On Friday Here’s hoping for no more Tiers in 2021
WHAT’S New Year’s doesn’t end in Tiers? For one deluded moment I thought we were going to enter the New Year on a high. As I drove to Slapton sands for a beautiful sunrise swim on Wednesday, news of the second vaccine had just been released.
I felt a rush of excitement that this was the shining light at the end of the dark tunnel that was 2020. The Astra Zeneca Oxford vaccine will be rolled out from Monday, said broadcasters. I did a little jig in my car, picturing the end of the pandemic, hugs and holidays. Hooray!
But within hours, bumbling Boris had thrown another roadblock in our 2020 tunnel.
“We are still in the tunnel of this pandemic, the light however is not merely visible, thanks to an extraordinary feat of British engineering if you like the tunnel has been shortened and we are moving faster through it, and that gives me great confidence about the future in the spring,” said the Prime Minister as he plunged millions of households into Tier 4 with less than 24 hours notice. if it
The whole country (except the splendidly remote outpost of the Isles of Scilly) was heading for Tier 3 or 4 – no more substantial meals or Scotch eggs, or anything other than a takeaway from our beleaguered pubs, restaurants and cafes.
We all knew it was coming. We expected a national lockdown of sorts in January. And with cases and deaths rising at an alarming rate it feels like we should all be in a minimum of Tier 5 if it would help it go away.
But yet again the Government has made it so much worse than it needed to be.
Why the short notice?
We could have been warned weeks’ ago that a new lockdown would begin on December 31.
Cases have been rising for weeks. It was obvious to all of us that more restrictions would be needed as the cold weather and flu season hit.
New Year’s Eve happens every year. If these additional restrictions were designed to stop people partying, why couldn’t they have made that clear before Christmas?
Instead, bars that had not only reserved tables but practically laid them; pubs that had ordered and even prepared their food; and restaurants with their ducks a l’oranges all in a row were forced to shut and cancel everything at a moment’s notice. What happens to all that food? The cask ales that will spoil? The mountains of waste?
And what about the hotels and holiday cottages? Thousands were on holiday in the Westcountry this week – most completely legitimately in spite of the circumstances. But with less than 24 hours to go before New Year, they were forced to pack their bags and head home to see in 2021 with a frozen meal and a glass of leftover sherry.
And the shops? For us in Tier 3, non essential shops can stay open but with barely any customers it’s hardly worth it. And for Tier 4 retailers, the doors have been shut on a dreadful year yet again.
I’d say any vestiges of goodwill that saw the country through 2020 will have pretty much evaporated in the past 48 hours. We’re staying in for each other, not for this government.
And while the New Year might not have ended on that high, I’m holding on to that light at the end of the tunnel, good vibes and no more Tiers for 2021.
Happy New Year!
Any vestiges of goodwill that saw the country through 2020 will have pretty much evaporated