Crowd is back

73 days of Stay-at-Home since the Circuit Breaker started on 7 April 2020. That is nearly two-and-a-half months. I had not taken a bus or MRT train since 7 April.

Phase 2 of reopening of Singapore economy starts today, Friday 19 June. Dine-in in F&B outlets/hawker centres and retail shops are finally allowed to operate again. Social gatherings of up to 5 persons are allowed. Parks, beaches, swimming pools, sports facilities are open too.

I took a bus this morning. I had a weird feeling somewhat surreal of sitting in a bus after a long while. There were passengers but not packed on Bus number 145 from Toa Payoh Bus Interchange during morning off peak hour. I felt that there were more people on the bus today. (Other days, buses were less crowded from street view.)

We decided to eat lunch at Heritage Foodcourt in the basement of Raffles Hospital. We did not do a sit-in meal at eateries/hawker centre until today. This foodcourt was pretty quiet. There was a group of 5 seniors sitting round a table. This is allowed under Phase 2. But one more senior joined at this table later making it 6 guys at the table. Not long, a staff member came along and told them of the rule. One reluctantly moved to the next table. Well a little excitement in this quiet environment.

I came back to Toa Payoh Hub. My goodness, are we back to normal so fast? The place was full of people and retail shops were mostly open today. The only visible difference was that all people were wearing face masks. People kept a safe distance from one another. I still feel uncomfortable with so many people around. I just did my errands and got out as soon I could.

People have been cooped up at homes because of Covid-19 stay-at-home measures. The feeling of freedom at last must be wonderful. Not complete freedom though like the prepandemic days. We have to adjust to new ways of lives. In this regard, we have to stay safe and avoid crowds as far as possible. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Take care and stay sharp!