Dear LPG,

Now that the summer is well and truly over and the weather is getting colder again, most people will think of winter and all the celebrations that it usually brings with it, but this year has been somewhat different than most so far with the added restrictions that Covid-19 has brought upon us.

It has claimed so many of our national get-togethers this year by virtue of the fact that more than anything else we have not been able to do just that. It forced us all to stay at home in the beginning and quite a few of us older people who live alone have been required to appreciate our family and friends in a new electronic way which, had it all started during the winter months, would have made half a year of being home alone a slightly more attractive prospect.  Many of us older people are quite happy to avoid the cold and ice on the roads and the aches and pains that seem to become more apparent when it’s cold outside, but all those negative notions are usually offset by the prospect of a beautiful summer when we can truly get out and about again. 

It is true that, being able to see the beautiful summer from the wrong side of my living room window did help me to cope with the whole episode if I am honest, but now that we have the winter to look forward to while many of us continue to stay away from everything that this time of year heralds, the near future looks somewhat daunting.

I have never been a fan of Halloween but, it is the only reason that I keep a few sweets in the house and, while the sentiment passes me by, it has always been nice to have a night of numerous little visitors to give them to.   Bonfire night will be, or may have been, a wash out depending on how quickly my message gets to LPG’s pages.  At my time of life, I usually spend it with my cat looking out the window at the Blackheath firework display which I doubt will occur this year.

But Christmas is going to be the hardest holiday for many of those older people who continue to stay safe and relatively isolated, because it is the ultimate get-together for so many of us with families.  I will miss the present opening, and a Christmas dinner shared between just six people, (I think that is the rule at the moment although with the numbers of people getting ill rising again on a daily basis and the government changing their minds about what is and isn’t allowed daily), we could well all be celebrating in the way that JE suggested (►►►).   I suppose it has to be better than being absolutely alone.

Then finally we will get to the New Year and look forward, more than anything, to a time when Covid-19 will finally become history, (although if the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 is anything to go by, we can look forward to the best part of another year of the same risk of infection and mixed-up government restrictions).  But at least summer will be on the horizon again.

Basically, I suspect that we will remember this year as the one that never really happened because although it was 2020, the number 19… Covid-19 is likely to be the only number it will really be remembered for.

HB, Blackheath