Hope for a better year

Terry Dickow
Posted 12/30/21

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy Christmas.

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Hope for a better year

Posted

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy Christmas.

It just seemed strange to not have snow or freezing cold weather. I even saw people out on bicycles Christmas day!  

I mentioned a column or two ago that Rochelle hadn’t had any restaurants close. I must be the kiss of death, because two food places are now gone. Grandma Rosie’s in the Benny’s gas station closed and last week El Tapatio on Illinois Route 251 north closed.  

Salt 251 has closed for the holidays but will reopen in January. They do have dueling pianos scheduled for the end of January.

As this COVID-19 variant continues to spread, I think it is important for businesses, especially restaurants, to do all they can to protect their customers. I picked up some fast food carry out this week and none of the people working were wearing masks. That bothers me to the point that I won’t go back to that particular place. I know wearing a mask is uncomfortable, but nurses and hospital staff do it all day. Hospitalizations are rising, and cases are increasing, so doing all we can to protect each other is important.  

Hospitals are being stretched thin during this latest surge and thousands of travelers were stuck over Christmas as flights were cancelled because airlines did not have enough healthy staff for all their flights.

800,000 deaths so far. 800,000!

Hopefully 2022 will be a year cases begin to decline.

The new year

I've given up making New Year’s resolutions. I can never keep them longer than the first day.  Lose weight, exercise more, develop regular sleep patterns, clean the basement and garage……never ever get done.

Instead, I am going out on a limb and making some predictions.

Bears will fire everybody.

Rochelle will experience a record-breaking snow the mid to last week of January.

The Bulls will make the playoffs, so will the White Sox.

Illinois Route 38 between Rochelle and the DeKalb County line will continue to fall apart this winter and potholes the size of basketballs will appear.

Rochelle schools will be in remote learning by the end of January.

People will continue to badger clerks and other store personnel about having to wear a mask because they are just better than the rest of us who don’t want to get sick.

Two new stores will open in downtown Rochelle as small businesses continue to sprout.

2022 will be a better year.

Happy New Year

Terry Dickow can be contacted at terrydickow@gmail.com