I’m in a deserted train station and I’m reflecting on the last 12 months.

We had normality back then. My own normality was very altered from the first 4 decades of a proper normality – the one that a functioning human body at least gives you a shot at.
At first this whole thing was a mixture of ( for me ) disbelief, challenge, fascination and dare I say even a touch of excitement. Would the human race survive it? Would there be mass death in the streets… like a medieval plague for which we had no cure.
When it became apparent that the last part wouldn’t happen, it was then just a matter of time before it went away, most people seemed to think. Myself, I thought from the outset that it would be world altering.
Now I think that given the relatively few deaths ( in the greater scheme of things ) it’s caused an awful lot of chaos that was avoidable. Some countries got on it straight away – the Chinese for one. The other ‘ oriental ‘ nations, like Singapore and Japan for example, just didn’t give the virus a chance to spread. Others, like Oz and NZ immediately set up border controls, quarantine procedures, curfews, obligatory mask wearing.. and stopped it getting in. Life within those countries got back to normal, with extreme lockdown now and again to ensure any infiltration risk was contained

The European nations, supposedly the historic fathers of the world, along with the Americans, had no such stringent, hardline, viral spread beating measures, and just seemed to hope for the best until it was too late.. keeping borders open ( and still open now ) ensured their fate. The virus doesn’t spread itself, it has to be carried in the hosts – the people. Stopping flights seemed to be resisted keenly. Well obviously that’s how it got here in the first place, and ultimately that WAS preventable.
The sheer numbers of COVID deniers, and conspiracy theorists, and anti vaxers has really surprised me. I’ve wondered if, instead of causing respiratory distress and possible death, this virus would had caused all your hair to fall out… ( and that’s all ) just how differently society would have reacted. I mean baldness isn’t going to kill you, is it? Imagine the savings on shampoos and conditioners, barbers and haircuts, razors and hairdryers.
Surely we’d have carried on living our lives and also lived with the consequences of not having to worry about all that hair stuff. No one was going to die, or even be unwell. Hardly a drama then ..?
But can you imagine the TOTAL PANIC that would have ensued? And the absolute guarantee that people didn’t mix.
And the elimination of the virus.

And I’m pretty sure I’m right!

What does THAT tell you about the human race?