Here's what I would open first after lockdown | Blaise Tapp

While I realise getting one’s hopes up about anything in 2021 is the height of foolishness, this hasn’t stopped me obsessing about what I’ve missed during the stop-start past year.

It almost goes without saying that I’ve missed hugging loved ones although it is doubtful that there will be a rush from anybody to throw their arms around folk who don’t share at least some of their DNA, vaccine or not.

It would also be nice not to have queue up for the privilege of spending money in the supermarket or wanting to run in the opposite direction when the bloke behind you attempts to cough into his elbow but inexplicably misses.

I’ve stopped counting down the days until fans are allowed to go back into football stadiums en masse.

Even if that were to happen any time soon, I’ve got a horrible feeling that going to the match will be a sanitised affair and that displays of raw emotion such as screaming at the top of your voice and jumping into the arms of near-strangers in the event of a goal will result in immediate ejection from the ground.

Not going to the pub has been a big miss for many, but I’m not entirely sure that being allowed to neck a proper pint or two is as big a deal for the entire nation as it is currently being depicted.

Our Dear Leader, who I very much doubt has stepped inside a proper local – when there wasn’t a photo opportunity – since the days when you could buy two pints and a packet of nuts and still get change out of a fiver, appears to think that everybody will be happy once the Queen’s Head opens its doors again.

The reality is that, even before the pandemic struck, pubs were shutting at an alarming rate, with millions opting to drink at home instead.

So it seems a bit odd that reopening licensed premises is seen as a bellwether for a return to normality.

And I speak as someone who would take a pint of Best while being perched on a barstool, over slurping from a can on my sofa any day of the week.

I actually tend to agree with the chief executive of Swim England who has argued that the country’s 5,000 swimming pools should be at the front of the queue for reopening when we eventually begin the inevitably slow descent out of lockdown.

For most young families, a trip to the swimming baths is as much part of the weekly routine as a tortuous hour or so on the swings and roundabouts in the park.

Going swimming has been a fixture of my weekends since the arrival of my eldest 11 years ago and I genuinely miss not being able to do it right now.

While I don’t get my trunks wet every weekend, I do take the children to their lessons.

While far from stress-free – even if I live to 150 I doubt I will ever master putting the mandatory rubber hat on to a wailing child’s head – watching your kids learn to swim is strangely life-affirming, especially when somebody else is doing the hard work.

I’ve attempted to teach my two the rudimentaries of staying afloat but they’d much rather dunk dad and have me re-enact the key scenes from Jaws.

The joy that children of all ages get from going swimming, especially when it is for fun, outweighs what they take from most other activities. On top of this, they are keeping fit and, crucially, not staring at a small screen.

The day when I’m able to lark about with the kids at our local pool will be the day that we can start talking about a return to 'normality'.

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