Not quite Christmas as usual

Yesterday we went for our annual Christmas lunch with Heather and Ewan, traditionally enjoyed on the last Sunday before Christmas. We went to the Italian Kitchen in Ingram Street and the four of us had a lovely meal, followed by drinks at Metropolitan with Andrew. 

Metropolitan was decorated in an appropriately festive fashion with lots of Christmas lights, but with the recent rise in Covid cases the Fruitmarket was just not as busy as it would usually be at this time of year, and as a result there wasn’t quite the same buzzing atmosphere as usual. Of course this didn’t bother us as we chatted away the afternoon, very happy in our own company. 

Today James and I noticed the same slightly toned down feeling at the Play, Pie and a Pint Christmas Pantomime; Cinderella 2, I Married a Numpty. Usually it’s completely sold out and very crowded, but today there were a few spaces in the audience. It was very funny and we thoroughly enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite as exuberant as usual. 

Ally and Cat went to see The Prince of Egypt in London last week, and noticed the same thing: although fairly well attended there were still gaps in the audience and at the end of the performance the cast came back into the stage to thank the audience for turning up in these difficult times.

The government seem to be waiting to see just how overwhelming to hospitals the Omicron variant turns out to be, before imposing yet more restrictions. I understand their hesitation - if they lock down more than necessary people will be very angry and demoralised, but of course if they don’t lock down enough then they will be blamed if the daily death toll increases significantly. I would hate to have to make that call.