There’s one thing I definitely didn’t put on my Christmas list this year and that was COVID. Nevertheless it arrived. I think I must have been on the naughty list.
For something so small it has done a lot of damage around the globe. The picture coming out of China looks like there is another massive wave on the way though getting the information on infection rates from the UK Government is no easy task. I read once that the total amount of virus circulating the world would fit into a teaspoon. That’s certainly something that Santa could handle.
Our episode started with my wife coming down with it, quite badly for a few days while I seemed to escape. Just when she started to recover the inevitable happened. I tested to make sure that we were OK to visit the grandchildren only to see the dreaded two lines appear. As far as I am aware this is the first time I have had it.
In the grand scheme of things it has not been a problem. Yes, we have had to cancel some visits, give away the panto tickets and put all the food in the freezer but we’re surviving and will fight to live another day. There are many in a much worse position than we are, much, much worse.
In many ways this year has been a repeat of last year, only with different players getting ill. I had to let the panto tickets go then as well and I should have paid more attention when given the choice to pay cancellation insurance. It never crossed my mind that the virus would be an issue this year.
My youngest daughter told me of an old Yiddish proverb that ‘Man plans and God laughs.’ It seems such an apt message as what COVID has really done is messed with our plans. These days every moment of our lives seems to be filled with something and the cancellation of one is the flap of that butterfly’s wing. This is why the recent strikes are so disruptive. In themselves they are containable but the ripples they cause spread far and wide.
So, it looks like I will be home at least until the New Year then. Please don’t come and visit. The irony is that I put off my fourth injection in case it made me feel ill before the festivities. Will I ever learn? Probably not.
What’s that noise? I think I can hear the sound of God laughing.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 