I'm sceptical about how long it will last, but Guildford High Street has woken up very very slightly in the last twenty-four hours. Restaurants are doing take-away and deliveries again. Opticians have people in there, at least picking up prescriptions, I guess, but I didn't go in.
Most importantly to some, coffee bars are opening up for takeaway too. Pret is restricting to 6 people in the store. I went in under orders from she who is at home working on the final iterations of an important pitch over Microsoft Teams with her esteemed colleauges. They guy handling deliveries was wandering around without any regard for distancing. The two serving staff weren't wearing PPE beyond what is normal. But there's now a big perspex screen screwed onto the counter with a little gap just big enough for your beverages to be passed through.
Out in the High Street, I saw a couple overjoyed to be participating in mainstream consumer capitalism again. A Pret feast of sandwiches, salads and crisps, drinks hot and cold. And two young mums equally excited to be out and able to have a natter about their offspring, a key ritual of middle-class life restored.
For now, anyway.