Our year in lockdown
YESTERDAY marked a year since Wales, and the rest of the UK, was placed under national lockdown restrictions.
As the coronavirus pandemic slowly ground the world to a stop, the greatest restrictions on people’s freedoms were imposed and the public was ordered to stay at home.
It was a moment such as none of us had ever experienced before and few would have imagined, in spite of some predictions at the time that we would still be in the midst of lockdown a year later.
But the reality that some feared and all of us hoped wouldn’t happen is still with us.
And we still have no real idea when these restrictions on our lives will end for good.
What we do know is that over the course of several waves, in Wales more than 5,000 people have died with coronavirus and there have been more than 207,000 cases.
We have gone from the crushing lows of full lockdown to the optimism of life returning to normal, only to find ourselves back staring again at depressing, suffocating restrictions depriving people of seeing their loved ones.
We have gone a year with minimal celebrations, seeing no more than a handful of people and spending more time at home than we ever imagined.
Offices have been replaced by bedrooms, parks and gardens have become valued commodities and doorstep chats are treasured.
We have marvelled at the heroism of frontline workers, joined together with neighbours to show our support and been dismayed at the disregard some people have shown for rules designed to keep us all safe.
It has been a remarkable 12 months, in which a word few of us had heard in February last year has come to dominate all our lives more than anyone could have thought possible.
But now, a year on, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Restrictions are slowly easing, people can cautiously meet up and over a third of the adult population have been vaccinated.
These are just some of the images from the past 12 months in our part of Wales, in a year like no other.