England already celebrated a historic Christmas with new Tier 4 restrictions at London city and Southwest in the midst of the dissent from Brexit deal view, now faces constantly increasing cases of new Covid variant all around the country just before New Year Eve.
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My husband and I live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). When the Coronavirus situation in England seemed to diminish in August 2020, we decided to book a flight back to England and celebrate Christmas and NYE with our family. It’s a special occasion of Western’s culture generally, as well as British specifically.
Britain’s current situation
We’ve been staying in England from 10th of December until now and it was quite a wild goose chase of hope to cope with the Coronavirus situation. Things were lit up at the beginning of December when restrictions were lifted for everybody to have a festive season with family and friends. Besides, the great news of BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine given out to elderly people above 80 and NHS frontline brought such joy and hope to the British before Christmas.
However, after 2 weeks of easing the restrictions, the UK Health Department found out a new Covid variant that its contagion travelled quicker in the air by 70%. That was why the number of cases has increased rapidly all around the country, which forced the UK Government to put London city and Southwest under tier 4 lockdown restrictions. Therefore, every British family had to spend Christmas on the screens through Zoom calls.
We thought it would put the cases down after tier 4 announcement, but it didn’t stop there. The UK has got 981 deaths and 50,023 infections per day according to the latest statistic on the 30th of December from coronavirus.data.gov.uk. Three-quarters of England, therefore, was put under tier 4 lockdown restrictions from today, 31st December.
It was a sad Christmas for Britain due to the new Covid variant breakout as well as the Brexit deal facing difficulties in terms of moving forward independently.
Will Brexit deal make England great again?
England had never been divided like now when there are clearly 2 different perceptions of Brexit. As proved from the vote, 51.9% and 48.1%, only 3.8% difference, shows how the picture of Brexit has been recognised — a victory or a tragedy.
Leaving the European Union (EU) definitely leaves England many obstacles and challenges to overcome. Especially, trading from England will face taxes when arriving in European countries due to the EU’s high standards of imports. Besides, travelling between England and European countries will face challenges of paperwork. It also affects the value of the pound as well as the British passport.
However, as positively announced, Boris Johnson already finalised the deal with the EU. We shall wait and see how Brexit deal will do a difference to make England great again as promised.
The British celebrate NYE at home
The iconic fireworks at the London Eye every year will not be the same this year due to the unprecedented level of Covid-19 infection across the UK. The public health is an extreme concern at the moment. Therefore, complying with the rules is the first priority and responsibility of each and every one.
It is a sad NYE picture of England when families, friends and couples have to stay apart from each other; when NHS staff have to be isolated from their loved ones; when elderly people have to struggle with ventilators and breathing in hospitals as well as home cares alone without a visit of families. How dreadful Covid-19 has taken away all the familiar habits and replaced with separation, division and death.
Listening to the “Happy New Year” song of ABBA, the lyric seems to describe the sad picture of England right now.
“No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It’s the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday…”
2020 is coming to an end. Although it’s not a good year, it’s still a year to remember and to learn. No matter how bad life is, time is precious. Every moment we live is appreciated because we can never get back time.
Life teaches me many lessons and time makes me realise what is important. Love one another when possible because you never know what tomorrow will bring. I am thankful for the frontline heroes all over the world fighting against Coronavirus and protecting us. I treasure every moment of my life more and I always think of Vietnam where my family is waiting for me to come home. And of course, I will always keep my hope for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Hope 2021 will be a good year for all of us!
