No, I didn’t catch Covid, at least, not yet. But it’s interesting to look back on these past two years and see the effect of the pandemic on my life and that of many like me.

Enter Covid. Enter Zoom. Exit Derek.

Before Covid came onto the scene, most of us had never heard of Zoom or Google Meet. If we wanted to say hello to our distant family, we used Skype and that was about it.

Then many of us had to start working or learning from home and first came Zoom, then Google Meet and finally Microsoft Teams. I guess there are others, but Zoom still appears to be the most popular.

The next thing that happened was that we realised that home could now be anywhere.

Helen and I were among the forerunners, having relocated to Knysna in the Western Cape in May 2021. That’s about 1 000 km from our office and the school in Midrand. Now the hordes are arriving. GP number plates everywhere. One of the first things we did was change to CX plates.

I used to have meetings with clients and anyone else who needed my advice or guidance. That meeting room became a classroom and I now meet with people from all over the country throughout the week and weekends.

I sit at my desk in Knysna and work on the server in Midrand, interacting with my staff on and off throughout the day. We have a weekly get-together on Zoom, have a good laugh and catch up with where the business is going and what we can do to help it on its way. It’s pretty much the same as it was when I was in the adjacent office.