There is a time to forget etc....

St Bernard. Thursday 20th August, 2020

Yesterday I went to a pub for lunch. An old friend had travelled up from England and was passing through. We had not seen each other for a few years although we have kept in touch off and on via email.

It is the first time I have been in to a cafe, pub, restaurant, eatery of any sort for over 6 months.

I was deeply impressed. The pub's eating area had been well organised. Distancing steps after the 'Entry only' pub door. Then a be-masked waitress showing us to our booked table. Our seats were well distanced from each other and the nearest other table a minimum of 3 metres. Our table menu was numbered and on it we wrote our orders as well as our contact details. It was removed and stored. The waitress was welcoming, helpful, efficient and charming with no sense of rush. The beef lasagna was excellent.

I felt safe, comfortable and well cared for. In that atmosphere we had three hours of catching up on news, views, reminiscences, plans and hopes. Hardly any talk of the pandemic and its repercussions or world politics but rather a shared meal, a shared friendship and a shared recollection of happy times and goodly people. One was able to forget the problems and anxieties of the wider world and I did.

To top it all we benefitted from the Chancellor's generosity so a £40 bill came to £24 including a large and grateful tip for the brilliant and patient staff.

A sad farewell yet with a fortified heart and relationship.

As I returned through the morass of non distancing school children pouring out of buildings, passed the 'Closing down sale' notices in shop windows, passed the semi empty shopping precincts and malls I recalled also that morning's news: the drowned dead body of a young teenage Syrian migrant washing up on the French shore.

There is a time to forget.

There is a time to remember.

There is a time to mourn.

There is a time to rejoice.

There is never a time not to live as fully as allowed.