Friends Reunited

           The last couple of weeks have seen a resurgence of bingeing – and I’m not talking about TV dramas. On May 17^th, the first day on which we were allowed to entertain at home, our first visitor arrived and, from then on, our social calendar has been blocked out with friends and relatives who have travelled from afar to check out our new abode, make sure that we made the right choice, reassure us that out of sight is not out of mind or simply to wish us well. With them came an abundance of wine, flowers, cakes and other goodies, the remnants of which are still around. It feels like the aftermath of Christmas here and with it comes that same sense of a lull before normality returns.

          Naturally, we wanted our visitors to be favourably impressed by Plymouth although, since they were all from London, that was going to be a tall order. But, so long as they made allowances for the differences in scale, diversity and the fundamental facts of location and raisons d’être, I was confident that the order could be fulfilled. However, I must say that the weather could have been more co-operative. This being a port in an attractive coastal setting, sunshine becomes it well. But the weather was true to its British credentials and ran the gamut of wet and windy, through bright and breezy, ending with a few days of hot and hazy. In such a climate, adaptability is key and one of our guests doggedly purchased a foul-weather jacket one day and a wetsuit the next. Some days later, with other visitors and in warm sunshine, we had the old fashioned, shoes-in-hand pleasure of splashing through the sea to board a ferry via a ramp on the beach at Cawsand.

          But some activities are not weather-dependant: with restaurants now allowed to reopen for inside dining, we have become reacquainted with the rituals of menus, wine lists, starters and mains, not to mention tipping, which seems to me more important than it ever was. Hospitality workers are hard-pressed, what with having to deal with the over-eager customers, the rigours of covid-safe service and the shortage of colleagues due to the pandemic and Brexit. They could surely do with a bit of encouragement in the form of a generous gratuity now and then – providing they are demonstrably doing their best to please, of course. However, judging from one unsatisfactory experience we had, I fear that some customer-facing workers have been pressed into service despite their innate temperamental unsuitability for the job. A forced smile through gritted teeth is easily detectable, even when it is concealed by a face mask. Also, there is some way to go before ancillary services recover their former capacity: the unavailability of taxis during busy times is attributable, so I’m told, to cabbies having migrated to delivery companies, businesses that were among the few to thrive during lockdown.

          So, for the time being, social life is a not-quite-normal affair that requires face-covering and hospital-grade hygiene habits among strangers but allows no-holds-barred hugging and kissing among friends and relatives. On reflection, if this were to be the new norm it would be quite sensible, given our track record of passing on nasty diseases. And who couldn’t do with a few more hugs and kisses? Fortunately, I do have plenty of those to look forward to, because a new wave of visitors is due soon. It’s just a pity that they crowd together in the calendar. People we like or love are like jewels that enliven the mundanity of life. But they sparkle more brightly when they are scattered through our years of ordinariness: bingeing is a poor substitute for a balanced diet of anything.