Well that’s that, 2020’s as good as over and the cold, grim first few months of 2021 will be a write off too, following Boris Johnson’s announcement of the latest set of Covid restrictions which could last six months.
These include the 10pm closure of pubs and restaurants, fewer exemptions to the rule of six and spectators not allowed into sports venues. This, along with all the other changes announced, brings any chance of normal life resuming to a premature end.
In some ways, I suppose, the restrictions aren’t that bad. For the time being, at least I can still go to the pub, can travel, still see family plus much of normal life continues with kids going to school and all the shops open.
I’ve only really got five friends so the six-rule’s not a problem, I already work from home and we’re rarely out beyond 8pm, in truth we’re often asleep before 10pm.
In other ways, though, things are very different. The summer months, despite the holiday quarantines, felt like we were getting back to normal but after Monday’s address to the nation by the chief medical and scientific officers it feels like the virus and the fear that comes with it is back again with a vengeance.
In response we’ve regretfully decided to cancel our annual winter break to the Caribbean, our little window of sunshine – literally and metaphorically – amidst the Covid winter gloom.
The requirement, hidden away in our booking terms, to be temperature checked on arrival in St Lucia and then be carted off to the nearest “respiratory hospital at our own expense” if we’re anything above 38 degrees Celsius is too big a concern.
It also didn’t help when they described our Sandals resort as a “Covid secure facility”.
I accept the chances of us catching the virus remains remote, particularly as you have to take a Covid test, the week before you travel.
I don’t though want to be sat on a plane worrying about what happens when I arrive. I’m also anxious about catching it on the eight-hour flight and then falling ill while away presumably ending up in that same respiratory hospital.
The other concerns is that even if we stay fit and well, the holiday experience will be flat, a little out-of-season, certainly not a patch on the joyous fortnights we’ve had these last three years.
So let the long six-months’ winter grind begin, stuck at home here in the cold, dark UK.