COVID-19 has been very good to me. It might sound like a horrible thing to say, but I've really enjoyed these last couple of years. I don't think I'm alone in this sentiment either. When the lockdowns started a couple of years ago, I was dumbfounded at first. I mean, I'd been working restaurants for years and there was always an element of fear in losing a job. Restaurants close everyday for all sorts of reasons. I suppose I always knew that, and at the end of every shift I ever worked, I was prepared for that shift to be the last. Of course, being a restaurant person and knowing this, I was always assured that I could simply walk into another restaurant and get a job. Suddenly, all the restaurants were closed.
What was especially stunning about the lockdown was this: we had no idea when were going to be able to get back to work. Like most of my colleagues, I spent that first lockdown, ten weeks, doing what you'd expect from a restaurant person. I cooked and I drank. It was a wonderful time.
