Alexander Leach, Editor
The Omicron Variant, the Part Two of the terrible anti-capitalist indie film known as COVID-19, has brought us to lockdown once again, and I can’t help but feel some deja-vu on this.
Last year, we had an uptick of cases after Christmas, as well as a refusal by the Province to lock itself down until after the Holiday, fully aware that COVID-19 shows up to family gatherings more frequently than that one neighbour the cops are always following. I can’t help but feel that this is yet another hesitant step too late, by a Province that doesn’t quite understand that the economy will hurt more from COVID overwhelming hospitals than a shutdown.
I went up the hill again on Westmeath, taking in the view I took in for the first issue of the year in 2021. The weather was just as bad, though less cold and foggy, and I didn’t find myself missing Westmeath again. Perhaps I’m either learning the roads, or I just benefit from the higher visibility.
I can’t say this year has been the worst. We never quite went back into full lockdown, and I got to revisit some of my old stories again. Russel Mackay walked again for Hospice Renfrew, albeit not as far as last time, and the Beachburg Deer Contest occurred once again, bringing me out to that fairgrounds once again.
It did feel good to see a lot of the same familiar places still going strong, even with the looming COVID resurgence threatening us all. After a full year of putting out papers, the only thing I know for sure is that I stay up later, and get lost far less than I thought I would.
From the repeated thanks I’ve received from subscribers and locals, to the man who asked if I’d failed kindergarten because of all the spelling mistakes, I’d like to think this newspaper has been altogether a positive experience for me, and it gives me hope going forward into 2022, despite such hope being repaid in lackluster fashion last year, the year before, and every year of the last decade.
I didn’t miss the Westmeath turnoff, nor slip on the way up the lookout hill, so I have that going for me at least.
