2020 has been a strange year unlike any other. Much of the year had been spent in a blur, living day to night and vice versa with just a tenuous hold on what day of the week it was. As 2020 draws to a close, life’s almost back to normal here, except the new normal looks nothing like pre-pandemic days.
By end Jan, preparations were underway and I spent much of LNY knee deep, scrambling for resources to ensure readiness from the onslaught. Fortunately I didn’t have any celebrations this year, so I haven’t had to juggle multiple things concurrently. Nonetheless the looming threat scuppered my Dubai trip in late Feb.
Then came the turning point – the lost months between Mar and Jul where majority of the population worked from home, Zoom became the hottest thing on the market, supermarket shelves emptied as a result of hoarding and the streets reminiscent of a zombie apocalypse with overgrown vegetation devoid of humans.
But life like this could not continue indefinitely as the economy was at risk of tanking with millions of livelihood at stake. Through tight control and enforcement, we fortuitously turned the tide and normalcy gradually returned while the rest of the world still grappled with the raging pandemic.
With the exception of mask-wearing and group size limits, year-end festivities were in full swing with malls more packed than ever due to travel restrictions keeping wings clipped. In fact, every inch of the island saw historical records of footfall as everyone sought to satisfy their wanderlust locally by rediscovering Singapore.
As much as vaccine availability for the general population is already on the horizon and offer a silver lining, I still have some reservations on how next year will pan out to be given much of the world is still embattled and in tatters. Like most, my wish for 2021 is for us to emerge from this crisis stronger and hopefully, some form of travel can eventually return.
Leave a Reply