Maybe it's because the kind of people who gather for early coffee are cups-half-full types.

Or maybe it's because Canberrans have a boundless optimism as 2021 dawns - and a lot to be optimistic about.

Everybody except one person The Canberra Times talked to was optimistic about the prospects in the coming new year.

Those with relatives abroad were the most optimistic.

Vera Morais, who has been in Canberra for 42 years after leaving Brazil, called out as she walked along the banks of Lake Burley Griffin, "Canberra is the best city".

She had talked to her brothers back in Brazil on New Year's morning. The epidemic there curtailed the usual legendary celebrations. "No fireworks. No carnival", adding "Mortality is really huge there."

Victor Garcia who was walking with Vera said, "I was talking to my cousin in Spain and everything is locked down".

He has been in Australia for 60 years, arriving at the age of nine in 1961.

His optimism is guarded. "I don't think there will be much of an improvement while there are so many cases overseas," he said.

"The rest of the world has to get its act together."

"I'm always optimistic," Lievia Thitheradge, with her dog MJ, said.

"If you feel negative, you are going to be negative."

It was a common sentiment.

"You should be optimistic about new beginnings," Ira Chhabra said as she and her friends looked for a coffee in Manuka.

"It can't get any worse so it's got to get better," was the verdict of Reg Livingstone who was visiting relatives in Kingston.

"I think eventually it's going to sort itself out."

"We are very optimistic," Andrew Bulley said as he walked in Manuka with his 11-year-old daughter, Ava.

"We are lucky in Canberra. We are more sheltered."

He wasn't worried about more lockdowns. "I'm happy to stay at home with the family."

Ava said, philosophically, "I think if we hope for the best, it can only be better."

Was Rick Greene optimistic? "Absolutely."

To which his partner, Jenna Gray said: "He's an optimist. It's lovely to live with."

"Last year was very testing but Canberra survived it better than most," he said.

Two visitors from South Australia, also walking by Lake Burley Griffin, thought the vaccine would transform the situation.

"You can't stay pessimistic all the time," he said.

"You've got to believe that one of the vaccines will help at some point."

"I do feel optimistic because it can't be worse than 2020. I have family overseas and look at the state they are in," she said.

He wasn't unduly worried about the outbreaks in Sydney and Victoria. "I think we've learned a lot and how to nip it in the bud," he said.

The only note of caution in The Canberra Times' unrepresentative sample came from shop worker Jordan Lane outside Coles in Manuka. "It looks like it's all going to kick back up again."

But even his pessimism wasn't that pessimistic. "We had the bushfires last year. As long as that doesn't happen again."