Orwell was a keen and brutally honest observer of poverty which he experienced firsthand during the early 1930’s.  His descriptions of poverty and the struggle to survive in two of the most famous and richest cities of the world read more like something from the Middle Ages as individuals scurry from place to place hoping to find a meal, a crust of bread or a place of shelter.  In fact, one is tempted to keep looking at the copyright date to make sure it is not a work of historical fiction set in some dark, dismal land and time.

Hopefully, we have turned the corner on the current pandemic in the sense that we are beginning to deal with it on a realistic basis; one which will allow us to get back to a greater or lesser extent of “normality”.  But what have we learned from this latest challenge in our lives?  Let us look at some lessons which hopefully, shall help us have a better life in the future.