Shooting Times & Country Magazine
LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
All the signs are good for a restriction-free 2022
How was it for you? Though I’m writing this a couple of weeks before the end of the season, with two more outings still to come, it won’t appear in print until game shooting is over. Unlike the previous season, which was virtually destroyed by the COVID-19 restrictions, at least the past few months have been little affected by lockdowns or other rules or guidelines.
I spoke recently with the operator of a large commercial shoot. He told me that he had made a whopping £300,000 loss in the 2020-21 season. Fortunately, he is a canny operator with a war chest in case of disaster, so he had managed to survive a financial meltdown that would have sunk many businesses. He did tell me that this past season has, in contrast, been a good one and he hadn’t had to cancel a single day due to either lockdowns or bad weather.
Though I’m a believer in vaccines, I remain unconvinced by wearing face coverings and sincerely hope that, by next season, nobody will be expected to wear a mask when travelling in a shoot bus.
It did seem bizarre for Guns, beaters and dog handlers to be required to maskup when travelling together, but then be allowed to take their masks off when sitting down for lunch. Does eating and drinking give some sort of immunity? I don’t think that it does, but this highlights the absurdity of some of the rules we have had to put up with.
It does seem that the Government is finally coming round to the view that the virus is something we have to live with, as we do with flu. The sooner it stops giving the daily figures for positive tests the better, as such statistics are largely meaningless unless put into context. They do more to scare people than reassure them that life can return to normal.
I was pleased to see the back of both 2020 and 2021, and remain optimistic that 2022 will be better. At the time of writing, it’s been sunny and unusually dry, so a jolly good start to the year.