So just as we dared to hope that things were finally on the up in Scotland after the most disastrous 2020 imaginable, we are about to be hit with another whammy - a new three week (at least) lockdown in Tier 4 on the mainland from Boxing Day (Dec 26th) to try to prevent the new coronavirus strain from taking hold as it has done in London and the south-east of England, and the utterly insane prospect of a no-deal trade scenario with the EU from January 1st. There is still time for something to be scraped together by Hogmanay on the latter, but the new strain of coronavirus is already leading to the UK being cut off for the time being by countries overseas, with Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands already banning travel from the UK, and with other countries currently considering their position. My youngest son's return to school in Ayrshire in January has already been pushed back, with virtual learning to be imposed at the start of the next term for a period, and we are still unsure of the implications for my eldest son and his return to university. I only picked him up from Dundee yesterday - how astonishing it is that the world can change so much in one day.
The biggest impact on the new rules in the short term is going to be the rules for Christmas, where folk are being urged not to visit friends and family now, but if they absolutely have to, to do so on Christmas Day only. A quick reminder that Zoom is offering unlimited talk time over Christmas Day for anyone with a free account, temporarily replacing the 40 minute only limit, and will do so again over New Year - for details see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/12/zoom-to-lift-40-minute-call-limit-over.html.
If you are experiencing difficulties this Christmas, another reminder that many groups and agencies are out there to offer free advice and support, which you will find on the Crisis Lines page of this blog at http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/crisis-lines.html. For those working as genealogists professionally, don't forget that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme is still running - details are available at www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme.
Despite the current gloom, there is much to be optimistic about. We have a vaccine, with more on the way, and so long as our governments can implement vaccination quickly, we will hopefully get through this soon in 2021.
On the genealogy front, despite the restrictions currently in place because of Covid, there have also been some handy mitigations, such as the National Archives in England offering free access to many of its digital records - this is still ongoing, with details at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/digital-downloads/. And whilst Ancestry seems to have forgotten about Scotland in terms of new resources, FindmyPast has had an astonishing year in catering for us with new materials, so if you have not had a chance to play yet, you can avail yourself of a free two week trial at the site via www.findmypast.co.uk/free-trial to see what new toys are in town there. (Ancestry does also have a free trial option at www.ancestry.co.uk).
The next free to access Scottish Indexes conference takes place January 30th, and you can register for this at www.scottishindexes.com.
I'll obviously update on any important developments as and when I hear them, but I am otherwise going to take a short break this week from blogging, and come back again after Boxing Day. In the meantime, have a great Christmas as best you can in the circumstances, and we will hopefully catch up again soon!
Chris
Pre-order my next book, Sharing Your Family History Online, at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.
So sorry to hear how bad things are over there. Hope you still enjoy Xmas with your sons. Do hope the virus doesn't spread further.
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