This will be my last note before Christmas and I write it with a heavy heart – the increase in Covid infections locally is indeed worrisome. When I wrote my first note to you at the end of April, I knew it would be a tough year. Luckily I was brought up not to shy away from tough. However, I think that if any of us thought that by Christmas we would be seeing a worsening of the situation with Covid, we might have found it too depressing to contemplate. Thank goodness for the natural hope that things will eventually get better. We have to continue to believe this.
In the meantime, we all must continue to do our part to contain the spread of this virus. It is expected that the use of the Club will decline sharply as many of our members stay home and we will make daily adjustments to opening hours and the services offered as necessary to adjust to the changing circumstances. We are very aware that without the outside functions, Christmas parties and members dining at the Club our revenue will be substantially down. Your finance committee will be conducting the necessary due diligence to ensure that the Club finances are carefully watched.
One of our outside function bookings decided not to cancel their party this weekend, but to do it as a take-out instead. I am very pleased that they reported back that our staff did an amazing job with packing up all the dishes, serving implements and everything required for an easy transition to take out; the food was picked up piping hot and was still hot and delicious upon serving. Very good to hear and hopefully members will continue to enjoy what our kitchen produces in the comfort and safety of their own homes.
A fellow member, my Saturday tennis partner, gave me a book of nautical cartoons a couple of weeks ago, in case I was lost for words one week (it hasn’t happened yet – those that know me well will attest that it is indeed quite a rare occurrence!). The cartoon reproduced here (without permission) seemed to me to be quite apt for our current situation: we know what the problem is, we just don’t know how long it will take to overcome it. Waiting for the next high tide won’t quite cut it for this one…….
So, my final message of 2020 for you is: remain resolute; stay hopeful; be thankful for the small things; be kind to people who are not as fortunate. We live in a beautiful place; we are members of a fantastic community; the sun will come up tomorrow. This too shall pass. I wish you all a safe and healthy Christmas and hope that the promise of a better 2021 is not an empty one.
ELSPETH WEISBERG
Commdore
December 16, 2020