JCK Show a Promising Return to the Past?

It's a new world out there. Traveling in the age of COVID-19 is a novel experience. Since returning from a family visit to the UK, friends have asked me how the trip had been as if I was an explorer who had returned from the New World 500 years ago.

What are the people like? How do they behave? Do they approach you or do they keep a distance? Are they friendly? Questions that would have seemed ridiculous just 18 months ago, are asked as if I was Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook.

After years of travel to diamond industry events around the globe, I thought I had forgotten the whole flying thing, but there in my trolley, untouched since February 2020, was the checklist of items I would take to shows and conferences. Didn't need the suits and ties, but most of the rest came in handy.

Is international travel again become something that mostly the wealthy do? The cost of COVID-19 tests is appallingly high, and there's absolutely nothing you can do but go along with unjustifiably high prices if you want to travel. The tests for two were not far from the cost of another flight ticket.

I understand that people have developed COVID-19 fatigue and are highly reluctant to go along with what some may regard as overbearing guidelines. But I can't see the problem with wearing a mask indoors and keeping a distance.

One nice touch in stores, elevators and other public places were loudspeaker announcements and signs asking us all to be pleasant and courteous to each other and to keep a distance. After reading many reports over the past 18 months of incidents around the globe where people had been attacked for asking others to wear masks or keep a distance, I guess we need to be reminded that we are all people with the same rights and duties.

Needless to say, shops and malls were full of people who, overwhelmingly did not wear masks. Not a few people looked askance at us, as if to say 'What are you trying to prove by wearing a mask?' Perhaps most disheartening was the number of older people, 60+, who were maskless. You can't put common sense where it's not wanted

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The idea of learning to live with COVID-19 has been in the news a great deal in recent weeks as it seems the various vaccines provide a reduced protection against the Delta variant. Not that I have any special expertise but it seems clear that we will be living with COVID-19 for some time to come - one year, 2 years, 5 years? Nobody knows, of course, but wouldn't it make sense to put up with a little inconvenience on an ongoing basis both for the individual, and general, good?

And talking of living with COVID-19 and the need to take sensible precautions, I will be curious to hear how the JCK Show is managed and attended this year. I last attended in 2019 when it was the usual huge event presenting an enormous number of firms in a range of fields. Having visited and enjoyed the show a number of times over the years, I am looking forward to hearing from friends and acquaintances about this year's event which runs from August 27-30.

Needless to say, the numbers, both of firms taking part and visitors, will inevitably be down. Digital shows have been held during the COVID-19 period, and although they are convenient, there's nothing like attending a real show, meeting people and making new connections, and looking at and holding precious stones and jewelry. It is encouraging to see that the show is back on track, and let us hope that it heralds the start of an opening up of our sector which, arguably more than any other, depends on the ability to give potential buyers the ability to handle our beautiful sparkling products.

It bears repeating: diamonds and jewelry are frequently bought for landmark events in our lives; they symbolize love and affection and many of the most wonderful and moving moments in our lives. The last 18 months have shown that people have come to value life, families and loved ones more than ever before, and jewelry set with diamonds and other beautiful gems are, as they have been for thousands of years, the perfect way to show how much we care about people who are special to us.

Let us hope that we are a little more firmly on the way back to getting together again with friends and colleagues across the globe. In the meantime, since negative is the new positive today, may you all be negative and let's all stay safe, mask up and keep a distance in order to bring the past closer!

Have a great weekend.