We should all be grateful for what we have now

Like so many others, our lives came to an abrupt halt mid-March when the world attempted to deal with Covid. From a routine of getting on several planes every week, with at least two intercontinental flights a month and almost always returning home to Guernsey at the weekends, we stopped still. We adjusted to Zoom and tried to keep building the business behind a screen. And the truth is you can grow a business from a behind a screen, at least from your existing clients, for a limited time. And all those years of travelling meant that we had built up a client and contact base that nobody else could visit while the world was on lockdown.

After six months, we have started travelling again. But it comes with consequences. It is no longer possible to come home at the weekends, because of the quarantine requirements. So now we have become like oil rig workers – one month on, one month off.

I have just come to the end of a trip which lasted five weeks instead of the customary five days. I will now need to wait two weeks before I can have a drink with my friends or hug my family. And shortly afterwards, I will be packing my bags for the next four-week trip.

Clients are unbelievably grateful that we have made the effort to see them – nobody else has. As a species, we are social animals; business is social; relationships are social.

My point is that I am not complaining. I try and catch up with life back home by reading the Guernsey Press online. I know there are many people complaining about the self-isolation requirements in Guernsey, some of whom are even threatening legal action. Having travelled extensively in the last five weeks, I can tell you that the world is bonkers at the moment, even the places that are open for travel.

Gavin St Pier and his team have done a great job of (1) keeping Guernsey safe, and just as importantly, (2) recognising when it was safe to open up the internal economy as soon as the threat was contained. We may not have fully understood the challenges they faced, or liked the decisions they made in the early days, but we should all be grateful for what we have now.

Whatever you think of the science behind the global Covid response, the reality is that governments around the world are scared and are prepared to implement draconian measures to ensure that it does not spread. That is no fun for tourists.

So to those who would like to fight the Guernsey government response, I would say this is a battle that you want to sit out – forget your October half-term holidays and your essential winter sun breaks; save your pesetas and your drachmas for another year. As surely as Covid took our travel freedoms away, economic reality will bring them back, but probably not before next year.

In the meantime, we should support Gavin St Pier and his team as they try to do the best for our small island and its global businesses.

ADRIAN HARRIS,

Principal,

Freedom Asset Management Limited.