IN A WAY, IT ALL feels strangely recent. And yet, recalling the pandemic also feels like talking about a different world. It was a different world when, five years ago, then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced a nationwide lockdown on 23 March 2020 to curb the spread of Covid-19. We watched the news like appointment TV, then WhatsApp lit up with panicked conversations as we tried to make sense of it all.
Suddenly, there was a lockdown lexicon to learn as it spawned a new vocabulary: furlough, social distancing, bubbles, homeschooling… none of us knew what to expect but we had no choice but to get onboard. We ransacked supermarket shelves, fought tooth and nail for delivery slots, clapped on our doorstep on Thursdays, took part in TikTok dance challenges,…
