Remember January 2020? Those Were The Days!

When this year began, we could not possibly have predicted the coronavirus pandemic and the various stages of lockdown and un-lockdown we are going through right now. Staying home as far as possible, social distancing, strict hygiene protocols are the new normal --- we couldn’t possibly have predicted these as we wished our loved ones, full of hope on 1 January 2020. People are now looking back at their images from Jan 2020 – when none of us imagined the sort of year we were going to have.

January 2020 seems a long, long time ago now. Those of us who thought we would do something new, achieve goals, travel --- well, plans change, don’t they?

Using this still from Gone Girl, this tweet indicates a time when all seems well and one is completely unaware of troubled times to come.

Perhaps some were on holiday, exploring a new city, being with others; even strangers, carefree!

Some of us were lucky enough to be at some truly scenic spot – looking back we are left wondering when we will be able to take a holiday if at all!

Some of us were at a party bringing in the New Year, celebrating with and wishing our loved ones… little did we know.

We were socializing, maybe doing some crazy stuff ---- or at least what now seems crazy in retrospect.

Keen swimmers like me couldn’t possibly have imagined that pools would not open at all this year.

A pool party? Hah!

Well some of us were, anyway; the beginning of a year is always full of hope and promise.

A big enclosed space with hundreds of people packed cheek by jowl? Seems unthinkable now.

Sports in stadia devoid of spectators, social distancing and masks --- who’d have imagined this while watching a sports event in January 2020!

I haven’t been to a mall or a supermarket in over five months – have you?

In fact I haven’t been on any form of public transport at all in half a year now.

Not sure what this guy is doing tied up on the railway tracks – maybe he had some premonition about things to come? This one is captioned “A photo of you in January 2020 always knowing it’s coming”. I wonder if back in January 2020 this guy knew something about the way things were going to turn out later in the year. I wish he’d warned everyone.