This new term the school run with my daughter is on foot, as I don’t want to get the bus. It’s a half hour, quite hilly walk (or one hour for me!), criss-crossing scores of other walking and cycling journeys to about seven different schools

At first it was a bit of a pain, particularly if the weather was bad. But over the weeks I’ve noticed that, if we set off at exactly the same time in the morning, as we do most days, we pass the same people at exactly the same places on our route

They must have the same timed routines every day too. So, there’s orange-trousered man with his two dogs , American mother with baby , PE teacher , man with skateboard , woman with sausage dog . There are 3 lollipop women and 2 lollipop men

If we’re on time, is near the crossing; if we’re running late, she’s closer to the bridge. I’ve started to shyly say hello to some of those who recognise me.

Do any of them think the same thing about us: are we mother & daughter with scooter? There are dozens of other people I don’t recognise - maybe they have more erratic routines. But there is something very comforting about the regularity of these familiar strangers, every morning

We are not at the supermarket or on trains, our faces covered with masks. We’re on parkside footpaths and wide pavements in the open air. We familiar strangers can see each other’s faces, our smiles or nods of acknowledgement, as we pass each other on the way to school or work

Maybe we have always done this, noticed our fellow strangers on the school run or daily commute, but now it feels like so much more. When everything else seems to be about numbers going in the wrong direction, the familiar strangers on our school run are a reassuring constant.

In this case, familiarity breeds contentment. I now look forward to the school run not as a chore but a gift, an hour of just the most basic human thing of passing others as we all get on with our day. And I know how incredibly fortunate I am to have a chance for an hour of

fresh air and exercise.

Postscript 1: this thread is not anti-mask: PLEASE WEAR A MASK WHERE YOU NEED TO

Postscript 2: ok, it’s a beautiful autumn day and I may not be so blissed out by the wonders of humanity when it’s dark and sleeting in the middle of January