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Does it feel like it’s almost over? There will be almost no restrictions south of the border from Monday, and Scotland could soon follow suit. Last weekend, Mr. Marr returned to Edinburgh after working 16 months in our dining room. We had wished for more time together for a long time. We never imagined it to be that way.
It feels like life is going back to normal in a way, but it doesn’t take much to destroy that illusion.
Hospitals and hospitality are struggling. Lange Covid is poorly understood. Our main roads are devastated.
Masks and caution are now a way of life.
None of us was left unscathed. But far from being in the same boat, I don’t know two people who have had the same experience. This transition feels like the end of something that has given us security and the beginning of something unknown. It is certainly not “normal” again. So how do we rationalize it all? History will judge our governments. But how have you been?
Sixteen months ago, Mr Marr closed the doors of the theater he runs in Edinburgh and headed north to “ride out” this new pandemic. When his staff refunded tickets for the following weeks, the feeling was that this would be a short-lived procedural disruption. But then – as a nation – we started to see the number of infections go up.
Keeping up to date has become a full-time job. We watched the daily news broadcasts, learned the “R” number, and watched in horror as Italian hearses queued to bury their dead. We also saw Italians sing to each other from balconies during a lockdown that we were yet to witness.
Our own lockdown was imposed to “save the NHS”. There was a shortage of hospital beds and the country was running out of ventilators. We only went out for important exercises and supplies. But supermarket shelves were empty when the nation panicked to buy pasta, toilet paper, paracetamol, and flour. Disinfectants and hand disinfectants were not available.
Universities and schools switched to online learning and homeschooling. We brought daughter # 2 home from Glasgow University and started exercising with Joe. Restaurants, bars, hotels and tourism businesses are closed.
Those of us who could worked from home. We applauded those who couldn’t, our key forces, on Thursday evening. Did our applause make them feel valued? May be. Did it help with missing PPE? Almost certainly not. The word “vacation” stumbled on our tongues as if we’d always known it. Many have slipped through the net.
Those over 70 were encouraged to stay indoors. The virus ripped through nursing homes. We weren’t wearing masks yet, and there wasn’t a reliable test. Those were scary times.
Our “new normal†consisted of deserted city centers, traffic-free streets and a calm sky due to the lack of air traffic. Holidays were canceled and vacation companies and airlines collapsed. But airports stayed open and new variants came.
Retailers hit the wall. Nature began to grow into the space we had cleared for her, and our gardens got the attention they had longed for.
By midsummer the situation seemed to improve. With restrictions easing and the winter news of a vaccine, life seemed hopeful. Then the slap of the Christmas lockdown. Now cases have risen again, but hospital stays have decreased. I thank science for the vaccine.
What we thought might take six weeks took over 70, and its effects will last much longer. But I’m still looking for silver linings where I can.
Today I was able to have my lunch in peace, without any judgment or comment. In my book, a fish fingers and cucumber sandwich is a great delight. Mr. Marr was too far away in his theater to object.
Click here to read more from Nicky Marr.
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