' IT WAS THE SUMMER AFTER COVID '
- greasedelbow
- Jul 2, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 19, 2023
Every year the planet reaches a moment in our journey around the Sun. At this time the earth’s tilt is in perfect celestial alignment. With the North-pole facing the Sun up ahead, the entire northern hemisphere is drenched in heat. The months that follow are marked by longer days and humid nights. Beginning on the 21st of June and ending August the 31st.
Last year, the World Health Organisation learnt of a “new virus”. On March 11th 2020 COVID-19 was officially declared a Global pandemic.
By which time the virus had spread across 114 countries in counting. Summer was never the same in the year the world stood still. Cue the fastest vaccine development in recorded history. Time travel a year later with over 90 vaccines in clinical-trial, it seems the developed world is stepping outdoors this Summer. On June the 22nd, theatre and concert performances returned to New York, In California the government removed all social distancing restrictions, fingers crossed - on July 19th 2021 the United Kingdom would enter stage-4, removing all legal limits on social contact.
Behind the four-pronged defence of nurses, care workers, scientists, and delivery drivers, the rest of us held our breaths stuck! in the waiting ward. During the last lock-down many of us settled into old and new habits. We lost loved ones, and in places less fortunate than ours the death toll is yet to relent. For those of us heading outdoors this Summer there is a chance to recover from the mental-fatigue caused by months of isolation. This Summer signifies a chance for renewal following the re-emergence of human contact post-COVID-19 .
In Ancient Egypt the Summer solstice signalled the appearance of Sirius, which meant the beginning of a new year. Summer in Ancient Greece was met with a festival, singing the praise of Kronos Greek god of time. The feeling that Summer herald's new-life and rejuvenation, is a sentiment traced back since ancient belief.
Although such beliefs and practise have long faded, still i believe a nostalgic quality remains, a buzz that is nearly divine about a Summers day. Whether it shows itself between the lights at the local funfair, or on a hot picnic day the sacred aroma of barbecue to incite the senses, picture crowded beaches and the clenched fists of toddlers soaked in melted ice cream, the air filled with the chemical perfume of sunscreen, summer bods' with caramel tan, summer cocktails and summer romance, warm nights that keep you in a sweaty trance. In other words, summer marks the point of climax in this our never ending cosmic drama. With the itch for human connectivity reaching its peak, post lockdown, these summer months usher in a renewed chance at community and human interaction.
Last year we watched Summer pass us by, from behind the sterile guard of our windows. This year whether you choose to reconnect with the gang, or prefer to lay in the heat and search inwards, either way you are guaranteed to bask in the vitality of a summers day.
Published: 02/07/2021.
Written by Dan O. Eboka
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