As someone who falls in to the vulnerable category I haven’t been outside of my house for approximately 10 weeks – the week before lockdown officially started.

The thought of a global pandemic was pretty frightening to me and this week, for the first time I had no choice but to take a trip to the Doctors. I had heard stories from the husband's shopping trip of social distancing and the receptionist at the surgery had explained to me that my regular injection would be done in my car. So, on Tuesday, armed with my face mask and sanitiser gel I ventured out to the surgery.

Typically, when I arrived there was no space to park so I parked on the main road, donned my rather fetching face covering and ventured around to the back of the surgery where I had been told to go in  my car.

Cars were lined up with nurses busying backwards and forwards with their PPE and disinfecting wipes. I hovered there a while, not really sure of what to do when a nurse asked if I was there to see them. I had to ask her to repeat what she said as her words were muffled under her mask. I told her I was, and she asked me to wait while she disappeared into a nearby tent that I hadn’t noticed before. After a few minutes she beckoned me in. I noticed when I walked in that there was only a freshly wiped, still glistening chair and an empty medical trolley. I sat and the nurse gave me the injection without hanging around. I could see she was trying to smile and make conversation, but the masks made it very difficult.

I came away from the surgery feeling a little deflated and couldn’t help but ponder on why this might be. After a little while of it playing on my mind, I realised that what was bothering me was that it felt impersonal. A lack of human contact, despite being dealt with by a human.

The difference in feeling from not being able to see a smile, share a kind word, know someone’s face, or even read someone’s body language had really got to me. It also got me thinking of ways we can continue to keep our humanity during these times of social distancing and face masks and all I could come up with was kindness. I think kindness is the key to our humanity.

So I will be super smiley, and speaking with everyone (from a distance of course). I will be the one shouting hello to strangers from across the road, talking loudly about the weather and waving frantically - just because I want you to feel like you have had contact. I will be sending cards and letters to the neighbours and making gifts for those I love, so that in this strange new world our humanity and the need to be close to people inspires in us, the desire to make an effort for others.

If you too need contact and to feel a bit of humanity, don’t be afraid to reach out – to friends, to family, say hello when out shopping or even drop a message to us.