We are coming to the end of 2020 and what a year it has been! There have been so many changes in our lives that it is hard to recognise the “real us” anymore. Not only are our masks protecting us, but they are hiding us as well. We go into the supermarket or pharmacy and feel eyes staring at us, but no smile reaches those eyes as mouths are hidden. Those of us who work in the service industry have been the hardest hit with the tourist industry suffering the most. We have seen restaurants and pubs close as well as the local paper shops. People are not only afraid of being infected by COVID-19 but are also slow to spend as maybe their social welfare transfer has not arrived on time and they need to be extra cautious. This of course has had a knock- on effect on the economy causing local businesses to close or go bankrupt.
It is hard to believe that when we started in confinement at the beginning of March nine months would pass so quickly. You would think it would be the exact opposite particularly if we have been restricted to work from home. But time seems to race on no matter how active or inactive we are. Days pass into weeks, weeks pass into months, and months pass into years. Albert Einstein believed that time is just a complex network of events onto which we project sequences of past, present and future. It would be nice to put his theory into practice for one day and imagine the year of the COVID-19 was just an illusion. That 2020 did not exist. Instead, for the past twelve months we have been living in a bubble and that on New Year´s Eve, we will emerge from our bubble jumping from 2019 straight to 2021. No masks, no restrictions, and no vaccines. What a happy illusion that would be. Let’s keep on dreaming so that one day not so far from now this may become a reality!
From all of us here at Carole Brown Idiomas,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
May 2021 be a far healthier and more prosperous year.
Stay safe and be ever vigilant.