Covid 19 – after a year Covid 19 is still a living nightmare

I can hardly believe it was March 23rd last year when Boris Johnson ordered us into total a lockdown and told us in no uncertain terms that if we didn’t follow the strict lockdown rules, the likely consequences was catching the dreaded virus. This meant that our normally carefree lifestyles were restricted to one essential shop and one walk a day but most took this on the chin and accepted these strict social distancing rules and wearing masks were there to save lives, of course hoping and preying all would be over by the end of the summer, at least those were my thoughts. I even planned to take a small holiday late September.!

As restrictions started to be lifted towards the end of May, lifestyle beginning to return to normality, I even contemplated plans to fly to Barbados to see friends.  These travel plans were no-longer a dream but reality especially during the warm months of summer when our lifestyles were almost back to normal. But how wrong I was, personal predictions of normality continuing into the winter months were way off the mark. A year has since passed and we are still fighting this silent enemy but to the Government’s credit, the vaccination programme is proving to a mitigating success yet as I write we are still in lockdown despite the lifting of some restrictions. On April 12th Golf and Tennis resumed with usually social distancing rule and eating outdoors became a pleasure no matter how cold it was outside, and boy there were some very chilly days but wrapping up warming in winter ski gear soon became the norm when eating outdoors. Sadly early Spring was one of country’s coldest and wettest but at least a limited number of fans were able to watch open air sporting fixtures live! All this we accepted with open arms and huge smiles as initial steps to normality. .

The success of the vaccination programme undoubtedly helping get our lives back to normal, or at least that was what we were led to believe but scientists representing Sage had other ideas and would constantly remind us that we were still in the middle of a pandemic and no-where near coming to an end… which was the best way to dampened hopes and dreams of returning to normality

In my opinion those miserable, cold winter days were the worst period of the pandemic as I tried fathoming out why the Government continued to issue words of doom and gloom rather than ‘a light at the end of the tunnel’ yet by March the daily number of deaths from Covid were decreasing rapidly as were confirmed cases. Yet are lives still remained restricted while Sage members added more woes that the virus is unlikely to go away which is hard to comprehend.

After last year’s glorious and unusually warm summer, infections rates started mysteriously raising in September, some say due to returning tourists, mass gatherings and private parties but who’s to know only that it forced us into a tier three followed by a tier 4 in late November. In the back of most of our minds we knew the worst was still to come, and it did, with confirmed cases rising daily and the death rate shooting up above the number they were the same time last year.  On January 4th, a second lockdown was duly announced, a nightmare most hoped to avoid.

How we survived the next three months is difficult to perceive. The freezing cold winter and short days didn’t help and it is not surprising that many were affected by this second lockdown with mental depressions. However, with the start of Spring, sunnier weather, longer days, moods were lifted with the promise that by April 15th golf courses would be opened and tennis enthusiasts would be allowed to play tennis albeit only outdoors whatever the weather but at least sports were hitting balls again,

Sadly Spring was nothing like the year before when some days temperatures hit the upper 20’s if anything it was a very miserable and cold Spring with fewer sunny days, and these cold days did nothing to lift hopes for a rapid end to lockdown. However, by the early May days were longer and warmer, more Covid rules were lifted and life as we knew it was slowly retuning.

Apologies this has taken so long finish but quite honestly, I didn’t feel in the mood to write about the worst and most miserable period of second lockdown and the negative affects it had our lives but lots has changed since some rules have been lifted and life is returning to some normality.