Two years ago, our lives changed beyond all recognition when the country was plunged into lockdown. Socialising was replaced by social distancing as we were all ordered to stay at home, and our high streets took a heavy hit as businesses closed - some of them never to return.
Shops were shuttered, the curtains came down on theatres and gig venues and restaurants and bars called last orders with little idea what lay ahead. Despite the pain the pandemic has wrought - particularly for those who have lost loved ones - day-to-day life as we knew it before Covid has more or less returned with the lifting of most restrictions.
Gig venues have welcomed back capacity crowds, restaurants and bars are bustling again, and shivering in a freezing park because it’s the only place you’re allowed to meet your mates is a distant memory. But a lot has changed in those two years, too.
