It is I hope a sign of the times that this week I am writing about something which indicates better things to come. This is the 60th anniversary appeal of the Kent & East Sussex Railway, which is looking forward to welcoming back passengers to its station in Tenterden this summer.
Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer scale of the Sevington site where lorries are processed on their way to France. Now that much of the concrete is laid and all the lanes for the trucks are built it seems oddly even larger than it did when it was just a building site.
Every so often it is worth commenting on dogs that haven’t barked, or in this case events that have not happened. I am referring to the traffic chaos many of us feared on Kent’s motorways in the early weeks of Brexit.
This last year has been the worst period for Kent business in memory, even worse than after the financial crash of 2008. Yet beneath the surface it is clear that some sectors, at least, are proving surprisingly resilient, which is of course hugely welcome for jobs and future prosperity.
As we approach the end of this terrible year I suspect I will not cheer anyone up by reminding them that the end of the Brexit transition period is very close.
As we all get used to the second lockdown there are difficulties for huge numbers of people, ranging from churchgoers to gym enthusiasts. But my biggest worry is the effect on businesses, as keeping people at work is so important for reasons that go well beyond the economic.
