Saturday, 11th December, 2021 [Day 635]

It is extraordinary to think that Christmas is now only two weeks away – for a reason, I cannot quite put my finger on, Christmas really seems to have crept on us this year and I am starting to think about all of the jobs that need to be done before Christmas. Principal amongst these are the Christmas cards which, in theory, ought to be quite easy. All I have to is to make sure I have enough labels of the requisite type, find the appropriate file, conduct an experiment with one page  to make sure all goes well and then run off the completed file. I think we have about 55 contacts altogether so at 10 to the page, this should take six pages of labels. When I checked, I only had 3 x. 10 left so I needed to make a quick foray onto Amazon to have a few more of the relevant type sent to me. I am making my absolute cut-off point 12.00 on Monday for the following reason. No doubt, lots of people will be writing their cards this weekend so Monday morning at the post office is liable to be hell-on-earth. If I delay until Monday afternoon, then I should manage to get everything posted off in plenty of time. In the meantime, I have to make sure my list is up-to-date. I seem to remember that last year I sent a Christmas to one of Meg’s cousins and got an out-of-date address for the cousin fron an old address book. The recipients of the Christmas card sent it back to me (as I always stick my own address labels on each card I send) with a note saying that the perspn for whom the card was intended had moved at least 10 years previously. I am sure this must happen quite a lot, actually, but I need my list to be as accurate as possible before I start this year’s run.

Meg and I walked down to the park today in weather not particularly inclement. There we met with our long time park acquaintance, Seasoned World Travellor, and we exchanged Christmassy type things, as well as Omicron and related news with each other.  Because of the cloud cover, it ssemed to start getting dark at about 3.15 and for this reason, as well as th fact that there is a Thomas Hardy film on the TV tonight (‘Far fom the Madding Crowd‘) which I particularly want to watch. By the way, ‘madding’ in this context mens ‘frenzied’ which I didn’t know until a visit to Google. When my mother was alive, she would often bewail the fact that ‘the light was failing’ when she was trying to do jobs at this time of year. As a teenager, I had no idea what she was talking about and could not discern why she didn’t  just put on the (electric) light and make do with do that.  Several decades later on, I think I know what she was talking about because there are some jobs (of the cleaning variety) where you actually do need genuine daylight as far as possible. 

The COVID news continues to dismay. With no further restructions than the ‘Plan B’ that we already have in operation, there are authoritative projections that buy the end of the month, we shall have 1 million new infections and 75,000 deaths. Already there is talk of a ‘Plan C’ to be implemented immediately that Plan B appears not to be working. Yesterday, the increase in cases over the day before was 50% as the number of new cases rose from 1265 to 1898 so the exponential trend of the number of new infections doubling or tripling within days is being played out before us. Schools have not been mentioned recently and I suppose this is because we are now entering the period  (a week and a half before th Christmas break) when school attendance ought to be high. I wonder, though, whether at this rate of progression, it would be sensible to delay the start of the new term by 2-4 weeks. The trouble for the government is that the scientific and medical community seem to nearly of one voice, or at lest ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’) as the Omicron data slowly emerges. However the libertarian (= right wing) of the Tory party are threatening to withhold their support from the ‘Plan B’ measures when the vote takes place next Tuesday – and, of course, there is the critical by-election in Shropshire North next Thursday. If the Conservatives lose this seat, I can see the pressures on Boris Johnson to move aside or be replaced may well be overwhelming. Just to make matters worse for the government, it has been that some staff at the Treasury had office drinks while England was in lockdown last year. It has been reported that around two dozen civil servants were present for the drinks on 25 November, 2020.

 

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Friday, 10th December, 2021 [Day 634]

Today is the day when our domestic help comes round and we immediately told her the news of the week, namely the death of Mike’s brother-in-law. As we will be away when she calls around next week, then she needed to know of our plans and indeed our whereabouts. Late last night, after I made the booking with the hotel, I realised that car parking might always be a critical issue and it appeared that our chosen hotel had a limited amount of parking but was only 2 minutes from a public carpark (which we did know about and, in fact, often used when we were in Harrogate) I decided that I would email the hotel to see if they could reserve a space for us when we go up in somewhat less than a week’s time. We were pleasantly surprised  to get a reply quite early on this morning where it was indicated that a space would be reserved for us, so needless to say we were delighted with this news. The Christmas tree that I had orered as a replacement for the one that got ‘lost’ at the carriers arrived yesterday and I had done a rough job in assembling this. The assembly took only a matter of minutes but what did take the time was working round the tree branch by branch to ‘spread out’ the wire branches and twigs around the tree. Our domestic help and I spent several minutes making the tree look a presentable shape and we agreed that it was quite OK for now but would be considerably improved once dressed i.e. had its lights  draped on it and decorated with a few baubles – but more of this later.

