After lockdown ends, what might we do better than before? Gideon Calder, Local Resident and chair of Gwyrddio Penarth Greening, introduces a new series of articles for Penarth Nub News, looking at how we can build on our insights from the unexpected experiences of the past few months.

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A friend who lives in Penarth and works in the North of Cardiff has decided to start cycling to work when lockdown lifts. I asked him why.

"Because I've got really into cycling while working from home. It's actually quicker to get to work that way and it'll save me loads of money.

''The views on the barrage are sometimes so beautiful you want to get off your bike and take a photo.

''And, I focus better after cycling for half an hour – I'm much more productive."

This was quite a list. When I asked about the downsides, the answer came more slowly. "Well, sometimes the weather but I'm getting some waterproof cycling gear."

It's quite a typical story. Lockdown has had mixed effects on everyday life.

In some ways, the world has shrunk.

We may have struggled to adapt to a more solitary lifestyle or to sustained close proximity to those we share a home with.

Schooling has been disrupted in ways which have taken a big toll on kids' social worlds as well as reinforcing the gap between kids from 'better' and 'worse-off' households.

Many have been cut off from those they care about or rely on – sometimes in the saddest or most stressful of ways.

But on the other hand, some adjustments have opened up our horizons. So the force of circumstance gets people back on their bikes and remembering how much they love it.

Daily exercise has made routines of things once regarded as weird, like going for a walk as a family.

Those lucky enough to have a garden will have been spending more time in it. Plenty will have shown their employers that they can work more efficiently from home.

Stories are common of families being more in touch, albeit online, because of the strangeness of the times.

We are getting more exercise. Seeing things on the other side of the Bristol Channel, now that the views are so much less hazy with smog. Walking to the shops when once they would have driven. And relating differently to their immediate surroundings.

With less traffic, we've been noticing nature, hearing more birdsong and – at least for a while, in March and April – to get around those awkward 'how do we socially distance in the street?' moments, we could simply walk down the middle of the road without risk.

A good proportion of us say we will use our cars less.

Where we can, when things get 'back to normal', we'd like to be doing things differently.

The 'Learning from Lockdown' series is co-hosted by Gwyrddio Penarth Greening (GPG). As a community-based environmental group, GPG is always interested in how we can act locally to make an environmental difference.

We're working in connection with Penarth Nub News to share stories and ideas about how things look, from the point of view of local people, individuals and organisations, businesses and schools.

Sometimes these projects are our own – featuring established schemes like Penarth 2020, Plastic-Free Penarth and Shop Penarth. But we're also hoping for surprises. If you have a story you'd like to tell, please get in touch. We will all have been learning from lockdown in different ways.

We'd like to put this new knowledge together and make the most of it.

Gideon Calder is chair of Gwyrddio Penarth Greening, and teaches at Swansea University.