Pre-pandemic, a trip to McDonald's entailed a quick three-step routine: order at the screen, pay at the window, and pull around to collect your meal.
But as locations around the UK reopened this week for the first time since March, fast-food had appeared to become a lot slower.
Photos of queues stretching around car parks and snarling traffic proved whatever was happening at Maccies now certainly wasn't business as usual.
I decided to join the queue - despite its length - to see what had changed for the chain since coronavirus ground normality to a halt.
6.35pm
Against my better judgement, I pulled into the Leckwith Shopping Centre in Cardiff at 6.35pm on Thursday evening.
Though I'd normally make a quick left turn toward the restaurant's yellow arches, I was stopped short - already in a queue for my burger before I'd reached the car park.
On closer inspection, I was one of 31 vehicles snaked from the road, into the entrance way and around the drive-thru lane.
The car park was a maze of makeshift barriers, cones and red tape marking the new lanes for which vehicles should queue in for french fries.
Slightly embarrassed to be one of the many obstructing traffic in the name of a burger, I was relieved to pull forward in just a minute or two.
6.40pm
Nearly five minutes in, having advanced several cars forward, I came to a stop in view of Cardiff City Stadium - one of the city's drive-through style Covid-19 testing centres.
It looked empty - but that didn't stop the pang of guilt.
It felt like a carefully placed deterrent, equivalent to the grim pictorial warnings slapped on cigarette packs.
6.48pm
I looked up to find a man in a mask and a yellow high-vis vest ushering me forward.
Yes, this was a security guard, brought in to ensure order was maintained in a McDonald's car park.
I wondered what sort of animals we'd all become after weeks confined to our homes.
6.51pm
Finally, my chance to order.
I pulled forward to the menu screens and a masked worker walked toward my window.
She took my order - a double cheeseburger, a medium french fry and a diet coke - and I pulled forward.
As I came around the bend of the drive-thru, a contactless payment wand was hanging out the window, ready for me to present my card.
I did so, at more than a social distance from the restaurant's workers, and continued forward.
6.56pm
Finally, the collection window.
A perspex screen had been mounted across it, leaving just a small gap for the exchange.
While this would've been a strange sight two months ago, the screens have long been installed in supermarkets and convenience stores - a small reminder that the world has changed.
A gloved hand passed over my meal with minimal interaction; twenty minutes and £4 later, my very slow, fast-food was in hand.
7.10pm
It was just what I was after, a calorie-heavy, guilt-inducing treat.
And it was every bit as good as I'd remembered.
From a safety perspective, risk reducing measures seemed to be in place here. Staff wore gloves, distance was maintained and paper money wasn't being exchanged.
The company had promised to bring in these measures before reopening - and it seems they've kept that promise.
For some people the risk will still feel too great.
But for hundreds of others this week, it seemed to be worth the reward.
