The world lost Stephen Sondheim this week. Sondheim was a musical genius, and he left his impact on us all. Whether you knew all his songs by heart, or you just heard his songs popping up in movies and tv shows (and didn’t realize the origins); Sondheim still was always there.
As my American friends celebrate Thanksgiving, and Hannukah begins and the Christmas seasons ramps up, it seems to fitting to take a moment to be thankful for Sondheim.
Now the tributes are coming in fast and furious for a man who forever changed Broadway and movies and song-writing. Here are some articles and links https://www.sondheimsociety.com/stephen-sondheim and Stephen Sondheim’s Most Memorable Songs and 10 Stephen Sondheim songs we’ll never stop listening to.
This Judi Dench version of “Send in the Clowns” remains a favorite of mine.
And after this week, it certainly feels like it’s time to send in the clowns in a comical way (not the heartfelt regret that Judi sings of).
So, I’ll pay homage to Stephen with a “Send in the Clowns” nod, and note that it’s been fun.
We’re seeing kids 5-12 getting vaccines now, and booster shots getting broader access, as well as PCR test requirements relaxed for Canadians going on trips less than 72 hours. But – we’ve also seen the Christmas markets closing in Austria and Germany has led to Christmas market river cruises being cancelled this week, and the sudden explosion of Omicron variant of CoVid from South Africa has certainly got everyone’s attention. As are the floods in British Columbia and southwestern Newfoundland.
The news is still emerging on Omicron, of course, and we’ll wait to hear what the scientists share with us. But, the simple truth is that we’ve lived 20 months now in a CoVid world, and the need to still live our lives has never been stronger. We all want to continue to travel -safely, of course… and will follow the science-based guidance, and listen to the experts. And we will weather this storm.
I still work to help my clients as best I can. See the following links
Omicron was quickly named as the new CoVid variant, but we still don’t know much about it . The days and weeks that follow will uncover more data.
Where things stand today is that we have learned is that Canada has banned travel to and from the following countries for the next 14 days. The United States will bar travel from 8 countries effective Monday. These bans do not apply to U.S. or Canadian citizens returning from effected countries, who will have to follow new pre-entry testing, etc. (For Canada, the list of countries are: South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Eswatini . For the US: South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Malawi.)
Here are some of the latest news articles:
So, let’s keep the faith, and remember that we now have life experience of going through the scary times of learning about CoVid initially, going through the wait for vaccines and rollouts, and going through the scary times of the other variants (Delta especially). Let’s listen to the scientists about Omicron.
I’m confident that the travel industry will survive and thrive. I’ve been booking Christmas markets river cruises for 2022, and there is very limited space.
But for now, let’s remember Stephen Sondheim, and send in the clowns.