Wednesday morning arrived in Elsenham with the unmistakable atmosphere of a population being returned to government supervision. From around 08:00, after six weeks of bicycles, footballs, late breakfasts, unexplained shouting and children appearing from hedges carrying sticks of uncertain strategic value, the school run began. Pavements filled with new shoes, oversized jumpers, immaculate book bags and parents attempting to remember how mornings worked. Somebody had forgotten a water bottle. Another family was conducting an emergency search for a PE kit last seen somewhere around July, while cars began performing the familiar low-speed choreography of September as adults rediscovered that leaving the house at roughly the same time as everyone else has consequences.