Numerically speaking, 2020 was an even year.
Pretty well everyone who lived through it however would agree ‘odd’ would be a much better adjective to use as a label. They’d probably throw in a bunch of other colourful words, just for good measure.
Of course, now that the calendar has flipped to 2021, the problems from yester-year won’t magically disappear. But there’s still something about opening a new calendar and seeing 365 blank spaces. No appointments written below any of the dates. No pages torn from the Dilbert calendar on the desk. Endless opportunities abound.
Trying to predict the next 12 months is a tall order at the best of times and this year it seems especially futile.
In late 2019 this humble scribe was so bold as to make three wishes for the upcoming year: a definitive answer as to whether or not Greater Napanee would be getting an aquatics facility, for less division at all three levels of politics within our community and, lastly, for more continued success among local athletes and clubs.
Well, that certainly went well, didn’t it?
Any progress on a decision towards a pool was pushed to the backburner by mid March. Rightfully so as there were more pressing issues to deal with at the time. Any spending on a project as big as an aquatic centre was out of the question.
As for politics, at least at the federal level, the division of the U.S. election found a way to trickle up north. While the pandemic may have united the country early in the year, by the end of it patience was wearing thin as everybody had his or her own opinion as to how to best deal with the pandemic. From lockdowns to vaccines, each side had their own idea. A small, but very vocal, portion of the population refused to concede that there was even a pandemic at all.
As of right now there is no federal election scheduled for 2021, but there’s certainly signs indicating that we might be headed to the polls at some point in the calendar year. Prior to the holiday break, the federal government was discussing a bill to spread voting over a three-day period if an election were to be called during the pandemic. If nothing else, it appears Ottawa is preparing for at least the possibility of an early election.
As for sports, well, if nothing else our local teams that clinched a championship in 2019 at least got to enjoy another year as reigning champions.
That same editorial noted the year 2020 sounded as though it were some distant sci-fi film and not the current date. Looking back, last year certainly had all the elements of a good sci-fi.
Maybe this year, we’ll skip the predictions.
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2021 for all.
-Adam Prudhomme