Letter from the editor: We miss people the most but also favourite, familiar sights

In the midst of a pandemic, with the vast majority of us working from home or self-isolating for health reasons, those small things catch you out.

Today, for me, it was a photo of the silver balls in town. You know the ones, that are covered in slowly tricking water and are irresistible to small hands when you try to walk past with children. If you catch them at the right angle, you can get quite incredible reflections of our city centre. On the particular image that caught my attention, the cheese grater car park looked magnificent. Now who would think anybody could ever say that about a multistorey building designed to leave vehicles? My heart has clearly warmed to it over the years. In the grand scale of things it hasn’t been around long but it is certain a popular fixture for many already.

I would never have put either of those silver, shining creations onto my favourites list but right now, as we settle in for another week of lockdown, they look particularly attractive. Perhaps this whole experience will teach us to appreciate the things around us more, whether made by man or nature. Maybe we will all learn to live a little slower and to be more quick to appreciate the many tiny aspects that make up life.

I often encourge people look up as they make their way through town. There are some wonderful carvings and buildings that exist far above the ground floor. Now I’m thinking we should probably all just look more. It is as simple as that.

When we get out of our homes – and we will all be able to do that at some point because we have all pulled together to stop this virus – there will be so much to see.

Where will be the first place you head to and why? Obviously, the people we love are first on our list to see and, boy oh boy, we can’t wait for that. But our list of favouties buildings to visit and spots to enjoy is also probably going to be quite long.

I am looking forward to the very mundane, even just going into The Star offices for the first time in weeks. I will definitely be making time to go for a walk to the Peace Gardens and just enjoy being in town for no real reason. Life might not be quite the same but the best bits will be restored for us all.