Clapping our key workers (“essential workers” in the USA) in the streets has been a feature of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a public and collective display of thanks it has been heartwarming to see (and hear). My children - 3, 7 and 9 years old - have run outside the house at the first audible clap-like sound each Thursday evening, enjoying being part of a collective ritual, and perhaps unconsciously taking in its significance and strangeness. I am quite sure, in years to come, it will be a key moment in their memories of childhood.

It is worth recalling what exactly we are clapping for: we are thanking people who worked throughout the pandemic, at risk to themselves - sometimes severe - to protect and preserve lives and to ensure life could continue more or less normally. That is no small feat.

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Key workers have come in all guises - nurses, doctors, cleaners and porters in our hospitals; delivery drivers, shelf-stackers and cashiers in the supermarkets; police, military and security workers; central government administrators; energy sector workers keeping the lights on; journalists telling us what’s happening and why - and many more besides. The applause has been for all of them.

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As the act of clapping in the streets subsides with the pandemic, we would like to preserve the sentiment behind it. We are a travel company - the most obvious thing we can do is give our key workers something to look forward to: a discounted holiday. For all of you on the front line we will deduct 10% from the cost of any new booking for the rest of 2020. You can see more details here.

Even though you cannot hear it, the applause continues.

Best wishes,

Huw

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Header photo by David Dixon: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6450395.

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