Before writing this blog, I re-read Jane Armitage’s (my predecessor as managing partner of Jacksons) Easter blog from last year. In it she recalled that 12 months earlier, when the COVID epidemic first hit the UK, she had expected it to be a two or three month short, sharp ordeal and reflected upon the fact that she could never have imagined that we would still be living with COVID, and with the straight jacket that it was wrapping around our lives, 12 months later. She went on to say, however, that she believed that there was now clear daylight at the end of the tunnel and that she was hopeful that we would finally be free of this pandemic within the relatively near future. I have to say that, back then, I shared the same view. That outlook, again, however proved to be an overly optimistic one. Whilst the vaccine programme may now be controlling the severity of illness and consequential death rates, COVID is still wreaking its havoc on our lives as we hear daily reports of the extent to which COVID caused absences are decimating travel infrastructures, health and education, logistics and other services upon which we all rely. I would like to be able to express the same optimism that Jane did this time last year, and say that my expectation is that we will soon be free from the grip of COVID, but I think that experience has now taught us that the loosening of that grip is going to continue to be a long, bumpy and unpredictable process.
There are other black clouds that have also settled over our lives over the past year since last Easter, the most worrying of which is the terrible conflict which is being fought out in Ukraine. Invasion, oppression and brutality is, regrettably, a constant in our world, it is always happening somewhere, but the fact that these events are occurring on our own continent in a country that we perceive as being, culturally, so similar to ours, has really brought home to us the fragile nature of peace and the pain and suffering that can be so quickly unleashed when peace is lost. We all desperately hope that humanity will prevail sooner rather than later, but, right now, it is difficult to see how that will happen without regime change in Russia and it is equally difficult to see how that can or will be brought about.
But enough of the pessimism. As John Cleese was wont to say, now for something completely different. Every morning this week I have been woken at around 5 am by an orchestra of bird song. Whilst it’s a total pain being woken up at that time of the morning on a working day, it is, at the same time, compellingly beautiful and joyous to listen to. It lasts for no more than half an hour and then it’s gone until the following morning. Right now, it’s the highlight of my day. And so, that happier note, I will sign off by wishing you and yours a happy Easter. Enjoy the break, and if you find that you’re in need of a little cheer; wake up early and listen to the birds.
