A strange kind of anniversary, but so many acts of kindness give it special meaning

In many ways, today’s anniversary is meaningless.

The pandemic was – sadly – well developed by the time the country locked down and a full week earlier on March 16 we had already been told by Boris Johnson to work from home where possible, to avoid non-essential contact and, infamously, to ‘avoid’ pubs, clubs, restaurants and other places where people gathered. While March 23 is the date that has been understandably seared into our collective memory, life had already changed by then.

And other reason why this date is a touch arbitrary is that we are by no means out of the woods yet.

We remain in lockdown. We have a roadmap that everyone in the country hopes will be safe to follow – even while there is a growing body of people who want lockdown ended now – and a vaccination programme that, after the ineffective disappointment of the government’s contacts tracing programme, has given everyone hope that a state-organised initiative can make progress. But today is not a big day in the country’s, and the world’s, return to normality.

Despite that, it clearly is significant. Human beings need anniversaries. Our brains, for whatever reason, like to be able to judge progress – or difference – over the years.

And so what have learned, in a 12-month period that has been heartbreaking, terrifying, bizarre, entertaining and uplifting all at once?

Firstly, it is safe to say that nobody will take human contact for granted ever again. We will never be blase about being able to go out for a pint or a meal, nor see our family, nor even just pop round our friends’ houses.

There have been more than 125,000 individual tragedies during the course of this pandemic in this country alone – 125,000 families whose loved ones, who notwithstanding any other health conditions, have died earlier than they should have done. That is the headline, that is the rightly unforgettable statistic.

But there have also been millions of smaller sadnesses: children who have not seen parents; grandparents who have not seen grandchildren; groups of friends who have been barred by law from seeing each other. That much we have all experienced, and we cannot get this year back.

There has been and there will be further great economic damage. As government support decreases and furlough ends, we fear there will be hardship ahead. We hope that recent studies showing Portsmouth is a good place to start a business mean that the city has the resilience to come back and create more opportunities.

But there have been acts of kindness every where you look. See Team Scrubbers, based in Gosport, which has been churning out PPE for months. See the Hayling Helpers, making sure people on the island were safe and well. See long lists of vaccine volunteers helping at St James’ Hospital and outside pharmacies.

Let us hope that empathy continues.