Coming back to life

Last February, I seriously considered whether we should print a piece about the first coronavirus cases in Spain, which had been reported on the Canary island of La Gomera, because I didn’t want to be accused of scaremongering. Now I wish we’d put big green viruses all over the cover and told people to run for the hills.

2020 was a year most of us will want to forget, but also one that we’ll always remember – many of us for the very worst reasons. On Lanzarote, the virus itself has let us off fairly lightly compared to other places, but its effects have been soul-crushing, as tourism has shuddered to a halt and businesses and livelihoods have evaporated overnight.

Yet, with the vaccination programme due to start this month, we can allow ourselves a little hope that our islands, and its neighbours, will be able to get back to some kind of normality in the months ahead. We’re not there yet. It’s going to be a long slow climb until we get back to anywhere near where we were, and on the way we may find that the landscape has changed completely, with new ways of communicating, working and living arriving faster than ever.

But we’ll do it. Another thing last year showed was just how resilient and tough Lanzarote can be, and how, when a challenge is thrown down, the island will step up and stand shoulder-to-shoulder to meet it.

Walk outside right now and you’ll see that Lanzarote is used to changing landscapes. December’s rains mean the volcanoes are currently wearing green for the first time in ages after months of drought, dust and parching heat. As life springs back on the hillsides, let’s hope that the Lanzarote we know and love revives too.

We’d like to thank all our clients, readers, friends, and everyone else who helped us through the toughest year, and wish them the very best New Year imaginable.

Enjoy the magazine, Shaun.