Visiting

Nothing seems to improve in the world around us and I am finding it quite difficult to continue to ignore it. I do not think it is just the political chaos that is swirling around us at the moment, I feel it is more related to the uncertainty of how this is all going to pan out over the next few months. I realise I have not seen some of my children face to face for two years come this weekend. It is something I have blanked really just accepting that is the case and it will sort. At the moment I wonder when.

Christmas is always a stressful time with different parts of the family wanting to get together, including some, excluding others with me in the middle; so frequently one travels far too much accommodating people’s wishes. Then this year I have been being very careful in protecting myself from the virus with quite long periods of semi-isolation. Something my family doesn’t seem to get as they mix and carry on as normal. Needless to say, one household which includes one of my daughters and one of my sons has had Covid together with the rest of the household. They are therefore quite happy to suggest that they are now safe and there will be no problem in visiting and spending Christmas day with them and I have nothing to worry about. I am no scientist. On occasions it is difficult to “follow the science” as this does seem to change but what have picked up is that it is possible to be re-infected and it is possible to transmit infection after you have had Covid. Also, they are only twenty minutes from London where, in case they hadn’t noticed it, there is a surging infection rate of Omnicom sufficient for the Mayor to declare a state of emergency.

I have been invited by close friends to visit them for Christmas for a couple of days. They  take the risks seriously, to the extent that we have all agreed to isolate before meeting up, so that so far as possible I do not bring an infection to them and they do not infect me. Having spent the best part of two years keeping safe it feels pointless to put it all at risk at the last minute because my family have had enough of it all. It fascinates me how my youngest son scans the internet for medical views that support his theory that it is all being exaggerated and that masks have no effect, that the population is being used as guinea pigs, which is morally wrong. He is not antivax, he has had his jabs. He is just looking for justification of his view. As I said you always can find anything on the internet to justify any position, it does not mean it is right.

So I am fortunate, I am able to visit where I want and choose to be because we have all been willing to take the necessary steps to be safe so that we can enjoy our time together without stressing unduly. If that had not been possible I would have been content to stay at home and to have had a quiet Christmas, mixing with friends and family by Zoom as we did last year. I wonder where it will all be this time next year.