I am known for writing crime thrillers but when the coronavirus was lurking on our shores nearly two years ago I took a decision to record whatever was about to unfold.
I never bought into the initial 'it's nothing' claim by the government. I thought it was going to create havoc, maybe not quite to the extent it has and continues to do in other parts of the world.
I began a diary which was to become:
Coronavirus – 2020 Vision
The road to Freedom Day
The complete diary and events of the COVID-19 pandemic
This day-by-day factual and complete account of events throughout the coronavirus pandemic, written as it happened, gives incredible insight into what life was like during this tragic and historic pandemic in the United Kingdom and worldwide.
It includes facts and figures, government initiatives, news events, moving individual accounts, and the horrific consequences, as they happened each day.
There is also a daily, personal slant on what life was like for the author and his family during what threatened to be an apocalyptic event.
Not including the preamble, the diary covers 491 days, beginning in earnest on 16th March 2020 until so-called ‘Freedom Day’ on 19th July 2021. It has over 1600 pages, over half a million words, and three volumes, with every significant event covered and some strange and bizarre facts of which you were probably unaware.
It reveals all humanity in its idiocy, compassion, and brilliance; the key elements, significant dates, statistics, human stories, tragedies, government strategies, twists and turns, the humour and the obtuse.
The coronavirus will define this generation and identify these times, like other rare global historical events such as the bubonic plague and the World Wars.
This book is something to show your children and grandchildren when they ask you what it was like during the COVID years. It can also be used as a point of reference for historians, commentators, and educators. And it is merely for posterity and public interest.
Were you alive? Do you recall it? Do you remember our Prime Minister almost died with Covid-19? The awful ‘happy hypoxia;’ where people were fine one minute and dead the next. Remember murderers in jail being vaccinated weeks before the prison officers guarding them? The Queen saying ‘we’ll meet again’ during lockdown? Surely you recollect the EU conducting ‘an act of hostility’ towards the UK to get their hands on our vaccines? The thirty police officers fined for having a haircut, or the first man in the world to be vaccinated being called William Shakespeare from Stratford Upon Avon!
The whole world was plunged into chaos, with death, suffering and economic disaster. How did we cope? How did all of this happen? According to Keith’s wife, Jackie, before we knew better, it was ‘all because a man ate a bat!’
Author Keith Wright said,
‘This has been a labour of love for nearly two years. The coronavirus diary reveals a crazy mixture of ups and downs, madness and kindness, death and sacrifice, the like of which I and many others have never witnessed.
It is such a thrill to contemplate that in decades to come, someone will be able to read the books and understand perfectly well what happened here in the UK and beyond during the coronavirus era.’
WHAT WAS THE WORST TIME?
Probably the uncertainty over Christmas and when the UK/Kent variant was running amok before any vaccine had been developed. The fear of there being no way out.
WHAT WAS THE BEST TIME?
We had a wonderful first lockdown in the sunshine. My wife was furloughed, and the weather was fine. We were in a bubble and knew we were safe; in blissful ignorance of what was to come.
BEST PREDICTION?
I predicted early on that the real reason they did not recommend facemasks was because of the PPE crisis and the worry that stock would be taken from the NHS by the public. Matt Hancock eventually disclosed this to be true, over a year later when giving evidence to the House of Commons committee after Cummings’ revelations.
WORST PREDICTION.
I scoffed when Professor Sir Patrick Valance said in the Autumn of 2020 that there could be as many as 125,000 dead by spring 2021. I was sadly wrong. It seemed impossible then.
FUNNIEST PREDICTION.
I suggested, somewhat tongue in cheek, that Jonathan Van Tam had been locked in a cupboard after criticising Dominic Cummings’ Barnard Castle jaunt, as we didn’t see him again for about three months. He did reappear, though, once ‘Dr Evil’ had left.
Keep an eye out, I am just checking the oil and water and kicking tyres and it is looking good for the book to be available soon. It something you can dip into over the years ahead to remind yourself what extraordinary times we have lived through.
You can follow me for news at:
Twitter - keithwwright
Instagram - @keithwrightauthor