A Covid Year

I think many people feel time has gone very quickly in this year of Covid. I can't believe I started shielding a year ago today. Months of not setting foot out of my house. My last swim was on the 16th March 2020 - That is the one thing I really miss & feel has had a very detrimental effect on me physically & mentally. I also miss my two volunteering jobs, which gave me purpose as well as enjoyment & social contact. 

I feel I coped well - I had projects - the usual clearing out of cupboards & paperwork. Also sorting through photos & slides & making family photobooks for my daughter & grandchildren. I have Webinar'ed & Zoomed & have learned a lot about Climate Change & Ecological work. I have lobbied a lot too. I've also sold my house & been trying to find somewhere suitable to buy. That is going to be a major project in itself.

In a way nothing changed that much when we came out of lockdown. Distancing, wearing a mask, hand sanitizing....have all become normal routines for me. I did have the odd meal in a restaurant, but didn't go back to any other recreational outings.

I find it surprising how so many of us have become habituated to a completely different way of life, which I think is set to continue for a long time to come. On the other hand I feel very "grumpy old womanish" about the big groups of people who completely block the pavements, oblivious to the fact that I have to walk out into the middle of the road to get past. There is a coffee shop on the corner near me, which not only has seating on the pavement & people waiting outside for coffees, but now is selling fruit, veg & flowers displayed everywhere on it's frontage too. Everytime I go past I wonder how legal it is & want to say something. But I don't.

I think I have kept in touch with most friends a lot more regularly. But if I'm honest that's because I have very good friends who phone me & we have long, interesting chats. I am more an emailer or texter. For some reason, which is beyond me, I don't think to ring people up for a chat. 

I am not lonely or isolated. I don't worry about my situation. I am happy being in my own home, able to do what I want, when I want, without having to consult anyone else. I do worry about the world situation & politics though - I think that is dire.

I've lived for 76 years. I have a lot of experience of life, of the world, of other people & cultures. I am able to occupy myself & am never bored. 

I think I have become more radical & even better informed over this last year. I am angry that the divide between the have's & the have not's has become even more pronounced. I am angry that our politicians are so unable to learn from good practice elsewhere & think longterm, rather than go for political expediency & what will make them popular.

Covid has shown the best of us & the worst of us as a human race. I do hope that we learn the lessons & don't return to business as usual. Business as usual was never a good option & it isn't going to work in the 21st Century. Too much is at stake.