Fi Glover presents friends and strangers in conversation as the nation adjusts to the 'new normal'. In this week's programme: strangers Clare and Pat live at different ends of the country and both have years of experience working in supermarkets. They share stories about the funny as well as dark side of their front line jobs; Rona and Stefan tell the story of how they met online and fell in love in lockdown and are now looking forward to their first Christmas together.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Mohini Patel