2020 is a year almost everyone wishes to forget, but in line with the practice that I encourage in the learners that I work with, it is always useful to reflect back on events to learn for the future. In the first post on this blog, I described intending to use this blog to “offload furniture from my brain-attic, ie. to get rid of thoughts that are going round and round in my head with no place to express them”. I am therefore putting these thoughts down on the first day of 2021, more for my own benefit, than for anyone reading them. It may also be interesting for me to revisit them in the future.
When I gathered up my files and laptop and left the office at lunchtime on a Wednesday in mid-March 2020, I expected to be working from home for three months, or six months at the outside. However, I will be starting 2021 still in my back bedroom, with all contact with my colleagues and learners being via screens or phone. The novelty of not having to commute to South Wimbledon and being able to attend meetings seemingly in the TARDIS console room, has well and truly worn off. Living with two people who are at heightened risk, I can count the number of times that I have left my home (including the garden) since mid-March on my fingers and toes, and even then I have not ventured outside Greater London. I miss live theatre (seeing at least one stage production per week in normal times), attending signing events, and meeting with others in person. However, my feelings in relation to this are not anger or frustration, only a wistful remembrance of times when I didn't know that I had it so good. I regret nothing (save not going to a signing event in March 2020 just prior to lockdown), as I know that I have done what is best for those that I love.
But although there have been many lows this year, including the deaths of several people who have impacted positively on my life in previous years, I found the completion of my 2020 Awards, helped me identify the positives also. My favourite day of last year was the quadriennial calendar anomoly, 29th February, which featured my favourite live events for both 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock Holmes'. But what was it that made that day so special ? Was it meeting Thirteenth Doctor companion, Tosin Cole ? Or getting to solve a case alongside Cumberbatch's Sherlock ? No, it was that I attended both events with friends – the last time we were together in person. Memories of that day, and regular telephone and online contact with friends have kept me going through some of the more difficult times, along with the support of family. Online plays (more screens !!) have also helped with the theatre itch. I have also taken the opportunity to plan around ten future 'Sherlockian Sojourns' that I will undertake when the vaccine has done its work.
So I enter 2021 in a positive frame of mind, hopeful of an eventual return to something approaching 'normality', but confident that I have the support to cope with lockdown in the meantime. Things may get worse before they get better, but I've proved to myself that I can deal with whatever is thrown at me. Hopefully 2021 will indeed be a 'Happy New Year'.
