coincidence （英国からのメール）
3年以上音信不通だった、在英国の英会話の先生にコロナが心配でずっと書こうと思っていたメールを昨夜やっと出したら、すぐに返信が来た。それもこんなに長い。
かつて英会話レッスンの中でもテーマにしたことのある”coincidence"が使われていてちょっと嬉しい。
Hi ○○,
I'm so pleased to hear from you again after so long - the last time was in 2017, wasn't it? It's a lovely coincidence that you wrote to me as, at New Year, I was wondering how you were and what you were doing. I'm so glad to hear that you're well.
So you're back in Japan now, is that right? I'm glad - you're much safer there than in Indonesia at the moment ... and how about your husband and your family? I do hope they're keeping well too. I have a Japanese student (online) and she tells me that the government has called a state of emergency in some prefectures but, typically, everybody keeps working! (You can't stop Japanese people working! :) )
I'm mystified - and full of admiration - that the number of cases and deaths there in Japan is so low. .. 390,000, with 5,700 deaths - this out of a population of 126,300,000, often closely packed together in large cities and urban area, whereas here in the UK we have had 3,820,000 cases (10 times greater) and so far over 106,000 have died (20 times the number) out of a population of 66,650,000 - half the size of Japan's! How do you do it? Is it the fact that people don't touch each other so much? Or is it in your genes, a greater resistance to epidemic viruses? Or that everybody is always so clean? Or that people don't party like people in the West do? Of course, 5,700 deaths is still serious and tragic but only 5% of the number we have had .... it's very strange to me...
How are you keeping busy? (I'm sure you are keeping busy!) You mentioned that you were teaching before..are you still doing that? Are you in Tokyo still?
We're more or less where we were when you last wrote - still living in the same place in Charminster (part of Bournemouth). I'm still working at ETC - one of the lucky ones - most of the former teachers were made redundant in July and September last year. However, I'm not teaching at the moment - there are still so few students... so I'm having a very lucky time.... I'm keeping busy myself though, with several things that I've wanted to do for some time.
My wife is also still working hard - she moved from the ○○ where she worked before, to the ○○ (the main hospital in Bournemouth) - as a chef, of course, not a nurse! That was about two years ago, which was really lucky because her job is completely safe while so many people in the hospitality industry have lost their jobs or been put on furlough (paid by the government). In fact, she's just been promoted (just today) and is now a sous-chef, so she's going up!
The COVID pandemic, of course, has almost overshadowed Brexit - we're out of the EU now but it's as if most people have already forgotten it. It did look like a disastrous mistake to many people, including me, although now with the mass vaccination programme going well here - already 9.5 million people have received a first vaccination - while the EU was very slow to start and has so far vaccinated only 2% of the population, it's beginning to look as if it wasn't such a bad idea after all. The EU is top-heavy with bureaucracy, that's one of the problems. However, it's done now and we're out, for better or for worse - I was really pleased that the very first trade deal the UK struck after Brexit was with Japan... it's very important for us to keep Japanese investors here, and of course important for them, for big companies like Nissan, which has a big factory here, and Hitachi, which is heavily involved in railway engineering projects. And anyway, I think our two island nations should be friends and work together for mutual benefit.
I'm sorry, I'm going on and on - I hope you can understand all this - I'm sure you can! I notice your English in your email is good, even better than before - have you been taking lessons? :)
Well, ○○, I must go - lovely to hear from you. If you have time to meet up on Zoom or Skype, it would be lovely to have a chat! Endri also sends greetings and best wishes.
