People Make Glasgow safer while staying at home.

That's been the mantra for the last six weeks and the absence of crowds has been keenly felt.

There's moments when the sun starts to go down and you can see a rare beauty as familiar streets are revealed in their entirety, dormant and still. Most of the time though, it's an unsettling sight.

The whole rhythm of the place is wrong, a city separated from its citizens. 

I remain confident that the vast majority of people will continue to respect whatever conditions are laid out for us as health services tackle the coronavirus. It's essential and the least we can do to protect our neighbours and ourselves. 

The state of isolation becomes more difficult as time goes on because our lives are built around social interaction. There's a time and place for solitude and space to find it in Glasgow, but most of the time we like to be around each other. 

The mechanics of the next stage are still up for discussion. How social distancing will work for pubs, cafes and music venues remains a mystery. I'm sure every restaurateur in the city will have a measuring tape by now. Once the fundamentals are laid out, it will become more clear how we will be able to spend our time together. 

One of the reasons I started writing about restaurants and bars at Glasgowist is the role they play in defining and reflecting the character of a local neighbourhood. The stage for our tastes and interests. Somewhere we celebrate or lament, share frustrations or laughter.

A place to just sit and think with a pint or a coffee in the compnay of others. Zoom calls can't recreate that atmosphere no matter how many homemade cocktails you pour and restaurants can't package up a complete experience for delivery, although the food dropped at the doorstep helps in the interim.