A Small Prick Of Hope

My recent article in The Stage hinted that 2021 might not have been all that we were expecting it to be, given the number of U-turns we’ve already experienced, and how for many of us, this lockdown has been the hardest. Starting with days ending at four in the afternoon, it’s been very difficult to find a reason to push forward and get up every day.

I was facing a week like that last week with days looming empty on my schedule screen. Luckily, late last Monday afternoon, the first completed edit of my new novel “The Hoax” arrived back from my publishers. With the title all about a prank, the logical publication date has always seemed like April 1, and now we are racing against time to make sure that the book is available. That meant suddenly my week had a purpose and breaking the word count down into easily achievable chunks, the last five days have been taken up with refining, clarifying, emphasising, and hopefully improving the text. Karen, the editor for the publisher, and my lovely friend Jane Wenham Jones who has also provided me with an edit, have both done sterling work and tried to tame my maverick use of the comma and my somewhat intermittent knowledge of the pluperfect.

Unexpectedly I also had my jab. The online calculators were telling me that I might be getting a small prick from the government during March, (Only if Gavin Williamson was free) but a text message bounced onto my phone in early February and Friday the 12th saw me heading up to the doctors for an incredibly efficient process which took all of eleven minutes and left me with a sore and feeling rather sorry for myself all day Saturday. It seems that many people who get the AstraZeneca jab do have a reaction to it, but quite frankly eight hours of feeling rather ‘ heavy and fluey’ seems like a small price to pay if some sort of freedom is on the cards. ‘ Heavy and fluey’ is also listed as the most common type of symptoms, which I have to say sounds a little disappointing. Wherewith the business class symptoms, or at the very least the premium economy side effects?

On my way for the jab

Yesterday we were told that every adult would receive a vaccine, one shot at least, by the end of July and that’s probably the most hopeful piece of information that 2021 has yet brought us.  Given that’s been leaked two days before bumbling bastard Boris is due to reveal his roadmap out of lockdown, one can’t help but think it’s a little tease, a pleasant bon bon, to prepare us for what might be a slightly less palatable main course. With the increasing good news about the vaccination targets, there is also a growing pressure to throw caution to the wind. After all that we’ve been through over the last three months; the loss of Christmas, an endless January, and little opportunity to celebrate other than cheer for the return of Drag Race UK, it would be a shame if we don’t all have a little patience and do this properly.

We are so near to Easter now, surely the homeschooling can continue just a little longer for some people, rather than a rush back to school for everyone. If the hospitality industry, who have suffered harder and longer than many others, could be given some workable dates in May or June as to when they might resume, then I’m sure we could all cope with another month and something to look forward to.

2021 hasn’t been the panacea that I think we all hoped it might be in December, but hopefully, it is a slow and steady recovery. As RuPaul might advise “Don’t Fuck it up.”