Meg and I walked down to the park and met up with our University of Birmingham friend whilst I shot off to collect the newspaper and to post the ‘In Synpathy’ cards to my relatives. Although the weather seemed quite fine when we walked down, an icy wind had sprung up from somewhere and we were very glad to get home. When we did open our front door, we had a real surprise. Our domestic help knew where the Christmas tree lights were (which we had recently purchased) and took it upon herself to decorate our Christmas tree for us. When the hall curtain was drawn (to minimise the light), the effect was absolutely stunning and to say we were delighted is a massive understatement. Then our chiropodist rang to say could she come an hour or so early as she had a cancelled appointment which was fine by us and we had been expecting her later on in the day anyway. Then the doorbell rang – it was our domestoc help who had left us some time before but gone down to Age Concern where she knew they had masses of spare decorations and bought a collection of very tasteful baubles for us with which she proceeded to finish off the decoration of the tree. I suspect that she hates to see a job only half completed but the net result is that at the end of the day we have a superbly decorated tree which is one of the best we have ever had.

The COVID news today is all very worrying and the mathematics of Omicron are terrifying. Infections are currently doubling every two to three days (apparently slightly faster in Scotland) and today the UK Health Security Agency estimated that by the end of the month that doubling would mean at least one million people being infected with Omicron. There are two potential silver linings to the cloud of uncertainty. One of them is that the severity of the illness that the Omicron variant causes may well turn out to be mild – and therefore less likely to result in hospitalisations or even death. While it looks like boosters will act as a powerful shield against Omicron, just a tiny reduction in vaccine protection against hospitalisation could make a massive difference to the NHS. Earlier this week, SAGE estimated that a drop in the vaccine’s ability to keep people out of hospital from 96% to 92% would mean a doubling in the number of people going to hospital. This is a very, very sobering thought for a variant that spreads much faster than any one we’ve known so far.

The other political sport so far is to see whether a rebellion against Boris Johnson will intensify or not. As the Labour Party are going to support the new government measures in the House of Commons next week, it could well be that Tory MP’s will feel inclined to rebel knowing that the life of the government is not threatened. But of course, the critical thing will be the bye-election next Thursday in Shropshire North which ought to be a really safe Tory seat wit a majority of nearly 23,000. In all probability, the Tories will still win this (as the Liberal and Labour campaigns do not intend to step aside in favour of the other) but were the Tories to lose, then the Tory party may well run into panic mode and ditch Boris Johnson.

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Thursday, 9th December, 2021 [Day 633]

Today seemed quite a fine day after the storms of the last week or so. As Meg and I walked down into the park, it semed almost mild and n enjoyed some pale sunshine – admittedly, it is still a little on the cold side but with the absence of icy winds blowing from the storms, it was quite a pleasant experience.  On our way down this morning, one of my Irish friends had learned, through this blog, of the sad death of my brother-in-law and  came out of the house to offer her condolences. Our other friends were also on their way out shopping in the car and stopped by to remind me that the wreaths they had been making for us were ready for collection. So I promised I would call by later i the car and pick them up. After we had our walk in the park including our elevenses, we set off for home. I made a curry with some leftovers and following the family tradition of hving a curry about once a week (carried over from our student days, a long long time ago).

After lunch, I knew that I needed to make a trip into town bar car. Firstly, I picked up our wreaths with which I am going to adorn our porch some time in the morning when I have plenty of light and I can see what I am doing. Then I needed to buy some bereavement cards for my sister and for each of her four children (who have just lost their father) I went to WH Smiths for the cards as I could buy stamps at the same time and managed to get five cards which did not duplicate each other. Then I popped into Poundland to buy one or two bits and bobs and then finally struck fo home. I decided that we would have some homemade soup this evening for our afternoon bit of supper so I took the 500gram bag of Soffritto (carrot,onion and celery) and weighed out a third of this. Then  I parboiled these together with one half of a (huge) leek and a fried onion and got them going in the soupmaker, together with one desertspoonful of Balti cooking sauce and some vegetable stock. The result was just how I wanted it to be, even though I forgot to put in some coconut milk which I had purchased this morning.

