From packed pubs to pre-match chatter the return to footballing normality in Norwich was glorious, despite the result.
Having watched Norwich City for as long as I can remember, Carrow Road at 3pm on a Saturday feels like home, so it's been pretty strange being away from the place for over a year (with the exception of a short return mid-way through last season).
By Saturday afternoon it felt like I'd never been away, making my usual pre-match walk from the city centre I passed a packed Queen of Iceni belting out city songs, before queuing up at the ground as the smell of the burger van drifted through the air.
Once in the stadium, I was pleased to see the same friendly faces that sit around me in the River End were still there, before one of the loudest renditions of 'On the Ball City' I've heard sent a tingle down the spine.
Of course, some supporters would have been understandably concerned about a return to full capacity, but having been at Latitude festival and almost all of the reduced capacity games, Saturday's game against Liverpool felt like the right time to return.
I had been counting down the days during the week, itching to get in the ground once again to hear the roar of 27,000 supporters after hearing the eerie echoes of empty stadiums for far too long.
Following a fantastic Latitude, it felt as though the only thing preventing life from returning to normal was the absence of live football, and now its back it feels like all the glumness of lockdown has been lifted with the kick of a ball.
From a Norwich perspective, it seemed like the only disappointing thing other than the result, was the atmosphere-sapping new entrance music of Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain', which seems like some cringeworthy corporate partnership with the Lotus F1 team.
It was also great to have away supporters back in the ground, with their absence making reduced capacity games feel a little bit like chanting into a void.
However, a loud section of Liverpool fans who hurled homophobic abuse at Billy Gilmour were quite frankly a disgrace and should be punished by the harshest means possible, this sort of thing should have no place in the new footballing normal.
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