Fairy lights twinkle, Christmas trees sparkle, mince pies are being baked, and the tiny green shoots of snowdrops begin to poke through the winter soil. Despite the pandemic, it’s late December and Christmas is upon us.
May your Christmas time be happy, peaceful, and full of joy and love.
May the vulnerable in the world find safety, shelter, food and water, health and happiness, and freedom from persecution.
May those who wage hate stop; and realise the world is a better place if we love our neighbour and work together.
We’ve passed the shortest day. Days get longer, bulbs start to appear, and for us all the New Year cannot come sooner, and we put this wretched one behind us. Twenty Twenty-One will be different, there can be no doubt about that. As more and more people are vaccinated, Covid’s ravages will start to decline, and by the second half of 2021 we’ll see a return to some normality. By the end of the year, we may well be witnessing the virus’s real decline and eventual elimination.
The speed at which scientists throughout the world have developed these vaccines is astonishing. Polio took twenty-three years, smallpox eighteen years, whilst no vaccine exists for malaria at the moment, although one is close. All those who’ve been involved in the development of Covid – 19 vaccines must be applauded.
My thanks to all of you who follow and read this blog, again I wish you the very best for Christmas, and a safe, healthy, and happy New Year.
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My recent publications
Life in four stories
Four shorts: two about life, love, and death; one a poignant and disturbing memory that dangles a question unanswered; and one a wild fantasy – plus the first chapter of my latest book, Otto and Frankie.
All proceeds go to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help the most vulnerable communities fight COVID – 19.
By buying this book you are helping fund ICRC in its valuable work.
Thank you.
My latest novel, Otto and Frankie, is about a dying man’s fight against injustice, his wife’s unusual affair, and the love from his long-lost daughter.
Otto and his daughter Frankie could not be more different. He’s rich, an acclaimed author, human rights activist, and lives in England. She lives in New York, just about survives from one pay cheque to the next and hasn’t seen or spoken to her father for twenty years. Dutifully reunited by his impending death, she’s amazed to find him a kind and noble man who, while grappling with his wife’s bizarre affair, champions for the world’s forgotten and dispossessed to his last. After Otto’s death, Frankie’s admiration for her father leads her into a dangerous and life changing pursuit.
Nick Wastnage 