My Most Enduring Memory of 2020

During the first UK Coronavirus lockdown in March to May 2020, on Thursday evenings at eight o’clock, huge numbers of people turned out into the streets to clap, bang pots, twirl football rattles and blow horns in appreciation of the NHS Staff and Key Workers who were keeping the country ticking over.

As a delivery driver, pulling up to make a delivery at that time, my heart would fill with pride and joy as I stood on the pavement to join the round of applause for the deserving recipients. I never thought that I was included in their number until, one such evening, I saw a man filming the event with his smartphone. As he turned his phone in my direction, he raised his hand in front of his camera. Pointing directly at me, he shouted, “This is for you, Ocado Man!”

The rest of the people in the street turned in my direction and raised the volume. Despite feeling slightly embarrassed, my heart almost burst out of my chest.

Everybody appreciates being appreciated.