Goodbye 2021 (and good riddance)

2021 is in its final death knells, and frankly, I'm not too sure many people are going to miss it in the same way we didn't miss 2020, the year Covid kicked off when we all thought it would be over in a few months. That worked out didn't it? Here we are almost two years later, and still firmly in the grip of this horrible pandemic.

However, looking back at my posts from early 2020 (around March), things are better now than they were then. You won't be stopped at the supermarket till for having more than 3 bottles of wine in your trolley. Toilet rolls are in plentiful supply. We can go out and about, even to the pub or restaurant. Live sport is on the telly (England cricket aside - that's more torture than sport) although currently in Wales at least you can't attend live sport unless it's less than 50 people. You can even go abroad, although we haven't and our cancelled/postponed overseas trips count since this all began is sitting at four with a couple planned for 2022 waiting nervously in the wings. 

As we rapidly approach New Years Eve to no doubt optimistically raise a glass to a health and happy New Year as we did on 31st December 2019 and 2020, I wonder if we really, truly will be looking back this time next year and saying, thank God we're finally through this? We'll no doubt find out in due course.

So looking back at 2021, what have been the highs and lows, both personally and more generally?

Highs

• As a family we've largely managed to avoid Covid, and stay fit and healthy although my son did succumb to it in September, but thankfully as he'd already been vaccinated, it was a case of a few days feeling quite rough, but no more.
• We've all been double jabbed and (by tomorrow) we'll all have been boosted too.
• My daughter got a new job
• My son's moved out into his own place (I mean that in a good for him, not pleased he's gone sort of way!)
• We have, despite all the trials and tribulations around Covid managed a number of fabulous holidays/breaks, including North Wales, West Wales, Bournemouth and Devon
• We've walked with alpacas
• We've had a new patio built
• I've played lots of golf

Lows

• We're still in a pandemic with all that's associated with that
• My son caught Covid
• We had to postpone our Corfu holiday (again)

More generally, 

• Misinformation is rife and fuelled by the use of social media (yes including some blogs, although hopefully not this one) and has resulted in some real divisiveness in society. There's frequently no middle ground or understanding of another viewpoint. And much of this is vile, vitriolic, and frankly dangerous.
• The Government has lurched from one disaster/crisis/embarrassment/scandal/corruption allegation to another, and continues to comfortably be the worst administration for many a long year
• The NHS continues to be woefully underfunded and is slowly being torn apart by the Tory government. Kudos to those every single person who works in the NHS that are doing their level best under extraordinarily difficult circumstances
• The Brexit chickens are coming home to roost and we'll no doubt see a lot more of the crap caused by this in the coming months
• Cardiff City are still crap
• England still can't beat Australia and are very crap
• COP26 didn't seem to achieve very much

For a fuller list of 2021 events worldwide, see this Wikipedia page

So a mixed bag, but there is hope for the future, but it's always the hope that kills you.

So whatever 2022 holds for you, I hope it's better than 2021.

Happy (fingers crossed) New Year to you all.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Omicron and all that shit

Credit. Imperial College, London

So here we are, with two more days until The Big Ho, Ho, Ho! (apparently we can't call it Christmas any more) and we are at the fag end of 2021.

Remember what we all said on New Years Eve 2019? Here's to a great 2020. Look how that turned out.

Remember what we said on New Years even 2020? Hurrah, we're starting to vaccinate, it'll all be ok by the summer. Look how that turned out.

And yet here we are. 2021 will soon be a distant memory, another new word Omicron, is abounding and causing UK governments to start imposing further restrictions on us all just as we thought we were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not sure I'll be raising a glass to having a fantastic 2022 in New Year's Eve this year.

I recall watching a UK Government presser way back in the early days of the pandemic, when one of the health honchos (probably Chris Whitty, but it could have been someone else), saying (and I paraphrase),

"The only way out of this is through vaccines"

Well, we've been giving vaccines for over a year. I've had my two initial jabs and my booster (so three in all if you're keeping up), as has much of the population, certainly here in Wales, and across much of the UK.  Thankfully, through this, and largely following the guidance, advice and regulations most of my family has avoided catching Covid (as far as we know), although my son did get it in September this year, but luckily he'd already been jabbed by then, so whilst poorly for a few days, didn't need anything other than a bit of R&R. And for the thick amongst us, remember that having a vaccine isn't a 100% guarantee that you won't get it, or pass it on. It's designed to not make you as ill as if you'd not had the jab, and likely need hospital treatment (if you're lucky).

Anyway, through the jab programme things seemed to be getting back to some sense of normality and then along comes Omicron, a variant of Covid. It is of course not surprising that there is (yet another) variant. That's what viruses (virii?) do. They mutate. That's why the flu jab is constantly needing tweaking. The problem here though is that there appears to be some significant difference of opinions bout Omicron - whether it's more (or less) transmissible, whether it's likely to lead to more serious illness or not, and consequently we have a some confusion about the right way to manage this in society. And as usual, the various UK governments are all taking a slightly different approach, announcing stuff at different times, and with different emphasis.

There is certainly some element of fear around Omicron and the rate of transmission - it seems almost everyone in London has it if mainstream media is to be believed, with most government and media acknowledging that we're in for a big hit, but no one seems able to quantify that in real terms.

The Welsh Government started a few days ago by releasing a statement at midnight (!), yes 12am when almost everyone was in bed, saying that all sporting events in Wales would be held behind closed doors from Boxing Day. Today they've further embellished and added to restrictions by reverting to a variation of alert level two (from alert level 0) which included no meeting of more than 6 in a pub/restaurant, 2m distancing, face masks, table service in hospitality as well as clarifying further restrictions on attending sporting/outdoor events.

Understandably, this has not gone down well with many. The main arguments seem to be along the line of - I can still go to a pub and watch football (if there's any on - most clubs seem to have a problem with players and staff catching covid, and there's also seems to be an element of many footballers not being vaccinated at all, but that's another story), but I can't go along and watch it outside in person. It's not quite as black and white as that, but I must admit as a general principle it does seem daft.

The same for park runs or indeed any large outdoor gathering - it's outside, largely socially distanced and being in a well ventilated area is now one of the defect bits of guidance, but no, you can't do it. Nip along to your local 'Spoons though with half a dozen mates and tens of others who are doing the same thing at the same time. Oh, and you still can't sing in a sparsely populated church, but it's fine to sing in a packed Alexandra Palace at the Darts world Championship with a crowd of people fuelled on by expensive lager.

Oh, not to mention the rules saying you must work from home if you can and you could be fined for going into work. Can you imaging saying that three years ago?

Basically, it's all a bit of a mess.

I don't know when all this is going to end. We cannot continue in a cycle of easing and locking down forever. People's mental health is at stake here as much as their physical health.

I do understand the need for management and to protect the NHS form being over-run, but to be perfectly frank, the NHS is more at risk of being over-run through continued and chronic long term underfunding and poor strategic management at government level than from Covid alone, but at some point there has to be a scenario where we just get on with it.

As an aside, if you're one of the vaccine nay-sayers or just an anti-vaxxer, you're a twat. Get it done. Don't give me any crap about not knowing what's in it. You probably don't know the secret recipe for KFC or Coke, but you'll still eat and drink it, and if you're worried about side effects, just look at the contact-indications on the med sheet in a box of paracetamol.

But hey, it's Christmas. I'm looking forward to a fairly quiet one (well I can't go to the football on Boxing Day as it's cancelled, or any of the matches following as crowds have been stopped from attending). 

So a nice few days with my immediate and close family away from it all. Might even get a game or two of socially distanced golf in before they stop that too.

Have a good one wherever you are.