There is a difference in the air, and that difference is hope. It was a fleeting moment whilst food shopping at the weekend that I noticed a lightness in everyone’s mood. Previous weeks had been heavy with tiredness, and a weary approach to a task that should carry no real emotion. But there was a tangible difference.

Caution seems to be the watch word, yet there are those who want to push yet again. It is no wonder that I fail to understand the constant back and forth between those in Government and politics, and those who advise. Too slow to lockdown! Not quick enough to open up again! Those were the prevalent comments in the media this weekend: and for those wondering I am not hurrying out to book a summer holiday! Someone reminded me this week that being a politician is not a profession – there is no training to do the job and certainly no manual on how to deal with a pandemic. I suppose I am still naive enough to believe they know best; after all we voted for them to make the decisions. But we voted for the rhetoric, for the speech maker, the personality, the party to get things done! Dependent on what you wanted doing of course! I suppose we would all have done things differently and better in the same position!

I am beginning to realise that I don’t understand at all and I wonder whether that is where we all are at the moment. Watching the pandemic unfold and the worlds commentary on every Government’s handling of it has been fascinating. What I am certain of though, is that sense of hope that I believe we are all feeling.

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. – Desmond Tutu