Freedom Day is coming, so why are we not more cheerful?

Could it be that, for many of us, things feel more Covidy than ever?

I write this from the reopened home school, with my two younger kids both isolating due to coronavirus cases in their classes. While they seem cheery enough, I'm ready to throw myself out of a window.

With one positive case in school spelling 10 days at home for potentially a whole year group, they're two of the 800,000-plus kids who were stuck at home last week, not to mention the many thousands of parents juggling live lessons and demands for snacks with an actual job.

When the schools first closed last March, none of us could have imagined we'd still be in this mess 16 months later.

We've had a lot of false starts in this returning to normality biz, and Freedom Day could yet be another. Remember back in January when Boris Johnson assured us that schools were definitely going to reopen, then changed his mind and shut them for seven weeks?

That's in addition to the U-turns on the wearing of facemasks, working from home and various lockdowns (which definitely weren't going to happen, then did).

We know these are unprecedented times — this phrase has been bandied about constantly these past 16 months, after all. But, oh! To have some certainty on just one thing would be wonderful.

Gavin Williamson has assured us that, as of next term, under 18s will only being required to isolate if they test positive for Covid. Close contacts will have to take a PCR test instead of 10 days at home.

It's a bit late in the day for the kids reaching the end of their 10 days of enforced isolation, but hopefully a positive step towards normality for them and their addled parents come September.

For now, it’s full steam ahead for Freedom Day. Assuming it isn't cancelled...