Visiting Showcase Cinema Nottingham Discovering Our New Normal #AD

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Over the last 3-4 months life has become unrecognisable. 

Joshua is still off school and it seems he will be now till at least September. Jacob has returned to nursery this week for 2 days a week and Ollie being a key worker has been at work throughout. 

Me? Well, I am still awaiting a date I can return to work doing nails and beauty. 

I am not going to lie over the last 3 months we have lived a rollercoaster ride of emotions and that all of us in out way. 

Jacob behaviour has been wild and his energy levels have soared to something out of this world. Joshua has gone the other way and retreated into himself one minute and emotional the next. 

Lockdown this weekend eased with pubs opening and allowing us more flexibility meeting friends and family but if I am honest it still petrifies me. 

We have been following lockdown rules and regulations for so long now that we now feel anxious about easing the restrictions in our own family life. However, we know that some of the emotional and mental issues the boys have been having will only ease once life starts to return to normal.

So this weekend we decided to try and be brave and introduce some family time into our weekend and  visit Showcase Cinema Nottingham that opened this weekend. It is something we love to do as a family normally so it seemed perfect to get our toes wet in the new normal and head out to do something that seems so normal to us all. 

Before heading out I decided to take a look at what Showcase were instigating as a company to abide by the new COVID-19 regulations and it was nice to see they are thinking about how to still allow you to have a great cinematic experience but with new safety regulations in place 

When we arrived at Showcase Nottingham it was nice to see members of staff awaiting arrivals and them being on the ball with letting people inside the building in a measured and professional manner. It genuinely felt like they knew exactly what they were doing even on day 2 of opening. 

On entering there where hand sanitiser points directly as you walked in and the dotted around the foyer as well as directly outside the doors to each screen. 

We headed to the box office to collect our tickets and even with the newly installed screens and the staff wearing face coverings it was nice to feel some normal again. 

The refreshments still had all our favourites on offer and all delivered in a well managed and really safe way with floor markings. And one member of staff serving each person separately with no cross over of floor space.

I did spy some of the other staff not dealing with orders cleaning screens and worktops all over the foyer which was a great relief. Maybe its just me but being able to contain the clean in my home has mentally been great. But it has stopped me wanting to venture out as someone else’s clean might not be the same as mine. So seeing staff actually cleaning all over was great to put my mind at rest. Also i was impressed that there were antibac wipes located all over the cinema too.

The boys were not phased in anyway with the new regulations in the cinema. They were happy to sanitise their hands along with us and even liked following the arrows on the floor. 

Getting through to the cinema screens was always managed by a member of staff scanning your tickets. Now the member of staff as a device connected to a scanner on the wall so you can scan your own tickets by waving them underneath the scanner (no need to pick it up to scan) then once the screen has been throughly cleaned you are allowed in. 

This weekend and for the next couple of weeks I believe that many of the showings are of older already released films from the last couple of years but this is probably why the ticket price is low and all the films I have seen listed have tickets priced at £5 each! 

We picked to watch the 4.30pm showing of Paddington which both boys utterly adore. 

So with popcorn and snacks in hand we headed to find our socially distanced seats.

Inside the screen seats were allocated with gaps all around and so it was perfect to calm my overthinking brain especially when we saw the team of cleaners heading out of the screen we were heading too with big cleaning machines! 

We sat in Row E which was almost smack bang in the middle and the boys excitement level increased! They love the space that Showcase Cinema gives with it’s wide walkways between the rows of seats and dont get me started on those ridiculously comfy reclining chairs … they make perfect positioning for short and long films alike! 

There wasn’t many people in our showing today which again put my mind at rest. And I am pleased to say the kids didn’t loose the will to live with atrociously long trailers. The film started fairly quickly with only a few minutes of trailers compared to the normal 30 mins. 

It was amazing to get to finally spend some quality time outside the house and feel secure about it. Thank you Showcase Cinema Nottingham for having us and allowing us to have some much needed quality time having fun!