We've made it to the end!

This tired little rose bush isn't looking too healthy right now. Amazing that in a few months time it will be bursting with colour and life! I'm grateful for the lessons that nature teachers us, that what seems dead and hopeless in winter will soon spring forth with life. I'm also grateful for the lessons that my faith teaches me, that sometimes things need to die before life can reappear. Spring will come, life will bloom, we will see light at the other side.

I was watching Charlie Brooker's Death to 2020 the other day and I didn't find it as enjoyable as I have in previous years. On reflection, I think it's because we've already talked all we can about this year, already made all the jokes, already made our political digs (a hundred times over) and it didn't seem like we needed to hear it all again. So, as I tend to look back on these blips for years to come, I want to end this year talking about the lovely things that have happened over the past year. The bad things are already sketched deep into our memories and I don't think any of us will have any trouble remembering the horrors of the last year.

So, onto the good things. The start of the year saw my mum's radiotherapy treatment ending, thankfully before things got tricky. I was grateful to the NHS then, and even more so now. As a celebration we took a little trip to Nice, again, before things got weird. Unbelievably, I was also able to see two of my favourite comedians before lockdown: Jessica Fostekew with musicalblips and Josie Long just a few weeks later. 

When I look back on my blips from lockdown, it actually all looks pretty pleasant. There was obviously the fear and loneliness and confusion, of course, but also the most incredible opportunities to be outside and explore the nature on our doorsteps. I know the edit reels only show the good bits, but cycling and walking around Shropshire in the sunshine was delightful. 

Being away from normal ways of socialising was difficult but being isolated meant pouring into friendships with people who aren't close by. I've had more chats with Kristi (Canada) and Kristin (USA) via Marco Polo than I have since we were all living in Zambia which has been such a joy. And regular weekly zoom quizzes with this gang was something that we hadn't ever done before. 

When we were finally allowed to venture beyond our localities it was utterly dreamy to drive all the way to Warwick to see the Oxford family and paddle around by Warwick Castle. And I cannot talk about this year without talking about the absolutely incredible trip we were able to take to this little piece of paradise. Honestly, after the Spring we'd just come out of, to be paddling down the Dordogne seemed like a billion dreams come true. As the summer closed I was fortunate enough to see musicalblips in Aberdyvi and see robharris35 in the Cotswolds. All things that seemed unthinkable just a few months before.

The return to work in September was nerve-wracking but the time apart, I think, gave us a greater appreciation of each other as a team and we enjoyed being able to get lots of new projects off the ground and have a giggle along the way.

I don't wish to make light of the last year and, of course, I know it has been desperately difficult for so many people. But I do think that we can all look back and find snippets of joy in what has been a dreadful year. We've cried and we've longed and we've missed, but hopefully we've smiled and laughed a few times too.