Another week dawns, and with it, we finally have some reasons to be cheerful. First of all, FOOTBALL IS BACK! We’ve got La Liga with crowd noises finally feeling like footy used to feel, and the Prem kicks off this week with your trusty editor’s team of their birthright, relegation-facing Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United this Wednesday.
For van drivers around the UK, life is also starting to form a semblance of normality, with shops and non-essential retail reopening from today, meaning deliveries need to be made and people need to buy things – and, if the reports of people queuing round the block to get into Primark and Next are true, then that’s a lot more deliveries that are going to be happening. Will the bubble of retail enthusiasm last? It remains to be seen, but it surely bodes well for the lifeblood of the UK economy, the white van man.
With it though, comes more stupid drivers out on the road, some of whom haven’t been out in their car for the best part of 3 months. Just as we cautioned last week, there’s a lot of it about, and reports this week show that there has been a massive increase in insurance claims for accidental damage, as Doris reverses into that bollard, or Clive scrapes that car he’s trying to parallel park next to.
In the South-Central region, vehicle insurance claims for accidental damage are up a whopping 48%, compared to the previous week, with numbers similarly bad in London and the North East. So, while your white van men and women get on with doing what you’ve been doing, keeping the country moving in bread and value pack knickers, it is a case of worrying about what the other idiots on the road are doing and going all out to avoid them.
Also, worth avoiding are any retail parks where there is a fast food outlet, as reports reach us of queues around the block for certain Mcmeals which are back on the menu. Queues of up to 3 hours have been reported at some branches for a drive-thru after months of home-cooked food only. And we see a great deal of you have been in those queues yourselves. Was it worth it? Just be aware that in some areas you’ll find whole lanes queuing for a taste of those golden arches, so if you’re in a hurry, maybe give those hotspots a swerve.
We hope your lives are returning to normal. We’re sure by next week our soccer enthusiasm will be back to despair, meaning life really has resumed its status quo. In the meantime, safe driving.