2020 has been a brilliant year!

So here we are, three weeks through a four week lockdown which, according to the pundits (the pundits being newspaper columnists and folk on Facebook), will be extended beyond the 2nd December* end date, right through Christmas, and well into the summer of 2025 – and that's a best case scenario for them. 

When I started writing this blog again, just before the first national lockdown, back in March 2020, it was as a way to record what was going on in the world, after all this was all new to me. It was the first pandemic in living memory and, as my memory is dreadful, I wanted a way to be able to look back, not only at what had happened but also about how it had affected me and how I felt about it. 

It's been a funny old year punctuated with moments of fear, sadness and confusion. I've seen people I know lose family to Covid 19, friends lose their jobs, businesses go under, panic at what might happen next, families separated and people dipping in and out of depression. 

I've not seen my own dad since Christmas day last year; he's currently in hospital where, since being admitted, he's tested positive for the virus twice – though thankfully with no symptoms. Chris's job has been turned on its head and he's now working for the ONS Covid survey, and the company I work for four days a week furloughed all but five of us for a number of weeks back in April and May.

All the while the blame game rumbles on. Test and Trace this, killing the economy that, these deaths are a direct result of that policy, the world is turning into an Orwellian dystopia and so on. The bellyaching often conveniently ignoring that many, many countries in Europe and around the world are struggling in much the same way that we are here.

But I've written about lots about this stuff before and today I wanted to focus on something a bit more positive – lest I forget in the future. Alongside all the disruption, confusion, fear and sadness have been a lot of good times, some of which wouldn't have happened had we not been dealt the hand we have been. 

Who didn't, during the first lockdown, get involved in video quizzes? I know I had my fair share of them and even hosted one in April with rounds on serial killers, sex, embarrassing moments and even a do it yourself animal round where contestants had three minutes to get stuff from their kitchens and make an animal to present to the group along with an impression of said beast. Most people got a bit sick of the quizzes after a flurry of them but I know of a regular fortnightly one that's going great guns and I've even toyed with the idea of coming up with another one for my friends now we're back in the same situation.

Birthdays were a different ballgame this year. Our friend Kaz celebrated her 50th in April with a Skype party where we all got smashed and danced in our respective living rooms to a shared soundtrack. When it came to my birthday in September I was lucky enough to be able to be with friends, five of us in total. We had a beautiful Italian meal in what was essentially an empty restaurant, with lots of booze and tonnes of fun. When it came to Chris's birthday in October, with restrictions tightened further, we still managed to get together with friends at a restaurant but this time we sat under heaters outside as outdoor rules were different to indoor rules.

I was really lucky with my birthday now I think about it. A few days after it we had a long weekend in the Lake District with friends, taking in the local pubs, cooking dinner together and going on long walks in the countryside. Of course we were practically pariahs, being from Manchester, and I received a sharp kick under the table when I absentmindedly revealed where we were from to one of the co-operative owners of a local pub we were in at the time.

2020 was the year I started learning Spanish. I began with Duolingo – which I'm still persevering with 157 days later – and had the great fortune to meet the lovely Lilian from Malaga when Chris bought me a bunch of online lessons. I can't say I'm fluent but I'm getting there!

At the beginning of the first lockdown Chris took to going out on weekly bike rides with friends. They travelled all over Manchester, Salford and even into Cheshire coming back with stories of broken swing bridges, attacking pigeons and the discovery of Gnome Island at Salford Quays – a highlight as far as I'm concerned. As a non-cyclist (I never learned okay? Get off my back!) I've not gone on these road trips instead choosing to go walking with friends. One such walk along the Bridgewater Canal to Sale culminating in a long game of hide and seek in Walkden Gardens which, as the youngest in the group (a mere slip of a lad at 45 years old) I easily won.

With the regularly changing rules and regulations it's meant that more and more time has been spent outdoors this year. Thankfully we had a long hot Spring this year and the garden was a blessing, blooming into flower and providing a haven for us and friends when they were allowed to join us. We even had a party out there in the summer when our wedding plans were put on hold. I think that was the last time I danced with other people and it was glorious! Good friends, good weather, good food and good music made our 'not getting married' party a lot of fun.

