2021 has been another challenging year for us all in both our personal and our business lives. Just as we thought we were turning a corner, it looks like we are facing another period of uncertainty. We have all suffered blows and have had to make personal sacrifices in the past 20 months and if anything, the pandemic has demonstrated to us the value of the little things in life. Life is unpredictable, so now at Christmas time, we are all appreciative of a little bit of magic.
And when we look closely, that magic can be seen around Edinburgh and Midlothian. From
the Christmas markets to the Cathedral of Lights at the Botanics, to the Santa Fun Run and
Elf Dash, to the sense of belonging and kinship that can be felt throughout our communities,
Edinburgh is a magical city.
Fortunately Santa had a Covid passport and was first in the queue for his booster which
meant that he could visit homes safely this morning. Magic, along with hard work, paid off.
Santa’s little helpers spent the past 12 months brushing up on both their technology skills
and their international legal degrees to ensure their boss’s covid app was working, and he
could comply with all the various travel restrictions and testing. The elves were also busy
working on a new ‘supercraft’ sleigh using zero-emissions technology so that Santa himself
left behind as small a carbon footprint as possible.
So we see the magic of Christmas is still alive. Looking back we have had glimpses of
normality this year and our focus once again is not about what is under the tree but very
much who is around the tree with us.
2022 is only 7 days away, and even though many of us are still processing 2019, we are
seeing progress and in many ways the pandemic has brought us back to basics.
The devastating impact of the pandemic on people’s lives, the economy, business and our
health service can never be underestimated, but many lessons have been learnt.
At McDougall McQueen we have changed our working practices, continuing to prioritise
both our customers and our staff and ensuring their lives are made as simple as possible.
This hasn’t always been easy and we want to say thank you once again to all the people who
have supported our business throughout another uncertain year. Now we look forward with
hope to embracing the new normal and in that we wish you all the very best for 2022 and
what it may bring for you.