The queue for the Turkish Barbers was shorter today. They'd been quite canny had the Turks; this morning they'd set up waiting-seats outside the shop and down the street.
There, like the finest Parisians, today's denimed customers sat al fresco on the pavement, flicking through glossy magazines in the morning sunshine. I had a little chuckle as I drove by.
England was 'buzzing' with the great return to a social life last night, apparently. In Newcastle they 'braved the cold' (they always do) and in London, the outdoor bars were packed (they always are). Some were cautious. Others were not. As a philosopher once noted, either way, "el vino did flow". Someone even compared it to VE Day!
Have we won the war though? Not yet. And is there victory in Europe? Clearly not - they're still having it worse than us. I get the comparison though - dancing in the street amidst the rubble and the sunlight - especially for those who've been double-vaccinated; it must feel like a great weight has been lifted. It must feel like the closest point to freedom we've known. Why not raise a song and a pitcher?
But there is still rubble, even if it is bathed in sunlight.
In the 1920s, following the aftermath of the Great War and the Spanish Flu, a period of rapid building happened. It gave rise to the so-called 'Roaring Twenties' - a time of fresh hope and new decadence, of optimism and jazz, of nations uniting, and the old kingdoms and empires slipping out of sight. That decade of survivors, much like ours, must have felt the world changing, and changing quickly. Unfortunately, it was all followed by nationalism, economic depression, and the catastrophe of a second war. We don't have to follow the same path.
That's why I think it matters what you do with your rubble in the sunlight. Britain in the 1950s learned how to rebuild a sense of post-war optimism into a bold and bright season of looking to the future. There could easily be a whole generation of young people out there, waiting to design, invent, create and build the most incredible things in the sunshine of freedom once this season is behind us.
Anyway, it's not behind us yet. It might feel like VE day, but the war is very much still rolling.
The Five Dates
Back to School Day: 0 days
Back to Sixes Day: 0 days
Haircut Day: 0 days
Big Travel Day: 34 days
Liberation Day: 69 days
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