After we had our tea, I got a call from my sister who was bearing up well after the death of her husband yesterday. She was in a position to gve me the date of my brother-in-law’s funeral and it is now planned for a week tomorrow i.e. Friday, 17th December. This is excellent in many ways as it means that we can have the funeral well before Christmas. At the same time, I can take some time to meet the Yorkshire branch of the family so I am pleased that we did not get into a situation where there delays all the place because Christmas is now so close. After the phone call, I did a quick search on the web to see what accommodation was available. The hotel we stayed in before and the B&B which used to stay in (now converted into an ApartHotel) both seemed pretty expensive but one of the big hotels in the city centre had a special offer on and we managed to book a room at this price. In particular, the advantages of hotels over B&B’s in Harrogate is the availability of carparking – the B&B’s in Harrogate have to rely on street parking which can be a nightmare. So we can now go up for the funeral the day before (i.e. on Thursday), have the funeral on the Friday and then stay one extra day on the Saturday before we head for home on Sunday. This way, we have enough time to spent a bit of time with the members of the family that we have not seen for about two years now.

The press are still having a field day with what you might call ‘Partygate’. It now seems that apart from the infamous party that took place on 18th December last year, there are two more that are also going to come into the investigation that Boris Johnson announced in the Commons yesterday. One Conservative MP when asked if he thought that there was actually a party replied that when you put together the ccounts of the food and drink that got wheeled in, the ‘secret Santa’ presents that were organised, some incredibly loud carousing that went on until about 1-2 in the morning plus the damage to a door that had occurred during the proceedings, he replied ‘Well, it sounds like a party to me’  Today it has also been announced that the Conservative party have been fined £18,000 for not properly declaring the donations from a wealthy Tory party donor in their accounts to pay for the refurbishment of the flat in No. 10 – and it looks as Boris Johnson may have lied to Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests.

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Wednesday, 7th December, 2021 [Day 632]

Today has been quite a momentous day, one way or another. After the release of a video by Downing Street staff showing a rehearsal of how the press team would respond if informed there had been a party in Downing Street (held against the regulations), there has been a lot of interest into exactly how the Prime Minister would respond in Prime Minister’s Questions at 12.00 today. What made the video especially obnoxious was the fact that that Boris Johnson’s then adviser and press spokesman, Alexa Stratton, was giggling throughout her rehearsed answers which were, in themselves, a quasi-admission that the party had actually taken place. To the thousands of relatives who could not be present at the death of their parents and loved ones, let along hold their hand whilst they were dying, they were confronted not only with the fact that the Downing Street were not only having a party but were giggling about the possible consequences of their illegality. This has been like a red rag to a bull and has absolutely enfuriated bereaved relatives all over the country.

Meg and I tuned into Prime Minister’s Questions where Boris Johnson apologised abjectly for the fact of the release of the video (and therefore its contents) but also promised an enquiry by the Cabinet Secretary as to whether or not there had been a party.  According to an opinion poll in Sky News, 64% people believe that there actually had been a party. Only about 7% think that Johnson is telling the truth but as I have indicated in previous blogs some ‘vox pop’interviews have tarred Labour politicians with the same brush assuming that all politicians lie.

No sooner was Prime Minister’s Questions over, then I received a telephone call from my sister with the incredibly sad news that her husband of 55 years had died in hospital in Harrogate. He had taken a dramatic turn for the worse a few days ago and members of the family had been in a constant vigil. He died peacefully holding the hands of his two daughters and my sister arrived within minutes of his death to bid her farewell. One of my nieces who was sharing the telephone call with my sister giving us the sad news left me with a poignant comment that ‘Although people might have thought that (my father) was a funny old thing at least he was OUR funny old thing’ The most immediate questions that arise is whether there will be new COVID rules which will hamper the holding a full funeral and Meg and I are holding ourselves in readiness so that we can immediately make a booking in a local hotel (if that is possible) for the funeral wenever that might be.

