According to the media, Cambridge was supposed to loosen the lockdown rules together with the rest of England, slowly shifting to Stage 2 (non-essential shops, pubs, gyms are re-opening), but that’s not what happened.

Both L. and I made a break from work and went out—for no apparent reason except looking at all this fuss with relaxing the Covid measures (did your Test & Trace bother you today? Because mine did, dryly reporting that, despite everything, “restrictions remain in place”). And boy oh boy, weren’t we disappointed: the traffic on Hills Road was stuck for an eternity, cyclists almost bumped into the buses trying to go around, the crowds of pedestrians (mostly, flocks of striplings from Hills Road College) were as large as before the shit hit the fan.

The very first barbershop we passed by, had a long queue from hairy yet quiet men and boys: I bet barbers love to cut off all those lockdown locks.

But the shops!.. It was lovely to see them opening again, and sad, too, because not all of them survived the pandemic (like, for instance, cute and silly Cath Kidston on Market Square) and shut their doors forever.

Pubs were flooded with folks, and, frankly, who can blame them? All the beer gardens were packed, and nevermind that the weather was nippy, albeit sunny, again: people just desperately wanted to have fun no matter how simple it might be. And they did, and so did we a little bit: Hotel Chocolat sales, I saw you.