OPINION JP HEDGE
Little wins
Despite the darkness of the last few months, JP has found solace in family, community heroes, and the odd unicorn
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an you believe we stayed up at New Year to sing in 2020? What were we thinking? I imagine if most of us knew what this year had in store, we’d have banked the extra sleep instead. It has been an extraordinary time which will define our lives for a long time to come – mine included. Everyone will have made changes, sacrifices or altered behaviour in some considerable way. I think everyone’s efforts are worth reflecting and quietly acknowledging, even if it is done virtually on a conference call with a hand wash afterwards. It was only 18 months ago that you couldn’t move for Keep Calm and Carry On paraphernalia. It was a mantra that sat nicely, harmlessly, with all manner of
versions reproduced on tea cups and coasters. Looking back through the lens of 2020 – that wasn’t us. Not really. At best it was perhaps our grandparents, what they did, and what they helped shape for us. We claimed the coasters. Our keep calm and carry on days are right now – this very moment – and unfortunately we aren’t done yet. The calmness we are all looking for is probably better described as control. I don’t think there is a person in the city who hasn’t been out of their comfort zone at some stage recently. The certainty of Covid is that it is relentless. As colleagues try help the city recover and open up services that visitors and residents love, Covid couldn’t give two hoots about my optimism. Every time I think I understand this virus and
“When this is all over, we’ll properly mark how selfless people were”
create workarounds, it dashes best laid plans. So I spend a lot of time back to the starting block, trying to keep calm and carry on. I do this mostly from my twoyear-old’s nursery, surrounded by Peppa Pig, hedgehogs and unicorns, which is now my makeshift office. That situation got old quickly. In the middle of livelihoods being ruined and lives being lost, one of the coping mechanisms which has worked for me is trying to focus what I can control. Clearly it isn’t Covid. There have been positives this year. And if we can keep hold of those little things together with the best of the changes we have all made, we flip this to ensure Exeter is the amazing city we want it to be in the future. We could be living our legacy. Revaluating the undervalued role of retail workers, care and NHS, refuse workers has been a remarkable step I’d love to hang onto. It’s not perfect, but Exeter has seen huge movement around cycling, road closures and improvement to active travel due to the circumstances. I think we now all understand a bit better that we’re not immune to what Mother Nature has in store for us. That should pave the way better for the further sacrifices we need to make, but don’t always drive forward, around Net Zero and global warming. The likes of knowing your neighbours, actually speaking to them, spending more time with family and any children, valuing
exercise have all seen huge shifts. My wife has never exercised. It turns out all the government needed to do was restrict it to an hour and she exercised every day. I’ve already clocked where that method may also work well! In general though, once things that we take for granted are taken away, it does seem to focus the mind. Over the past few months I’ve seen colleagues shut down services and their careers to entirely focus on helping others through this. Faced with extraordinary financial difficulties and the world on its head the first thoughts of Exeter Chiefs, their charity and Tony Rowe was to help the city’s communities with a £100,000 pot. Despite the tragedy of Covid, there have been countless little wins like this. We are constantly capturing examples with things like Lockdown Legends. When this is all over, we’ll properly mark how selfless people were. There is more uncertainty ahead and Exeter will be doing a dance with Covid, to a lesser or greater degree, until we get a vaccine. I can say with certainty that for me this New Year’s Eve will be met with an early night and a quiet moment about just how amazing people in this city truly are. ■ Jon-Paul Hedge is a director at Exeter City Council where he currently looks after tourism, communications and culture. He is a former newspaper editor and lives in the city with his wife and two young children. www.exeter.gov.uk
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