Mystic Jelltex returns

Happy New Year.

I will try to be positive with this post.

I believe, come middle of the year, things will be better. It might take longer to be where all pubs, bars restaurants and sporting venues are fully open. But if New Zealand can do it, then why can't we?

Well, you know why, but still.

If the vaccine is rolled out in sufficient numbers, then, maybe, just maybe.

Meanwhile there is Brexit: I know I said I would not mention it, but a couple of points that slipped out in the dusk hours of New Year's Eve:

1. International driving permits won't be needed after all for those who need to drive in the EU.

2. Rules of origin checks are going to be waived by the EU for 12 months.

These, and maybe other agreements will soften the edges of Brexit. And this is the start. Brexit was always going to be about the small things as much as the big stuff. Things we do now with no second thoughts will involve additional paperwork or payments or waiting in line for a passport stamp when we travel.

We shall see.

Otherwise, it's all up for grabs. I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, let alone in a week or a month or six months from now.

One thing that is keeping us going is the thought that we should be flying to New Zealand in 11 months, almost to the day. For seven weeks of holiday of a lifetime.

We don't know what will happen with my job, though some sort of clarity one way or another will come before the end of January. And as Jools works in manufacturing, her job is lined to Brexit and it's effects.

What we can be sure of is that Spring is coming. Days are getting lighter and longer. In time the weather will warm, spring flowers will start to emerge, we will see butterflies and feel the warmth of the sun on our upturned faces.

And we will smile.

To appreciate the good times fully, we have had to have lived through the bad times, and 2020 were some of the worse times.

Never forget what happened last year, the lies, the incompetence and those we lost, most needlessly.

Live long and propser.