Comment: Glimmer of hope & a return to normality as Fife goes to Level-1 restrictions

The first live gig in front of an audience in Kirkcaldy since March 2020 has been announced.

And Fife’s move into Level-1 is another significant marker on a journey which with a lockdown beyond anything we could have imagined.

It still means restrictions, but with a lighter touch designed to gradually re-open society.

It means return for soft play businesses, and a glimmer of hope for the entertainments scene, even if it still faces convoluted, hopelessly impractical conditions before staging its first indoor gigs.

It also means significant increases in the numbers allowed to attend weddings and funerals.

The beneficiaries of the former may not emerge for some time yet as any couples about to tie the know will have all arrangements in place on the basis of very limited numbers of guests, and may be wary of revisiting them lest there is any further change in the opposite direction.

We are still a few steps away from Level Zero when we can once again live without any restrictions - but there is hope on the horizon.

Even then, we have to learn to live with the virus.

Maybe sanitising our hands and wearing a face mask on public transport and even in big, busy shops will become the norm for many people who have already adapted to changes that were unthinkable at the start of 2020.

We still need to be responsible for our own behaviours.