We thought
2020 was a tough year but so far 2021 isn’t shaping up to be much better. Despite a successful vaccination programme,
which was heralded as our road back to freedom, a return to "normal” life still
seems like a long way off. But why?
A journalist
in the Sun News recently wrote about living under one of Heathrow’s flight paths
and is seeing planes land "with baffling regularity”. She writes that approximately 20,000 people
are arriving in the UK each day and 40% of those are "holidaymakers” arriving
from other countries.
According to Border Force figures released last week, up to
80-90% of people passing through Gatwick Airport and the Eurostar terminal at
London’s St Pancras station are holidaymakers, compared with between 20% and 30%
landing at Heathrow.
A Border Force agency staff member told The Times that one
visa was granted to a tourist from Peru who gave their reason for travelling to
the UK as "to visit Big Ben”.
They added:
"As long as they’ve got an address where they say they’ll quarantine, and
they’ve completed their pre-departure tests, they’ve got their certificates and
everything else, they’ve got means and a return ticket, we’ve got no grounds to
refuse them.”
So, if
Covid-tested tourists are coming here, why are we grounded for the foreseeable
future?
Here at
Techniblock HQ, we got excited about last Monday’s announcement and hoped that the
PM would announce the easing of restrictions and the opening of travel so that
people could take that much-needed holiday (and, of course, buy some
Techniblock sunscreen 😊).
However, the
virologists and epidemiologists that have become part of our every day news are
still whispering about variants and potential third lockdowns and so the ban on
"non-essential travel” abroad remains in place and the doom and gloom
contingent amongst us are saying there will be no summer holidays abroad for
Brits this year.
Life is a
risky business. How much longer are we
expected to stay at home and keep socially distanced? It’s been a year and still the prospect of "normal
life” remains elusive. We all know that viruses mutate but more than 32 million
people have had at least one jab, and by July, everyone should be vaccinated, including
the vulnerable. Isn’t it time to accept
that there will always be an element of risk in life and that now is the time
to start living properly again, seeing friends and family, enjoying a pint in
the pub and, yes, a holiday abroad with guaranteed sunshine, blue skies and a
suitcase packed with swimwear, flip flops and some Techniblock sunscreen!
