Effects of the pandemic on my coffee world

My world of coffee is small since I live on an island and we do not have many big cities with much diversity. My skills as a coffee maker and enthusiast are improving as a result of not going out as much. I can buy some very nice coffee from a few roasters, both the big corporate ones and the smaller independent ones.
I have tried to go out once in a while when the situation has allowed to tasted different coffee shops and to be socially active without meeting anyone. Just to sit at a coffee shop huddled into my laptop enjoying the solitude of the pandemic regulations as a reward in itself, when people are staying more isolated then not. The sad truth is that the price of coffee show coffee is getting higher and the quality of the coffee shop coffee is getting worse. I talked about this in a previous post a bit.  The positive side is that I am enjoying great coffee at home and my skills and my machine, albeit an old one, that is not perfect in any sense,  is that my home coffee is actually better than most coffee shows in town.
That is in many ways sad since the point of having a great professional machine that costs more than my car should give you the experience and enjoyment of a great cup of coffee. The whole episode of going out, paying for a drink, and in this case paying quite a lot for a drink, has been devalued.
The reason for this is probably because of lack of training and lack of ambition. A coffee shop should take its pride in making a great cup for this amount of money.
Not all hope is lost. Summer is on its way and perhaps a rejuvenated nation under less constrictions might bring in a better cup. Until then I will hone my skills and enjoy a great cup at home. Hopefully venture out some more and sample the local coffee shows some more.