Prosocially distant.

I took this photo to capture how meticulously everyone in it is social distancing. It's in one of my favourite places, Iveagh Gardens in Dublin city centre, almost a year into the coronavirus pandemic. I especially like how the individuals each sitting alone around the fountain have carefully spaced themselves around its edge, keeping the required two metres, or more, apart, creating a beautiful symmetry of care. Each of them and the people on each park bench occupy their own isolated bubble. During the pandemic the way we use public space has changed so much. Now we are in parks much more, but we don't touch, we don't come near each other, we scrupulously avoid closeness, and in this distance while being together outside, we have created these intensely private spaces in public. Each person in their invisibly bounded two metre circle moves alone through these shared environments, as if we are each by ourselves, despite being seen, heard, and moved past and around by other people. I walk frequently in this park, I have done for decades, and before last year I would sometimes be alone in the park, no-one else at all within its walls, not even the park keepers coming to ring the bell and lock the gates at closing time. I feel that Iveagh Gardens are in a sense my front garden, that's how often I'm there, how personal and private yet visible I often feel there, and how strong a sense of connection I have to this green space. As well as the odd time being completely alone in this park, many times in the past there would be only a handful of people there, and looking in any direction you would not see anyone else. At other times the park was relatively crowded, dozens or even hundreds of people eating lunch on its lawns, admiring the waterfall and fountains, and walking around its maze. It has also hosted gigs and events, with hundreds packed into the sunken area that was formerly an archery ground, wandering around stalls, or crammed into a spiegeltent or other temporary structure. Now in pandemic times I am never alone there, more and more people are making use of it. Which is good in some ways, but also often unnerving and even frightening or depressing. While most people observe the rules and keep their distance, some do not. Usually when I'm there these days, there are groups of four or six, clearly from more than two households, meeting together. There are pairs of people meeting, who probably believe they are doing everything properly, but who are much closer than the recommended two metres apart. Sometimes it's hard to feel confident moving around, because people are standing or sitting so that you have to pass very close to them on the paths. Occasionally someone will antagonistically move closer to me, or cough as I pass, or simply not move reciprocally further away as I approach, as has become the norm during Covid 19. Most times hardly anyone else is wearing a mask. Although the risk of transmission outdoors and from passing other people is low, it is present and it is avoidable. The risks are also changing as the numbers of cases change and as new variants of the virus appear. Whatever the specific risk, sometimes there is simply a lack of courtesy and consideration of others, and respect for how we all have to live together in these crowded urban environments, use these precious green spaces simultaneously, and reduce the stress and discomfort we inflict on one another in these extraordinary times. So it was encouraging, and oddly beautiful, to see this tableau of individuals observing social distancing so carefully, each absorbed in their private public bubble, each safe in their shared isolation, each alone together.