Dear LPG,

Now that it is well and truly over I can say that I spent the last month of it wishing for the day that 2020 would be well and truly over.  And now that we are over a month into the one that follows, I don’t think that the world has suffered from a global pandemic quite like the one that accompanied its arrival; no member of any nation, culture or follower of a religious faith escaped the feeling of knowing someone who succumbed to its effects.  

We (all the world) will never forget this plague and things will never be the same again. 

Before this pandemic there were news items that were broadcast with statistics that passed most of us by but since the Aids virus in 1981, little has come close to touching our existence on such a global scale.

I have little doubt that most of the people now living will ever completely forget the term Covid-19 as long as they live, and far too many people will have departed this mortal plane for a better place, so the Bible says.

It makes me wonder about the things we always took for granted; trips to the bank and the shops, trips to Church on Sundays, the theatre and our social clubs, visiting or receiving friend for a chat and a cup of tea and those once-in-a lifetime functions that we have not been able to frequent without the need to count the attendees, social distance and visit without precaution and protection.  Those days are gone and many of us are asking if freedom will ever return.  Who knows?

I truly miss socialising, parties and mingling.  Meeting old friends and reminiscing about the old days and I think that we all wonder if we will ever be able to do those things again.

I hope many will, when they look back from the perspective of their seventh decade, concur with me and be able to say that they have no regrets, and that they have enjoyed themselves.  Most youngsters can’t relate to their parents having ever done what they are doing.  To them we were born big and never went through the stages of being young, then not so young and now, older and wiser. 

We are now well established in 2021 and I know that it is not over yet. After all this time it sometimes seems as if it never will be.   There is no doubt that being locked down for so long has given us all time to think and I have come to the conclusion that my generation fought to protect ourselves, our rights and the respect due.  I hope the generations to follow will get to our age and be able to say the same as Covid-19 finally blends into a history-book pandemic and leaves each of us with the facts, effects and mistakes to analyse and document for posterity to mull over.