IT is the time of year for reflection and looking ahead.

We are now halfway through the year and many will be looking back on the past six months.

It has been a time of tragedy and a time of hope.

Now more than ever we must look ahead with a sliver of optimism and hope that by this time next year the pandemic is all but a fading memory.

Of course in the meantime we must persevere.

The public has shown deep resolve to follow the restrictions on their freedoms over the past 16 months and a great majority have taken the advice to get vaccinated.

Vaccination looks like the only way we will end this nightmare and return to the lives we had.

Of course not all will want a return to the old way of doing things.

Certainly a question remains over whether the old way of doings things is even possible as we look ahead.

Will town centres ever be the same? Will more people from the cities move to more rural areas with remote working seemingly now a feature of modern day life.

We have so many questions and perhaps they are best left for a better day.

In the meantime we can only concern ourselves with what we can control, whether that be or daily walks in the countryside or the ways we choose to fill the time which was once taken up by the commute to work.

It can be liberating to let go of all the questions, give it a go.