rating 2020

what has 2020 been like for you?
it's been average for me. the only thing i didn't like was the pandemic fucked up some career ops for me. but other than that, i didn't mind staying at home in the lockdowns.

I just saw a post elsewhere "rating 2021" a few days ago and the woman said ,"thank you for the free 7 day trial subscription to 2021 ,but I have decided I do not want to participate so please cancel my subscription now."

I almost feel guilty (almost), but on a personal level, 2020 wasn't so bad...I've had worse years.
Saying that, if I hadn't had a steady supply of weed and access to the internet, things may have seemed very different.

Swings and roundabouts. I have not suffered financially from Covid-19 because I have a stable income, where others have been impoverished because they do not. Various members of the family were going to meet in Spain, that hasn't happened, and I don't know when we shall meet again, if we ever do. Two of my oldest friends vulnerable to Covid have survived, but only just, and when I did not hear from one over Christmas I dreaded making the call. This could yet be a worse year than 2020 in that regard.

Covid at is most obvious, negative level has killed people, and left others with chronic illness and disability. It has also demonstrated how far science has advanced with regard to understanding the genetics of the virus and how to deal with it. But we have also seen that the failure of politics has enabled the virus to become an established fact of life. The absence of leadership in some countries such as the USA and Brazil, or the dithering incompetence of Boris Johnson, and the failure of the EU to co-ordinate a Union-wide strategy has compounded the problems, yet the greatest failure has been due to those people rejecting the science and behaving in a reckless manner. Because I live in a town of modest size, most of the people here wear masks and conform to the rules, though we saw a rise in infections in the last quarter of the year, I fear in the many residential homes that we have.

So it was a year with a few great moments, but many more dull ones. Luckily, I have a substantial library of books, DVDs and CDs to take up my time, though my laziness in writing has shocked me, it must change this year. I don't see 2021 being substantially better than 2020, I doubt I shall be able to go to Symphony Hall in March for a planned concert performance of Un Ballo in Maschera, which I am sure was planned long before the curse struck us all. But one lives in hope that it will happen, and that Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will stay in Birmingham long enough to explore more of the music she conducts with such intelligence and passion.

The tragedy is that in 2020 I went to so few concerts - one recital, three concerts- and films, yet am glad that I did so- the music was glorious but the films (Tenet in particular) were a waste of money. At the moment, I don't know what the future holds for live music, whch is my favourite pursuit, and feel deeply sorry for musicians, of all genres. Who will emerge from this curse to play again, I do not know.