Auld Lang Syne

 

31/12/2020

By Charlotte

2020. The year the world stood still.

As this year draws its final breath today, it would be nice to look at some of the pivotal moments which shaped the year. Through the summer breeze, and winter frost, many people will, over the next few hours, be reflecting, on the ride they endured these last 365 days. Indeed, the year has been filled with highs and lows.

On a personal note, I experienced some hours of turbulent change; I went from sitting amongst Oxford professors and Cambridge interviewers in January, to work coaches, in early September.  I‘ve sat in a room full of doctors, and scientists, to a room full of accountants and office workers and managers and editors and columnists. There was also the transition to go from sitting behind a desk to a screen... 

 For young people especially, I do believe this year will remain a series of fragmented and distorted pixels, arranged in the memories. The world is a big place, yet this year shrunk to the size of our homes, which leaves those who have just escaped the confinements of a classroom, with sense of bewilderment as they try to navigate the next steps in their lives. How do you find your place in a changing world dealing with an unprecedented crisis? Do you become part of a lost generation? Naturally, we turn to our survival instincts, but, unfortunately, these are unable to help us truly find sustainable paths. Indeed, there are careers, and finances and a whole host of topics to begin to contemplate in the years of youth. With the burden of a global pandemic, it goes without saying that the only way to move forward, productively, in the current climate, is to take a moment to step back, at least until the storm passes.

With reference to some lows of 2020, I have watched excited friends venture off to university, only to be locked up in a foreign city for months with little or no support; I have seen relatives be told to stay home for months alone; I’ve seen hard workers told hard work isn’t enough to keep your job. We’ve all seen the stories of the pain the NHS has suffered; I can only hope, once the pandemic is over, the government nurses the NHS back to flourishing health, and gives it the treatment it deserves. In a similar way to how the NHS has nursed us so heroically in 2020. My thoughts are also with those who have lost their loved ones over the last year and suffered harsher hardships than myself, which are plentifully scattered across every tier throughout the British Isles.

There have been highs though, and moments of true character.                                                                       Clapping on our doorsteps, zoom calls, socially distanced walks, its all there, in the memory of 2020. I, for one, have had to learn to leave the classroom behind and step forward alone. I will always be grateful for re-connecting with dance, writing, books and running in 2020, all passions of mine, that if perhaps the pandemic had not of occurred, they would have slipped from my grasp, just as they were beginning to at school. I have also loved helping others learn and putting whatever I know, to good use. As a teacher, there is no moment like it when you watch a student turn a challenge into an accomplishment, and you know, discretely, that somewhere along the way, you were a part of that change. It has been one of my greatest privileges in 2020.

  To end, this year has been a rollercoaster. Last January, I was being interviewed in Scotland’s highlands for a medical school place (all I will say in Scottish is…auld lang syne), and to conclude this year, I am working full-time in a finance team, balancing the demands of employment and responsibility. Sandwiched between, are cycles with friends, walks with family, zoom calls, picnics, isolation, writings, runs, decisions, tests, new people, reconnections, BBQs, cries, laughs, fights, forgiveness, and a newly adapted appreciation for the power of focus.

Focus on making your 2021 the best it can be.

Happy new year and enjoy being your own version of Bridget Jones tonight; we're all stuck in.

Charlotte

 

Take a cup of kindness from this year.

Scotland, for the sake of old times:

 

 

Chicken, Cranberry and Cheese Rolls – Perfect for sharing.

1)     1)  Unroll one sheet of readymade puff pastry.

2)     2) Slice horizontally (down the width) into two.

For each slice;

3)     3) Spread a tablespoon of cranberry sauce over the surface. Draw a fate line with a knife separating the top and bottom half of your slice.

4)     4) Add chicken sausage meat to the lower side of the slice.

5)    5)  Add a layer of mature cheddar cheese or brie.

6)    6)  Fold over the top half of your slice and use a fork to seal the roll.

7)    7) Glaze the roll with egg whites and add some more cheese on top.

8)     8) Cut the roll into eighths.

9)   9)   Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees in a fan oven.

Enjoy!

Thank you so much for reading!