Today, 24th January 2021, is exactly one year since I started taking notice of COVID-19. Here’s a little history of the past twelve months (as seen from my writing desk).

Floods in the Arun Valley, by William H Clarkson
One of our visitors that New Year lives in Hong Kong. We’d had a long chat about the protests in parts of the Territories which, at that time, was the biggest news from that part of the world. He flew home in early January.
Then news of the new SARS variant appeared on social media. I emailed his partner to ask if he was safe (yes) and continued doom-scrolling as the disease spread across the Chinese mainland.
Twitter showed eerie footage of Wuhan, a city larger than London.
Empty motorways. Giant machines spraying disinfectant along the streets between darkened, shuttered city blocks. And people in high-rise flats calling out to each other, whistling, cheering, shouting Keep-Calm-And-Carry-On-style slogans across thin air twenty storeys up.
A month later, five hundred million people were in lockdown.
China cancelled Chinese New Year.
There may still be a Wuhan diary online – the link is for Day 6 (28th January 2020), the first post in English – but by the end of February those cheers had turned to cries of “I want to go out”, and stories began to circulate of tragedy unfolding in silence. As ever, those most affected were those reliant on others to care for their needs – children, frail elders, or disabled.
By then, hospitals in other parts of the world had begun to see the new infection seize hold of their vulnerable citizens with alarming impact.
…
Maybe my research for SHADOWBOX had given me some insight into pandemic disease to which we had little resistance.
Maybe it was history telling how Native American populations were devastated by new illnesses brought by Europeans.
I began to feel wary of the UK response. Our new government seemed blithe, nonchalant – oblivious.
Then, in March, Denmark closed its borders.
Ireland cancelled St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Finally, lockdown – proper, hard, everything-shut lockdown – came to Britain.
…
In April I walked to the local post office with a parcel. The houses on one residential street were decked with mannequins – on the porch or balcony or front garden – with bunting strewn in the spring sunshine as if there was a royal wedding on the way. NHS rainbows in crayon stuck to front-room windows. Applause, once a week, for care workers, when what they really needed was proper PPE.
Since then, the only reason to go out has been for medical appointments or running the car around the neighbourhood to keep the battery charged.
What was summer like? We stayed at home and kept to ourselves, watching in disbelief as people danced the conga at VE Day celebrations, thronged trains to the coast, jammed themselves into restaurants as if the Masque of the Red Death was a new flavour of sundae.
Enraged, I wrote “The First Ten Thousand Dead” and hoped I was over-reacting.
Autumn came and went. Christmas, New Year, not going out, cautious of strangers and careful to disinfect deliveries.
Now the dreich days of January are back again, floods obscuring the riverbanks like December 2019. A whole year has passed by, time stood still for those of us lucky enough to be safe at home.
Seems like Plague Island is the New Normal, adrift off Europe.
…
Grim though it feels right now, summer’s coming. We are being vaccinated at pace.
It’s a long way off, but the bright days of sunshine will come again. The wasps in my woodpile will let me know when.
While I have writing goals for this year, I also want to keep up the habit of posting on here at least once a week. Some posts will be long and rambling (like this one), some poems (mine and others), hopefully some updates on progress against the writing goals I set in January.
I will try to be positive and truthful, and endeavour to bring some light in otherwise dark days.
With that in mind, this week’s Three Bright Spots:
- The USA Presidential handover. Oh, I know there’s only so much one man (and woman) can do to change the world. But there are challenges right now that need attention, globally, and the focus has been on the wrong subjects for a long time, so any change that might address those challenges in some positive way is welcome. So much to hope for.
- Look out of someone else’s windows on Window-Swap
- Travel back in time, across (part of) the USA, without leaving your chair: Nomadic Research Labs
Summer’s coming. I promise.