Before the pandemic most of us were living an easy and free life, with little care or thought given to the way we interact with those around us.
But over the last year everything has changed.
Since Covid, social distancing is the norm, crowds are a thing of the past, and public awareness of how germs are spread is more central than ever before.
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I will never be able to un-see the animated simulations which showed us how germs and droplets travel on the tube, spraying all over the people around us.
After a year of fearing the people we pass on the street, abandoning the simple handshake, and hiding away in our homes alone to minimise the spread of the virus, it’s hard to imagine a time where we ever return to the freedoms of before.
Dancing beside sweaty strangers on a club dancefloor, squeezing onto the tube by tucking under someone’s armpit or passing your drink around for your friends to try all seem like actions from a different lifetime.
We asked Londoners what activities, which once felt completely normal, now seems gross and may never be the same again:
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‘Minesweeping’ drinks – granted we probably shouldn’t have been doing that anyway
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Holding onto the handrails on tubes and buses – they just seem so dirty now!
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Blowing out candles on a birthday cake, then all eating a slice
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Bowling – putting your fingers into dirty bowling balls or wearing the same bowling shoes that so many others have used just doesn’t seem right anymore
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Dancing on strangers in the club
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Then kissing strangers in the club
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Touching the button at traffic lights
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Shaking everyone’s hands when you first meet them
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Tasting a sip of all your friends’ drinks
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Licking spilt shots off the table because ‘spillage is lickage’
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Travelling anywhere without hand sanitizer
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Swimming in public swimming pools
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Eating or drinking on public transport
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Touching your face when out and about, or when you haven’t just washed your hands
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Using cash to pay for things – it just seems so unsanitary
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Sharing a water bottle or using a public drinking fountain
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Playing a game called ‘pass the ice cube’ – don’t ask
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Eating food from a buffet – the once simple pleasure now seems like a hotbed for contamination
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Asking a stranger to take a picture using your phone
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Trying on clothes in the store
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Sharing an Uber with random people
We’ve set up a Facebook group for London residents to share information and advice which benefits the community and helps keep people safe regarding the current pandemic.
Please join this group to share information, find out more and offer or get help in the local community if it’s needed.
Join the London Coronavirus Updates group here.
What will you not be doing again after the coronavirus pandemic? Let us know in the comment section here.