Paul Weller doesn’t want life to go back to "normal".
The 62-year-old singer – who has eight children, including three with current wife Hannah – expected to be "tearing [his] hair out" without being able to go clothes shopping when lockdown measures were put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus, but instead, he’s got a new appreciation for the things he has and what’s important in his life.
He said: "Hasn’t that been nice? Haven’t you noticed all the things you don’t really need and don’t really miss?
" I love clothes, which is no surprise to anyone, and I thought I’d be tearing me hair out with not being allowed to go shopping. Instead I’ve been thinking, ‘I’ve got enough clothes, so I’ll do with the ones I have.’
"If nothing else the last few months have given us time to assess and reflect on what’s really important.
"We’ve seen new working methods, spent more time with our families, seen how nature can repair itself without us being around. I kind of hope we don’t go back to normal."
The ‘Going Underground’ hitmaker admitted the excesses he saw in the US made him feel "sad" and called for people to be less wasteful in their lives.
He told The Times magazine: "I was in America in January and just seeing the size of the people, man . . . they’re slowly killing themselves.
"It made me sad, to be honest with you. They are being marketed to eat more, supersize everything, have as much Coca-Cola as they can. It is like a systematic destruction of your own people.
"Excess doesn’t make us happy. Poverty doesn’t make us happy either, but there has to be a middle ground.
"Look at how much waste there is in the West. Now is the time to make the changes."