Summer 2020

 Summer 2020

Living the dream 😎 

Blissful oasis of happiness

Gorgeous weather. Sunshine week after week bathing these August weeks in a warm glow.

This is not life as I knew it but it is close. 

It has been a summer full of love and joy, full of fun times, full of family, full of friends. 

August has been an almost ordinary month in an extraordinary year. 

As infection rates remained low I and everyone else have savoured every minute of precious freedom from stress and anxiety.

This virus is weak outside, so in relative safety from contagion the nation has relished its summer holiday.

For me it has been precious time in our tranquil Norfolk cottage,  wonderful, wonderful time with my family creating fresh memories with young and old alike  to replace those long grey empty lockdown weeks. 

Birthday bbqs, family picnics, walks, biking, hiking, sitting on the beach gazing at the sea, simply being together. 

I treasure the sounds of laughter, the smell of sun cream, the barbecue sausages, the sight of smiles and the taste of cool ice cream of a hot day. 

 

I am not the only diarist to have taken a holiday from writing to concentrate on being in the present.  

If this can be the final destination then that is fine by me. But that was never to be. As the summer evenings draw in the dangers of coronavirus draw closer and closer again. As the schools go back it is time to leave paradise island and face reality.

Autumn 2020

Week 1 of the new school term across the land. Normal train services resume. Buses are a regular sight. Offices begin a phased re opening as urged by a Government desperate to restart the economy.  Shops, markets, playgrounds, restaurants, gyms, pubs, all opening . The streets are humming with life.  

Final destination? Life as we once knew it? If only. 

September 9th.

Boris Johnson holds his first full  national press conference since July, dragging a reluctant nation into acknowledging the truth. Infection rates have been rising sharply for weeks.

So far, hospital admissions remain low but it is obvious we have a long winter ahead. With no vaccine, with no coherent test and trace system and with still scant testing available this virus is ahead of us all the way and lying in wait. 

According the ministers, this is , of course, 'our fault', 'We' , the nation,  are accused of relaxing too much, for forgetting  we were only on a break from coronavirus, for enjoying the 'eat out to help out' scheme, for enjoying the staycations, for spending our money to get the economy going as we have been continually as encouraged to do. 

And now we must be held to account with strict new rules to avoid a new lockdown. No more than 6 people at any one time. Indoor or outdoor. 

Unless:

schools

workplaces

colleges

organised sports

weddings

funerals

Gyms

Restaurants

Pubs 

etc, etc.......

Um. 

Illogical policy made without consulting parliament , announced at 10.30 pm on Sept 8th, despite a question being asked in parliament and dodged that very afternoon by the PM, and due to take force on Monday 14th. Post many, many parties, no doubt.

Yes obviously we need to face facts. But this 'simple rule'  cannot be the answer, surely?

I know I am miserable facing the end of the summer, miserable facing the winter ahead, miserable facing more limitations of my liberties, my life, but I do not want to die from the ghastly virus.  I simply do not feel this sudden deluge of shock tactics fills me with any reassurance. 

Balancing the economy, education and society in the face of a killer virus is a tight rope act but after 6 months media reports show support for this Government is at an all time low. 

Illogical policy on the back of a summer of further confusing and conflicting rules, quarantine changing weekly on destinations forcing people to change, at enormous cost, journeys home to avoid self isolation. Many openly ignore  quarantine obligations,  given it is openly not enforced. Many more cheat the system by crossing borders. It is such an obvious nonsense when Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different rules it is understandable people find easy ways around such crazy rules.

Of course there is a need for action. Infections are surging and whilst primarily amongst the young here so hospital admissions and deaths are low, these are rising rapidly in France and Spain and we are following the same paradigm.  

Did we relax too much? Maybe. I do not think I or my loved ones did, we stayed outside, we sanitised, we cleaned, I have not been to a cinema, to a swimming pool, to a gym. 

Despite membership has been pushed out for everything, despite campaigns to encourage keeping the high street alive, despite campaigns to ensure all children return to school, despite campaigns to urge students to attend university, for employees and employers alike to abandon working from home in favour of reopening the offices.. 

We did not hug, us adults within my non household family, despite longing to. We accepted that a hug was not necessary to know how much we loved each other, that close physical contact was risky. All summer, we continued to make sacrifices to keep ourselves safe.

We avoided crowded places, even outside. We barely visited even a playground, only local ones at unpopular times. The garden was our oasis. We needed only to be able to be together to be happy.

I know I  am lucky, I have space, two bathrooms for a Covid secure visitor facility, family who share the same language of behaviour, who are confident in each other.

I have had the summer of my dreams. Now it is time to think about packing to begin the onward journey. Because, if truth be told, we have not yet reached the end.

If only. 

How was your summer?  Time outside time, like mine?  What is ahead of us now?  This entry bridges a gap , it spans a glorious summer, an oasis of happiness.  Real time begins again, diarists are back recording, for ourselves, for policy makers, for the future.  Please do join me.