Pandemic planning

With planning even one month ahead difficult, making plans for next term or the period after graduation seems almost unthinkable. What’s getting me through the rest of this term is the idea of a much more normal Easter term and relatively COVID-free summer as the UK begins to open back up. In the next blog entry, chances are that I’ll look back onto this one and laugh at how naive I was to think that the summer of 2021 would actually be any fun with any forms of travel allowed. However I’m staying optimistic for now. The vaccine deployment in the UK is looking very reassuring, and Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown makes staying here quite an attractive prospect.

However at the same time, it feels dangerous to have hope, as it can be taken away quite swiftly. After all, Boris Johnson doesn’t exactly have a good track record when it comes to sticking to the easing dates he promises, and vaccine-resistant variants are already out and about. Hence I’m trying to strike a balance of staying optimistic, without actually getting into planning anything specific. Although something like an in-person graduation seems possible, it is still several months away and could easily move to Zoom along with everything else.

Then there is the fact of getting a job for when I become a “real adult”. I’ve settled on finding some sort of software engineering role in London, at least for now, which makes applying and interviewing somewhat easier. However it feels very strange to be planning this aspect of my life in 6 months time, when I don’t even know where I’ll be in 4 weeks. 

As always seems to be the case, I guess I’ll have to wait and see, and take any positive news as a bonus above a very low baseline. If rowing is allowed again in Easter term and May Bumps 2021 indeed happen according to plan, it will be cause for celebration. If pubs open and we’ll be able to see friends indoors again, that will be a big deal indeed. As cheesy as this may sound, this is definitely one good thing the pandemic has taught me. Not everything needs to be planned, and things will generally work out just fine.