Dear LPG readers,

What were you doing this time last year?

If LPG have done what I have asked today is April Fools’ day. Years ago it was celebrated with many more people finding ways to make friends look foolish. This is the day when we used to make a point of playing pranks on our friends and neighbours while doing our best not to get caught out ourselves.  I wonder how many readers remember a year when they were well and truly duped while their friends looked on and had a giggle.  I remember a year when I spent half the day with a note pinned to my back which labelled me as an April fool.  I was at school and finally found out because, at the end of my school day, one of my friends told me it was there.  I was embarrassed even though I could see the funny side, but I have to admit that I have always wondered how long I was sporting the message, and I never really found out who put it there. 

That was relatively innocent but I think that we were all fooled last year.

Last year this time we normal people had been locked down for about three weeks and armed with our televisions, radios and newspapers there was a different coronavirus story to be told as each day went by.  We had all heard of Covid-19 by then and the numbers were going up as people were catching it.  We were hearing all sorts of contradictory statements; there were enough testing kits and then there were not, we did need masks and then we did not, every day there were different rules about how we should self-isolate and who with. I remember hearing that we would be locked down for about six months, yet most of us faced an isolated Christmas and New Year.  Loneliness and depression was beginning to be a problem while we were hearing the numbers of people who had caught it rise steeply.

So much happened during last year and we have blamed many governments for the many mistakes and contradictory statements that we the ordinary people have believed, but I think that we all have to agree that Covid-19 has spent more than a year making fools out of us all since last April Fools’ day.

So perhaps, even though we are all a bit closer to having our double dose of the vaccine that we hope will make the difference, and as we continue to keep staying safe, keep our distance from those we so want to be closest to, and as we keep washing our hands and wearing our masks, even those who were sceptics this time last year, are taking it all a lot more seriously now.

One year on I hope and believe that 1^st April 2020 was the day that many of us came to realise that Covid-19 was no joke and had made fools of us all. We have to be near the end now.  One year is long enough!

RB, Brockley