Walking

Another tier 4 quiet day to round off 2020. Chris went for a walk with Rosie today (blipped), and as it's only 1-1 allowed, I (Annie) stayed home. Lovely for him to catch up. At dusk, we headed back to see if we could better see the murmuration of starlings in the same place as yesterday. They were even more spectacular (see extra).

So many round ups of 2020 appearing on social media today from people. It's pretty hard to sum up a year like this, when it's still pretty hard to believe what's happened.

The year can be summed up:

- In places. Looking back at January and February's blips, the world seems a totally foreign place. We went places. We were allowed to travel freely between countries. We were out at a gig at the end of February, crammed inside a hot space with thousands of others. Almost impossible to think of now. Something to not take for granted now.

- In numbers. I ran 2019 and 2020 through the WWF carbon footprint calculator: 227% of our target impact on the world in 2019, and 96% in 2020. In 2020 we've switched to 100% green electricity, have a hybrid car, both gone (99%) vegetarian, and of course - been housebound for most of the year. It scares me that even with the last point, we're still only 96% of the target. That's under, but not that under. One holiday next year and we're back over again.

- In people. The hardest part for most people for this year has been the isolation of some form or other. We've seen hardly any of the girls this year, and that's made us really sad. It's hard having a family if you don't get to spend time with it. Other parts of the family have been similarly distant. I have really struggled not seeing friends often enough. We're so lucky to both have each other, and be able to work from home safely - but it is hard not seeing other people. My main hope for 2021 is to have more human contact.

- In colours. I ran our 2019 blips, and our 2020 blips, as two batches through an average colour calculator. Why? Great question. Because as a programmer I can perhaps? Anyway, It was fascinating to see how much more natural the colour pallete was in 2020, and how city-bright-lights unnatural 2019 was. If 2020 has done one great thing, it's got us out in nature more - both on walks and in the garden. It's been good for our soul.

There are so many other ways to slice the year up - how would you do it? Whatever the answer, it's important to be grateful. We're so lucky in so many ways, and the sadnesses will pass in time when the world is reconnected. Thank you to all the key workers that keep this world turning, and thank you to all communities that help each other in this time of need.

So Happy New Year to all, and tomorrow we'll look forward to being able to say, "Hindsight is 2020".


Edit Jan 2021:  the year finished with a note of "thank goodness 2020 is over", but also a resigned feeling that 2021 would be tough too, at least to begin with. A further 55,892 new COVID-19 cases are confirmed in the UK, the largest daily number so far.