2020 - A Planning Themed Poem

Ah 2020, we said, some time on new years eve,

What a nice round number, how fun that ought to be.
Imagining all the projects the next 12 months might hold, 
The planning legislation, we hoped might soon unfold.

The GMSF will be, no doubt, a strategic planning win,
And the white paper, shaking things up, a new era could begin.
A few more days of festive rest, then back to work said we,
Tipsy, and optimistic about how the year might be.

Things started out the way you’d think, dry January, new me,
But then they slightly came unstuck, and suddenly you’d see -
Talk of case numbers in the news, and graph lines surely rising…
And… bumping elbows in the pub, I guess it was surprising,
But we realised, slowly at first, then all at once, that everything would change -
2020, it transpired, was frightening and strange. 

Like a Local Plan examination, the year rolled on and on,
Some were furloughed, some lost work, our certainty was gone.
We couldn’t see our families, we could see our friends.
We lost, we grieved, we tried our best, and somehow in the end -
We found a way to make it through by focusing on joy,
We clapped, we baked, we found a strength a virus can’t destroy.

The “best laid schemes of mice and men” had never been more true,
But we are planners, and we must plan, it’s kind of what we do.
We set about to understand and contemplate our doom,
While all about us lost their heads, we held seminars on zoom.

We had a lot to talk about – everything was changing,
Work and homes and transport would all need rearranging.
Sometimes it was a gift of sorts, a world to recreate -
What might stay and what might go if we avoid our fate?

How permanent would all this be? This direction change?
A life forever lived from home, would that be too strange?
Do we plan for the world the way it looks or the way it all should be?
A vaccine’s round the corner now, so I guess we’ll wait and see.

But planners, we were ready, to do what we do best,
Let it be noted, let it be known, that put us to the test,
And we will respond, as best we can, with positivity.
Show us the death of the high street, and we’ll show you a plan B.

Our skills might yet be needed, so hold your pencils steady,
Have your festive yuletide fun, but come January be ready.
The world might need rebuilding, and you know who we’ll need?
Yep, you got it, planners, on that we are all agreed. 

Written for (and read out on)  50 Shades of Planning Podcast "Reflections on 2020 - Part 1" - 12.47 mins in.