My second return to Covent Garden, and the sleeping London Transport Museum, was made on Friday 5 June. It was so good to work - at a distance - with a handful of colleagues who I had only seen on Zoom since mid-March, to have a real conversation and bounce some creative ideas around. We began blocking out a physically distanced linear route around the Museum for when we are able to open, noting pinch points, interactives and access to vehicles. We are confident that this is feasible; the challenge will be to provide an experience for our staff and early adopters which is visibly safe but retaining the lively personality and welcome we are known for.
The sunny Piazza itself was just as quiet as three weeks before; a few lonely sightseers, the occasional urban explorer and the smell of paint and varnish as two solitary painters began sprucing up and installing signage in anticipation of the return of non-essential retail on Monday 15 June. The openings on the Piazza will be limited for the time being. We are making preparations to open our shop, but only when there are customers to serve and for the moment the West End is a ghost town. A visit to Pret a Manger on the Strand, the only premises trading in the area, was remarkably a novelty after 11 weeks, the coffee and croissant being passed through a mousehole in the large Perspex screen across the counter.
We returned home on our bikes, rejuvenated and buoyed up by the approaching horizon of re-opening, even if not until August or later. Suffering a heavy shower on the cycle home did not dampen the spirits at our Friday evening social online. So, we continue to plan, to watch museums open in Europe and learn from their experiences, change the plans again and again, and set a timetable for decisions on re-opening. Those plans will likely include timed tickets, later opening hours and probably days for families and evenings for adults alone. I feel like the Director of a play where the scenery is being built for a production not yet written, the leading roles as yet un-cast and the opening night uncertain and to a reduced audience!
