Covid '21
As expected, much of my December was spent at home, either working online or preparing for the festivities. We were fortunate to be together as a family over this period, at a time when so many remain apart. As expected, the Christmas period was a relatively chilled affair - I sought out as many unseen 5-star films as I could to pad out the rainy December afternoons! Ben-Hur and Spartacus certainly whiled away a good few hours.
In-person work at Edge Hill university ended with what should have been a full musical production, but instead ended up being a half-hour filmed section for the purposes of a final-year assessment. Even so, it felt like old times being back in a dark theatre, at a keyboard, with full lighting and costumes in front of me. It was like slipping on an old comfortable pair of gloves! The students have been brilliantly adaptive this semester under such difficult circumstances, and all really pulled it out of the bag for the performance. Inevitably, the return to campus this month has been delayed by a few weeks, so there will be a bit more working from home. At least it means more time to get back to some degree of fitness!
It’s safe to say that few people will be looking back on 2020 with a great degree of fondness. I’m sure there are elements of it, such as weighing up career vs finance vs family; a better focus on health & happiness; finally getting a home task done, a new skill learnt, or just getting that box set finished. These are qualities we have been forced to consider, if simply to prevent most of us going doolally! But I hope some of these can change me for the better once we begin to emerge from the other side of this pandemic.
2021 should see a degree of normality return, but it’s so hard to know exactly what or when. The big shows are planning a full return by late spring and summer, which is a possibility but nowhere near a certainty. If the pandemic isn’t under control, restrictions could easily return for Christmas next year. My hope is that the level of restrictions we begin this year under will end up being as strict as they get, with a slow relaxation over the next 6 months. I certainly hope to be sat in a theatre once again by then!
Whatever it brings, I hope you have a Happy New Year. Keep taking each day as it comes, and before we know it we will be back doing the things we love.