OVER THE LAST YEAR, it’s become commonplace to talk about the scale-shifting effects of 2020: how lockdowns and restrictions, despite their hardships, have made us all more well-acquainted with our immediate localities, and given us a newfound appreciation of what we may have close to hand (which, of course, is a lot more for some than it is for others).
After the first lockdown, with bluebells flaming in the woods and all the intricacy of spring unfolding, it was easy to describe finding “hidden gems” and gaining a “new perspective”. Two further lockdowns (plus about 1,537 ‘tiers’) and the best part of a year later, with the ‘end’ still feeling distant and elusive, and the mountain of wider grief growing bigger by the day, that kind of glass-half-full attitude comes…
