2021: WHAT CAN WE SAY?

A year that starts on a Friday can't be all bad, right? And it wasn't. As we continued to struggle with further lockdowns, mutations and new virus strains, 2021 wasn't the easiest year we've ever had. We celebrated wins and suffered losses. And now it's almost another year in the bag.

In terms of wins, Chloe Zhao became only the second female director to win an Oscar (for Nomadland, which she also wrote, produced and edited). The Nobel Prize for Literature was won by Tanzanian-born Abdulrazak Gurnah. And our very own Black Coffee scored a Grammy nomination.

With lockdown restrictions and curfews, the year might've felt like it dragged. But some things went very quickly. We saw the establishment of an exclusive new European soccer league that lasted just two days. A new Swedish prime minister was in office for no longer than seven hours. The EFF's very first mayor lasted a little longer than that, but was soon ordered to resign - by her own party.

Other things took longer than expected, like the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that eventually happened in 2021. In a world where so many things were turned upside down, it seemed our sense of time was a little mixed up too.

Speaking of time and space, Einstein's theory of general relativity was confirmed with the first direct observation of light from behind a black hole - whatever that means. And who knew Einstein's theory even needed confirming? But hey, in a challenging year, a win's a win and we'll take it.

On the subject of wins, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson got to fly around in space, as if they didn't have a care in the world. The world below them had its share of cares, but the billionaires didn't let anything get them down (literally).

We saw the birth of Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor, daughter of Harry and Meghan and eighth in line to the throne. We lost Larry King, Colin Powell, F.W. de Klerk and Eric Carle, the creative mind behind The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

And 2021 isn't over yet. Reportedly before the year is out, we'll see the completion of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which will be the largest archaeological museum in the world. That's what they say, although it's already December and there's no news yet. Then again, we all know what builders are like with deadlines.

We've made it through the ups and down and now we're heading into 2022. Maybe a year that starts on a weekend will be a little more relaxing? Probably not. But whichever way, we can't say we're not living in interesting times.

Out with the old, and in with the new.