Day Three Hundred

Feest Isolation Days – 8 January 2021

As I type those words I find it difficult to believe! Three hundred days!  Who would have believed it?  When I started writing this, it never occurred to me that I would still be here at my desk writing away three hundred days after I began.  To mark 300 days, today you get two blogs, one from me and one from the editor.

I’ve felt very sad the past few days as I hear the news about the virus.  Apparently since last week, one in thirty people in London has the virus.  The hospitals are filled with over 30,000 people with Covid, and the Lockdown means kids are not in schools, young folks are not at University, and the world as we know it has changed more than we ever believed it could.

All this, and yet given another few months and the vaccines will kick in and change the trajectory of this beastly virus that has taken away so much.  We stay locked down in our palaces and remain the fortunates.  We have enough of everything.  Let’s hope that included in our list of enough’s is stamina.  We are nearing the end.  Yet so many of my friends are sagging and finding this time especially difficult.  The ennui has set in for many and the guilt too. Guilty at feeling annoyed and pissed off as of course we have plenty and no kids and yet…and yet…

We must all dig deep!  Another three months and we will be in a different place.  We will hang on in there – needs to be our cry!  Projects!  Zoom!  Keep in touch with people! Stay active!  All of these things will help as we limp to what we hope is the finishing line.

Speaking of finishing lines, it is really hard not to comment on the end of the Trump Presidency. Let us hope that it is the end of the Trump era. The man has caused so much havoc and pain and death in the country of my birth.  I’m just about coming to terms with the storming of the Capitol.  Twitter finally silenced the orange menace as did Facebook.  Let’s hope they shut him up for the next twelve days as we move toward Joseph Biden’s inauguration.  Kamala Harris is not just breaking through glass ceilings, she’s also breaking ties!  A good result in Georgia means a good result for the country and the world.  Joe is old but wise and experienced.  Let’s hope he’s still got what it takes to turn the ship around.  I was struck by so many people who were able to offer us hope.  Joe Biden spoke while the insurrection was taking place. It’s worth a listen.  As he said, words matter.

Barrack Obama also released a statement that is worth reading.

The shocking images from America at least helped us to forget all our woes and Covid for a bit.  It hasn’t gone away, but it will be wrestled to the ground.  Trump will be as well as Trumpism.  Both houses of Congress met late last night when order was restored inside the Capitol building and did their job.  The Electoral College votes were ratified and Joe Biden will be inaugurated on the 20 of January.  It isn’t going to be easy, but there will be change.  If nothing else is certain in our life, it is that change will occur.  Let’s hope that we can all derive a bit of inspiration from the fact that Congress carried on.  The congressional session ended with a prayer from the Chaplain.  He too reminded us that words matter.  He also said, “The power of life and death is in the tongue.” 

https://www.facebook.com/newshour/videos/1293668617655874

Keep your words enlightened and your spirits up. And don’t forgot to laugh sometimes.  It helps!

I’ll stay here until I have received my vaccination or another 65 days whichever comes first.  I too believe that words matter.  From my heart to yours.  Thinking of you all with deep gratitude for listening. 

With love,

Kathy x

So, what did I learn from 2020? 

At the beginning of the year I was preoccupied with walks, trips, and fishing in New Zealand, and planning where to stay for our next trip there – which would have been happening right now – and a walking holiday with friends in Spain in the spring!  The planned future trips never happened as Covid hit almost as soon as we returned home at the end of February.  2020 turned out to be the year at home – literally, not just in England but at home!  So we adjusted.  it was not what we had planned or anticipated. We missed seeing the family, and suppers with our friends, and foreign travels, theatre and concerts, but we had a lot of fun together, learned to appreciate each other and our house and garden even more than we did already, and discovered many new places to walk near to home.  In the more relaxed period, we learned the joys of a local cottage holiday on Exmoor which has led us to plan more as soon as it is possible.

Then there was the political scene.  At the beginning of the year we were preoccupied with the details of Brexit and a deal or no deal; and the antics of Boris and Dominic, and of what was still the mildly amusing clown in the White House.  Then we had to deal with Covid which despite the inadequacies of the government response we seemed to get on top of.  Now Brexit has passed with a deal and barely noticed amongst the resurgence of the new Covid, Dominic is gone, Boris’s actions are no longer antics but bumbling indecision and U turns too little too late, and Trump is no longer a clown but a dangerous psychopath who has caused death on a massive scale with Covid and a small scale with incitement to insurrection, and he severely threatens American democracy.

Despite all this I don’t feel depressed.  There was a Brexit deal – as we had left anyway this is a good thing.  ~We are locked down again, but that gives hope of controlling Covid in the short term and the vaccines are here giving massive hope for the longer term.  Boris stumbles along but eventually seems to do many of the right things when pushed hard enough by those scientists around him, and despite his protestations Trump is about to be replaced by a wise conciliatory human being.

My top ten points from 2020 are:

The best laid plans o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley

Buying a year planner is pointless

British politics may not be great, but thank the Lord I don’t live in America.

Scientists are heroes.

The world has turned upside down – the elderly are sneaking out of the house and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors.

Zooming all over the place is fun

If you are going to communicate on the net it pays to be able to type properly – so I took an online course, learning a simple skill properly about 50 years later than I should have.

It is OK to go into a bank with a mask on and ask for money – although come to think of it, I don’t even use money any more.

I love my new hairdresser.

Finally, I realise just how privileged and lucky I am: I am in a happy marriage in a lovely house with a delightful garden, have a secure income which cannot be taken away by redundancy or business failure and am part of a loving network of family and good friends.

So, we will make of 2021 what we can. Let’s get at it, get vaccinated and get moving.  Bring it on!

Love to all,

Terry