see our lips

I’m sat in my house having just returned from the shop and, as I write, it is almost tea time.

We only nipped out to buy a treat for my youngest son who had endured a very boring job of keeping very quiet during an endless list of my work meetings while his brother had much more fun at his granny’s house.

Both those events have recently become things worth writing home about.

We never nipped to the store during lockdown.

I went for the weekly food shop once a week and if it wasn’t bought on a Friday, it wasn’t going to be eaten.

It was as simple as that.

There was no popping to the corner shop for bread or anything else that we ran out of, no matter what.

We put up, we shut and we were absolutely fine.

The boys still check how long there is until Friday when they notice something is missing from the cupboard.

There was also most definitely no having fun with granny, no siblings going in different directions and not much of anything.

Forgive me for saying this but it almost feels as if those days are far behind us.

We waltzed into the stop just now without a mask.

The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind and I couldn’t help but notice that the same was true of everyone else in the store, staff included. So I am first to admit that I will have to work had to make that change today and I will happily do so.

The first thing I am going to do when I stop typing is put a couple of masks in the car so I can’t drive anywhere without them.

The only trouble is, if the evidence of my very best efforts with reusing bags shows, they will no doubt still be in the car as I head into the shop.

I always forget to take them with me, refuse to buy a new one and end up staggering out with armfuls of packages.

To make things worse, I’ve usually only popped in for one thing.

Today is a new start for all of us.

We have resisted for as long as the rules allowed even though most of us seem to agree that the guidance should have altered weeks ago.

Here’s to not being forgetful, remaining kind and always giving shopworkers a smile, even when they can’t see our mouths.