When I was a kid I used to love camping. The fun of sleeping in a field, being woken by the moos of our bovine neighbours, open fires and starry skies – it never got old. The last time I actually did it though I must have been a teenager which, now I come to think about it, means that I've lived longer without camping than I ever did with.

Over the years I've suggested it to Chris hundreds of times, every time with a firm refusal and a bemused question. Why would I go camping when I can have a week in Catalonia, a weekend in Munich or a fortnight in Tuscany? What's wrong with a hotel? Why should I shit in a trench and where will I put all my moisturisers?

Of course with international travel all but kiboshed in 2020 our holidays plans were thrown out of the window. Imagine my surprise then, when one day Chris decided this was the year we should take up camping. I jumped at the opportunity and with the romantic ideas of my childhood firmly in mind we secured tents and kit and went camping – twice – in the Peak District. The beautiful, majestic, magnificent Peak District with all its wind and rain blowing coldly through the canvas. I've never been as wet as I have been this summer but I'll never forget our friends sleeping in the car when their tent was flooded, trying to make toast on a tiny gas fire, being so pissed that we ate the worst pub grub in the history of the world without a single complaint. Or indeed the tent nearly blowing away, the bastards that kept us awake all night with their party and Chris having them thrown off the site the next day, or getting lost on a path by a river in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black of night and having to trespass through the grounds of an apparently haunted YHA building to find our way back.

Finally we rounded off the pre-lockdown 2 time with a Halloween dinner. We had special cocktails containing worms, ghost stories and a terrible horror film, all accompanied by a really delicious mushroom bourguignon and mash. 

The money we've not spent on holidays and transport and eating out has also meant that this year we've been able to redecorate the house. The sitting room and dining room have been transformed and in addition to the new paint job we've had new furniture, curtains, coffee table, rug and lamps. The guest bedroom has also had a facelift with some lovely new wallpaper from Rebel Walls, a new daybed to replace the rickety old thing that was there before and new carpet. 

So as you can see, while 2020 has certainly had its moments, and will not go down as a bumper year, there have been a lot of brilliant things too. So I'll try not to dwell too much on the negative and use this post as an aide memoire of all the good things that came out of it too.

*News today has revealed that the lockdown will end on 2nd December as promised however it will be superseded by a newly toughened tier system. Where Manchester was in tier three pre-lockdown 2, rumour has it that it will remain there despite infection rates across the city dropping every day for about a fortnight now – in fact they peaked on or around the very beginning of this lockdown. 

This will mean that while non-essential shops, gyms, cinemas and hairdressers will be able to reopen, pubs and restaurants in tier three areas will only be able to offer a takeout service rather than the situation we had before where they could open for people having a 'substantial meal' with their drinks. If this is what comes to pass then in my mind it is ridiculous and will ruin an industry at their most profitable time of year. It feels like we're regressing and it doesn't sit well with me. 

Bananadrama

It is lockdown law that you must make banana bread and so, four days into 'Lockdown 2: The Revenge' as I'm calling it, I've made a banana loaf. I've had two slices so far and they've landed heavily on my stomach. I used four massive bananas in the mix which I think was too many. The recipe says four bananas but it didn't specify what size and it's very heavy. Don't worry though, I'll be eating more before I go to bed tonight.

In other news, the United States has finally got itself a new president. I say finally because it seemed to take such a long time from voting day to the announcement but I suppose when you have 140 million votes to count it's going to take a longer time than it does here with a mere 32 million ballots cast.

It looked like a very close call for a long time but then Biden pulled ahead in a number of areas and, despite what Trump had to say about it, he won.

