It's the first of May and the summer ahead is looking much brighter. We are definitely moving into a new upbeat gear now, with the lifting of a swathe of restrictions planned for this month, June and onwards.
We are fast moving into a time of light, cheer and warmth. With lilacs in bloom, new buds and flowers – anything seems possible.
At this stage, most people had done everything they could to keep Covid-19 case numbers low. Daily case numbers are regularly at over 400, but with the more transmissible new variant so dominant, it has been difficult to see how numbers could be brought very much lower, to double digits.