I don't know about you, but the world has really changed.
That freedom to roam the globe, we all had before this virus struck is unlikely to return in the same way as we had before, and the conditions of travelling anywhere will be almost draconian with countries demanding a full vaccination [probably with boosters every year] to even contemplate entering their shores.
Travel will be more expensive as the companies strip themselves back to more streamline businesses, aeroplanes sold off, pilots not returning after furlough ends, ground staff, baggage handlers, taxi companies, hotels and food and coffee vendors all being impacted by the changes which are already creeping in.
Ports will have to change as well, restricting those who travel by sea to fewer in number per ship thus making each passenger pay a higher proportion of the overall costs. Fewer travellers means a smaller ship’s company, fewer ships [many already sold for scrappage], fewer berthing demands and the list of those affected goes on.
That’s just one industry, what about the High Street? The shops which supported the cafes to flourish, the small entrepreneurial establishments which grew from the footfall created by the browsers, the cafe crowds, the office workers?
Yes, the world has really changed and will never return to what it was, the world will turn and something new will emerge to take into account a much needed re-balance.
To me that’s good, it’s accelerated progress caused by a world catastrophe, ironically like the two world wars and the irreversible changes they created.
So what will emerge? I’ve no idea but then I am one of the Baby Boomer generation who saw to the changes after the war recovery years, now its time for us to hand the baton onto the millennials who need to carry the torch until the teenagers of now take hold of the reins and wield the whip and wield it they will. In many ways they remind me of a baby boomer mark two generation. High ideals and ready to take on the world at all costs.
They look at our wasting of the planet and are calling Time.
Good on them and more power to their elbow is what I say. Let’s hear their words and start that journey with greater intensity than we are giving ourselves now.