NETTY'S WORLD

Hello from the other side by Netty Wendt

When I wrote my last column I was safely in isolation, much as I have been since March. In October I attended just one social event...and came away with Covid-19. Honestly, I’d have preferred a goody bag.

My last column compared the plague of Covid-19 with the spread of AIDS in the 1980s, and the similarities continue. We humans don’t like to admit we have fallen prey to contagion, this ignorance and secrecy only serves to help the virus spread. No wonder disease flies through a town faster than a toupee in a hurricane.

For months I’d lived in a fool’s paradise, where the only actual Covid positive person I knew was the cousin of my aunt’s friend. The minute my partner declared my sorry status on Facebook, a torrent of private messages told me I was not alone. I heartily wish to relinquish my membership of this private club. I don’t know what long-term damage this thing has left me with, but at least I’m not dead.

Christmas and New Year always make me a tad tearful, this year, however, I’m also fearful. I miss those I have lost more keenly. The dying year seems to be a metaphor, we’re all dying all the time... some of us really quickly. A new year signifies new life. However, due to the birth of baby Jesus being plonked in to replace pagan winter celebrations, New Year occurs at the cruelest, most inappropriate time, meteorologically anyway. Maybe that’s why the magic feelings of rebirth elude me so. New Year should be springtime, January is a time to feast, reflect and hunker down.

Well, this miserable old lesbian sitting tapping her keyboard would like to ask you ‘people of the future’, did Christmas work out well, or did we see grandma for Christmas Day only to bury her at New Year?

And so we look to 2021, the future. You will have gathered that, unlike news pieces, the ‘opinion’ columns in this wonderful magazine are something of a time capsule, written roughly a month before publication. To put it in perspective, that annoying man on the Asda advert is still in a Santa hat; Donald Trump has admitted defeat in the US election although he should have won “by really a lot”; Joe Biden has broken his foot playing with his dog, but the mere fact he has a dog and therefore a soul is enough to give me hope.

Well, this miserable old lesbian sitting tapping her keyboard would like to ask you ‘people of the future’, did Christmas work out well, or did we see grandma for Christmas Day only to bury her at New Year? How’s that vaccination programme going? Is Brexit making supermarket shelves look like Poland under martial law? Oh tell me Brighton’s in tier one! Tell me pubs and theatres are filling up like a gay man’s eyes watching Beaches... Tell me Tiny Tim didn’t die.

Whatever the future holds, let’s hope it’s kinder. Tell me that at least.