Spring

Spring is arriving. It���s just taking its time.

There are little signs. Buds on the trees. The first asparagus of the year. Daffodils. Changing the clocks. A stretch in the evenings. But the weather remains, for the most part, chilly and grim.

Reality is refusing to behave like a fast-forward montage leading up to to a single day when you throw open the curtains and springtime is suddenly there in all its glory.

That���s okay. I can wait. I���ve had a lot of practice over the past three years. We all have. Staying home, biding time, saving lives.

But hunkering down during The Situation isn���t like taking shelter during an air raid. There isn���t a signal that sounds to indicate ���all clear!��� It���s more like going from Winter to Spring. It���s slow, almost impercetible. But it is happening.

I���ve noticed a subtle change in my risk assessment over the past few months. I still think about COVID-19. I still factor it into my calculations. But it���s no longer the first thing I think of.

That���s a subtle change. It doesn���t seem like that long ago when COVID was at the forefront of my mind, especially if I was weighing up an excursion. Is it worth going to that restaurant? How badly do I want to go to that gig? Should I go to that conference?

Now I find myself thinking of COVID as less of a factor in my decision-making. It���s still there, but it has slowly slipped down the ranking.

I know that other people feel differently. For some people, COVID slipped out of their minds long ago. For others, it���s still very much front and centre. There isn���t a consensus on how to evaluate the risks. Like I said:

It���s like when you���re driving and you think that everyone going faster than you is a maniac, and everyone going slower than you is an idiot.

COVID-19 isn���t going away. But perhaps The Situation is.

The Situation has been gradually fading away. There isn���t a single moment where, from one day to the next, we can say ���this marks the point where The Situation ended.��� Even if there were, it would be a different moment for everyone.

As of today, the COVID-19 app officially stops working. Perhaps today is as good a day as any to say Spring has arrived. The season of rebirth.