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Why You Need to Go Out and Meet Your Friends Again
Feeling socially anxious? You are not alone.
It’s Wednesday, 5.30pm. The new normal hour for cold outdoor bookings at hot restaurants. The Front of House stops me at the door to give the new post-lockdown procedure.
“This is how it works: You take a photo of the menu. And please wear your mask around the restaurant.”
Oh, how I’ve missed this: The hospitality voice with a sing-song efficiency and a tinge of boredom.
I’m back at an actual restaurant for the first time in 13 months. I am here to see friends and work colleagues I have not seen in years. And it’s been a strict quarantine here from Christmas to Easter. The anxiety flushes through me like an icy wave.
It could be the after-effects of the vaccine I had a few days before. Was I well enough to be here? It’s a questions we’ve been asked so many times this year in public spaces, so I keep asking it again.
The restaurant is crowded but the tables are spaced out under the railway arches in Hackney. By the time I reach the table, my mouth is stone dry. My two friends get up from their seats. But there’s no touching, hugging or kissing hello: It’s weird.
