Where's the Time Gone?

Knowing my friendship with a certain lady, someone asked me the other day about her son ... and her daughter, with whom I had been at school many years ago.  Now, I hadn't seen the daughter since schooldays except for a single occasion probably twelve or thirteen years ago, when she happened to be visiting her mother when I called in for a chat.  I have never met the son, but it was he who had advised me of his mother's death.  I saw them both at the lady's funeral but that wasn't the time for inconsequential chit-chat.

I remember the funeral as if it were last month: the quaint little church in a rugged north Yorkshire village, the plastered, cream-coloured walls, the wooden pews with doors and a thin cushion to sit on.  I was about to respond to this week's enquiry saying "I haven't seen them since the funeral last year", when I realised that it couldn't have been last year, because no one was wearing a mask and the church was almost full!  

I removed the time phrase from my response and pressed 'send'.

Easby Abbey - the Abbot's House

Puzzled, I later remembered that, on my way back I had stopped to visit the ruins of Easby Abbey, so it was a simple matter to look back at the photos I'd taken on that occasion, and could thus verify that this was in fact 8th October, 2019 ... almost two years ago.

Notwithstanding the sorrow of those who have lost loved ones, and the discomfort and pain of those who have succumbed to the illness itself, this pandemic has a lot more to answer for.  I'm sure I'm far from the only one who is looking back and slowly realising that I've 'lost' a whole year!  Three years ago, I went on a coach trip to Donegal.  I realised that there was a lot more to be seen of the 'Emerald Isle', and went back the next year in my car, staying at a lovely farmhouse B&B in Co. Offaly.

About the time that I went to my late friend's funeral, I decided that I would like to visit the WWI battlefields of northern France before Brexit, with all its inevitable restrictions, became a reality.  I remembered the depth of organisation of the Donegal holiday, its flexibility and smooth running, and I readily made a booking with the same firm for the following June.  

Then Covid struck, bringing with it all kinds of chaos.  The coach company's immediate response was to re-plan their programme for the next year, at the same price, minimising the need for any financial adjustment and, at the time, I readily went along with this.  

When this year opened with a third period of lockdown, I realised that I no longer hankered to venture abroad - partly because of the pandemic and partly because of Brexit, but also because my 'thirst' (I know it's not the right word, but it will do) for things akin to WW1 has been more than assuaged by my discovery of - and subsequent joining - the Western Front Association.  At the cost of just the deposit I'd paid back in 2019, I decided to cancel the holiday.

Imagine my astonishment, when the time of the now-forgotten battlefield tour came around, I received a cheque from Leger Holidays for the total amount of the deposit I thought I'd sacrificed.  I'm pleased to recommend them as a reputable and more-than-trustworthy organisation.  Although I wouldn't admit it to them, that refund has more than repaid my subscription to WFA for the year!

As I reflect on the past eighteen months, I can see certain good outcomes that have arisen, and wouldn't have done so if it hadn't been for Covid.  They are scant compensation for those who have lost so much, but benefits they are, nonetheless.