I went down to the village yesterday.

My first port of call was the bottle bank. It’s quite a long time since my last visit so I had two full crates of bottles and jars. There was a woman there dropping in a load of empty beer cans and she gave me a guilty look and said I wasn’t to get the wrong idea, that she wasn’t an alcoholic and that they were her son’s cans. I smiled and opened my first crate of whiskey bottles. She took one look at that and ran.

I then drove back to the village and parked.

Now that might seem a rather banal statement but in fact it was rather extraordinary. It is the first time in weeks that there were many parking spots. In fact it’s the first time in weeks that there were any parking spots. Anyhows I walked up to the library and dropped back the three books I took out a year ago. There was a strange librarian there who snapped at me for brining the dog in. I won’t be going there again.

The one worrying thing was that the coffee shop is still locked, bolted and looking very forlorn.

Later at home I was browsing around the Interwebs, [as one does] and I came across a message. It was from the owner of the coffee shop saying that they will be opening at the end of next week. Alleluia! Brilliant!

It may seem strange for me to be so hung up about a coffee shop opening but to me it’s of an enormous significance. After all, I don’t really drink coffee and if I did there are several other places in the village where I can buy a cupful. So what is the significance of my coffee shop? It’s a symbol. It’s akin to raising my victorious flag after a long war. My village life revolved around that place and I would do my shopping and then drop in for a relaxing sit, smoke and sup with maybe a chat with my village pals and the staff. To me, it was the heart of the village, and if I lost it I would be devastated. It has been a nagging worry for the last six months.

The coffee shop opening means that life is returning to normal after all the Virus and Disney shit.

Now I am truly happy.