A time to celebrate
Morrie Christmas, everyone!
New Year’s Eve 2019 is just a vague memory of toasting 2020 with half a glass of flat champagne and looking forward to the year ahead. Another cruise perhaps? Visiting my grandkids in Australia? A few local holidays, maybe? Of course, none of that happened.
No doubt, for some, 2020 has been the worst year ever. Covid-19 is not just a news event happening in some remote part of the world; it is a serious pandemic that was visited on most of us, if not directly then in the form of lockdowns. A crazy year entwined with wacky experiences like social distancing, hotel quarantines, constant hand sanitizing, elbow-bump greetings, Covid apps — and how can we forget the panic buying of toilet paper, which I still have not been able to figure out? I even asked my local chemist if I was missing something. She couldn’t figure out the reason either.
Now hope is on the horizon. Several pharmaceutical companies are lining up for approval of their Covid-19 vaccines and, as I write this, the first vulnerable patients have just days to wait in the UK. We all look forward to conquering this virus once and for all.
Thankfully, by the time you open these pages, a comparatively normal Christmas should be just around the corner. The festive season is such a great time to just completely chill out and relax, and this year we certainly need it.
It’s the one day of the year that almost everything stops and large chunks of the world stand still. It’s not very often that I switch off completely but Christmas is the one time of the year that I let myself eat far too much and put all the pre-christmas stress behind me. While I relish the challenge of working with a great team on this magazine every month, I’m still looking forward to taking a few weeks off to recharge the batteries.
It’s probably fair to say that most, if not all, Kiwis have a soft spot for the humble Morrie that’s been a trusty, reliable family member for generations and very much a part of our Kiwi motoring heritage. I imagine most of us grew up knowing someone who owned a Morrie, if there wasn’t at least one already in the family. As you’ll read in the story, this month’s beautifully restored Morris Traveller brought back memories for me, as I’m sure it will for many of our readers.
Finally, on behalf of the entire
New Zealand Classic Car and Parkside Media team, I would like to wish all our loyal readers, advertisers, and contributors a very merry Christmas and a joyous new year. Drive safely over the holiday season, and I look forward to catching up with you next year.
Ashley Webb
Editor