Happy New Year? Bah, humbug.
You can’t blame many people for feeling a lot more skeptical than usual about the pending arrival of another year, especially the way things went in 2021.
We thought after a horrible 2020 that 2021 would mark the start of a nice turnaround. It didn’t.
Instead, 2021 was actually much worse than 2020, given all that happened in our province, in particular, but also around the world.
COVID-19 that we all thought would be long gone by the time 2021 rolled around has only intensified and now the uncertainty created by the Omicron variant and all that might entail leaves us wondering what lies ahead. There could supposedly be many more mutations as time drags on before we stamp this thing out.
We could, in fact, wind up living with this virus – worst case scenario – for a long time. That will mean massive adjustments in the way we live.
It was first thought two vaccine doses would provide the necessary protection, but now we’re up to what’s considered a required booster shot to deal with Omicron. Will there be more needed with another variant or perhaps even an annual shot like for the flu? Time will tell, but it’s certain to be a rocky road in so many ways before life returns to anything resembling the pre-pandemic normals.
The weather, of course, is the other hot topic after what can only be called a tumultuous 2021 on that front. Extremes were seen throughout the year, with massive flooding, unsurpassed heat and now even significant snowfall and colder than usual temperatures. There was even a minor earthquake to shake things up.
Whether we see a repeat of that type of weather again depends on how swiftly climate change digs in its heels. The best we can do after what we’ve experienced in 2021 is to just be prepared for anything at any time.
On the positive side for 2022, can things possibly get any worse again? It’s very unlikely so hopefully everyone will find a silver lining in something and put all the forgettable events of the last two years behind us.