Traditional and social media were alight with opinions and protestations and even now, the glee is palpable in many quarters. In the UK (at least in my experience) there don't seem to be many – if any – people mourning the loss of 45. The 'be kind' folk on the left would happily see him hunted down, killed in cold blood, and left rotting in a ditch, and even those of us right-of-centre feel a sense of relief at his dethroning. I think the main difference being that the former can't bring themselves to see a single thing he has done in the past four years as positive whereas the latter, recognise that he's a dangerous live-wire with a lot of power.

These opinions (of which I'm massively generalising) are not particularly surprising when you consider that Trump's approval rating in the UK dropped to around 15%. I think it's important however to recognise that he's still incredibly popular on his home turf, the United States, and to try to understand why. 

Like many people around the world I've read a lot about the President, his challenger, and the American 2020 election during the campaigning period. I'm aware of course that I can't possibly have read everything and there will be holes in my understanding and appreciation and I'm also aware that much of what I've read is opinion (but then what isn't?) and point of view. 

That being said, I'd like to note down here some of my observations for posterity and because I have a shocking memory and I'd like to remind myself in the future, when we can see how the world has panned out. I think it's worth noting that these observations, whether they're true or not, robust or flimsy, will no doubt have influenced millions of eligible voters across the pond one way or another.

Before Covid 19 swept across the planet and turned everything on its head the United States was doing very well, economically speaking. Unemployment was at a fifty year low and wages were increasing, Trump had imposed tariffs and brokered trade deals which protected American businesses and jobs, and he was practically the only authority to have stood up to China in terms of their aggressive manner of trading. I can understand why people would vote for someone who was, to all intents and purposes, responsible for increased prosperity and more money in their back pocket.   

I read somewhere that the Latino vote was not necessarily influenced by the appointment of another conservative, Catholic into the Supreme Court but more so by the outcry from the left of centre media about it and her views on abortion and same sex marriage. If important teachings in your religion are under attack in the press and from incredibly vocal liberals, then how does that make you feel? I'd imagine it would make you feel personally attacked on some level, I know when I hear folk banging on about how same sex marriage is an abomination to the church and God it gets my back up and I'm neither religious nor married. I suspect we miss the importance of this in the UK because our abortion laws and same sex marriage are so wildly different here and well protected, and as a country, religion is far more discreet. Of course I read somewhere else that there's no such thing as the Latino vote so who the hell knows?

The Black Lives Matters protests – which in America particularly erupted into riots across the country – would, I'd say, have played into Trump's hands too when it came to the election. Ordinary people don't want to live in a place where riots happen, where they might not feel safe on the streets because of them, or where their businesses and even homes might be under threat from looters and arsonists. The left (I'm generalising again), seems to me, to have metaphorically shrugged its shoulders and said 'yeah I can understand that,' whereas Trump said enough is enough, we can't allow it. Granted he was heavy handed but ultimately he protected a lot of people's livelihoods and safety in the process.

There are just three things I picked out that helped me understand why, despite losing, Trump did so well this time around. And that doesn't even cover the international accomplishments he made such as standing up to China about its treatment of Hong Kong, stamping down on chemical attacks of civilians in Syria with targeted bombing (alongside the UK and France), brokering peace in the Middle East and meeting Kim Jong-un in North Korea.

Now it's practically all over I can already hear assumed reasons floating around as to why people voted for Trump in such large numbers again. They are a lot of the same reasons I still hear about those here who voted to leave the European Union in 2016 – they're stupid, they're uneducated, they're racist, they were duped and lied to, they're gullible or they're simply xenophobic. I think they're lazy assumptions used to sweep things under the carpet and they miss the crux of what's going on in the lives of millions upon millions of ordinary people in what is a strangely divided country. Divided not necessarily by class or wealth or race or even political ideals, but divided by those who are caught up in the momentum of a country and a world undergoing immense shifts and changes, and those that feel they've been left behind and forgotten. Sounds familiar, eh? 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have voted for Trump had I the option, and I don't think he'll go down as a good president, but I think it's worth trying to get another point of view on these things and understand why he was so popular. You don't need me to bring to mind all the outrageous things he's done and on balance I think it's a good thing he's gone – if he ever concedes and buggers off that is.