Last Normal Photo

I was inspired by a recent BBC News article in which they had asked people to send them their last 'normal' photo taken on their phones before their lockdown began. I really like this idea so I'm posting mine and Paula's #LastNormalPhoto from the day before our lockdown began on Friday 27 March (that feels like a long time ago!).

I'll start with Paula's last normal photo, though truth be told neither of our photos are really of normal times given they were both taken on the last day of freedom.

I find Paula's photo tragically funny, it shows folk panic buying alcohol having learnt just the night before that all alcohol sales would be banned for the duration of the lockdown under the Disaster Management Act 2002. This came as a real shock to the nation and stirred up a fair degree of resentment towards the lockdown which had been almost universally accepted as a good thing up until that moment.

We were just happy that by the time this was announced we had already cut our alcohol consumption to twice a week so the limited stock we managed to buy is still going strong, though we're really in need of a reduction to Level 3 in the next week or two.

My photo is of our last normal Soup Kitchen taken on the Thursday evening, just six hours before our lockdown began.

Even this wasn't normal because we had already begun with the social distancing protocols along side sanitizing everyone's hands as they entered.

We missed a total of five Soup Kitchens because of the lockdown but on the final day of Level 5 we decided to reopen it because the needs were overwhelming and there had been a massive failure on the part of govt to deliver on their promise of food parcels for the most vulnerable families. In fact, here we are 52 days on and still nothing from the authorities!

It feels like an age ago that we could allow our regulars in to the building to get their soup and then sit inside and enjoy it too. I can't wait for the time that once again we can invite people to sit and have a chat whilst they enjoy their soup and once again we can truly serve the community in the manner we intended.

What was you last normal photo? Please feel free to share it in the comments below or on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/facingthemountain/
 
#LastNormalPhoto #soupkitchen #BBCNews #Lockdown #coronavirus #covid19