There is more reason to be optimistic than for many months. Apparently the tide has turned, we are coming, steaming out of a tunnel as acrid and black as the Severn Tunnel.
International travel is opening up, even if hesitantly, cruise ships are setting sail again, staycation is crowding our resorts and shop tills are tinkling again.
I have been an optimist from the beginning, even if a shadow of doubt occasionally crossed my mind in the darkest days of 2020 and early 2021. Being old and having experienced historically bad years has taught me to be positive, to feel sure that better years would follow.
But what exactly lies ahead? I am not so sure. After these months of restricted lives freedom is an elusive prize. Uncertainty still reigns,
Governments of whatever political colour will surely struggle to solve unprecedented problems; health, the economy, the environment, global climate change. The next 50 years will probably be the most critical national and international era for centuries.
On a personal level, individual life will certainly be different. More settled in some ways but, to use an overused word, challenging.
People of my age have seen vast, unexpected changes in life style, with historic development, innovations and discoveries, and no doubt this trend will continue.
People must be able to define their own future, to have the wherewithal, opportunity and the ability to enjoy life in a more equal community, local, national or international.
The pandemic has thrown into relief the need for universal cooperation and less self serving nationalism.
My generation and probably our children will not see it. The onus is on our grandchildren.
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