Over the course of the next few weeks, it looks likely that we’ll be able to visit the likes of John Lewis, Burger King, local car showrooms, electrical stores and more. That’s all well and good: businesses and livelihoods depend on them getting back to normal (albeit a new normal). But the exact rules around who we’ll visit these with are still staggeringly unclear.

In his last official address to the public on May 10, Boris Johnson confirmed that we could meet one other person from outside our own household when outdoors from a social distance of two metres.

Some people took this as their cue to flout the stay-at-home rule entirely, and rock merrily on down to the nearest beach or light up a group barbeque. But for the rest of us trying to play by the rules, a sense of almost palpable uncertainty remains.

As lockdown eases, why is the guidance on seeing friends and family still so muddled?