I remember particularly  clearly my sister’s wedding day on a very cold day in February, 1966. I was in my first year at university and was not the possessor of a lounge suit so I hired one from Messrs. Moss Bros (as one did in those days) Although they had measured me up for a suit the one that was supplied was extraordinarily ill-fitting so I felt the need for some braces to keep the trousers up. I raced into town (Leeds) early that morning and dashed round Woolworths but all I could find was ‘suspenders’. Cursing the Americans for replacing a perfectly good English word (braces) with one of their one I bought the suspenders only to find when I got them home that I had bought a pair of sock suspenders. To make the best of a bad job, I took the pair of suspenders and twisted them together to form a type of elastic rope which I then tied together under my armpits to keep the trousers in more or less the right position – the ‘suspenders’ were hidden from  view by the waistcoat. I was ‘giving’ my sister away as my sister and I were part of a one parent family and I recall that we had a taxi to take us to the church. To give ourselves a little Dutch courage, we swigged from a hip flask of whisky but as the taxi arrived early, we had to keep ‘going round the houses’ to use up a bit of time, swigging constantly as the taxi circulated around. The rest of the wedding went off without any hitches. My brother-in-law as well as running his coal and haulage business was equally deducated to snooker in his earlier days (when he won the prize at his local Conservative club quite regularly, fishing (into which he inducted his two sons) and last, but not least, cricket. He was an avid follower of Yorkshire cricket and would have been saddened in the extreme to see what has happened to his beloved in recent weeks – he could be that he was too ill to fully appreciate the most recent event when most of the committee members of Yorkshire cricket club have resigned in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq revelations about rampant racism within the club.

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Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 [Day 631]

Today was the day when Storm Barra (named by the Irish Meteorological Service) swept across the country and we knew that, according to all predictions, it ought to sweep across the Midlands mid-morning. In view of all of this and as it was my Pilates day as well (when we normally have a ‘tight’ turn around), we decided to go down to town by car so that we wouldn’t end up soaking wet. So we picked up our newspaper and headed for home so that we could have our elevenses snug at home rather than shivering on a park bench. Meg and I are gradually getting over our ‘sniffly’ colds thanks largely to some ‘colds and ‘flu’ capsules  that we had stored away in a kitchen drawer waiting for a time when we would really need them (such as this). Once we had got home, I started to prepare some of the elements of lunch so that we could eat rapidly once I had got home from my Pilates class. Then I spent a certain amount of time looking around for some of the specialist Christmas socks I was certain I had bought last year. I did discover some with a discreet motif of reindeers on them but I was sure that I had purchased several more festive pairs last year but I couldn’t find them in my search through various sock drawers.  My ‘reindeer’ socks were easily surpassed in festive spirit by the socks worn by my fellow class members so I shall have to do something about that by next Tuesday. 

My thoughts are gradually turning to more Christmassy things, particularly now that Christmas cards are starting to arrive by every post. Prime amongst these concerns is trying to find out what has happened to the Christmas tree which we have purchased and now seems to be ‘stuck’ somewhere in the carriers (Hermes) When I try the tracking sytem I am informed ‘Parcel being processed in the depot’ but it has been like that for days. After my abortive efforts to get through to the retailers yesterday, I tried again to get through to the retailer who agreed that there was a problem. They consulted their stock records  and as I feared, this particular model of Christmas tree is now out of stock. So I accepted the offer of a  full refund (which might take 10 working days to process, by the way) and am left to contemplate my options. I got onto Amazon and ordered another tree, similar in design to the previous one but perhaps not quite as nice and certainly more expensive. However, this ought to arrive by tomorrow which means I get round to putting it up on Friday (with a bit of assistance from our domestic help  were I to need it). The next Christmassy thing is to get my Christmas cards (computerised) list run off.  If this works satisfactorily, then it considerably speeds up the mechanics of Christmas card writing but it is always a slightly anxious few minutes to make sure that the address label printing system works as intended without a lot of abortive and wateful trial runs to get it right before you initiate the final run. I have to check in my particular storage space if I have the right number of sheets of labels and, if necessary, order some more before I start this year’s run. Another Christmassy type job that I will have to think about is bottling at least some of my supplies of damson vodka/gin so that ‘Santa Claus’ can have his normal jaunty visit to members of my Pilates class this year.

Sky News has got a remarkable scoop this evening. Thy are reporting that the Labour Party  has accused Number 10 staff of ‘laughing’ at the British public after footage emerged of Downing Street officials joking about a Christmas party during a time of strict COVID restrictions. In a video recording of what ITV News reported was a rehearsal for a TV media briefing, senior Number 10 aides were filmed talking and laughing about a Christmas party. According to the report, the footage is from 22 December last year – four days after an alleged Christmas party took place in Number 10. I wonder if the Downing staff will try and argue that just because you are rehearsing what you will say in the event that one’s party has been ‘discovered’ just not mean to say that that the party actually took place.

Boris Johnson is quoted tonight as opining that the Omicron variant of COVID appears to be more transmissible than the dominent Delta variant which is confirmed by the very rapid rise in the number of new cases reported daily. There were 101 new cases reported yesterday taking the total to 437, a 30% increase in one day. However, there are the slightest of slight indications that the new variant may be somewhat less likely to cause severe illness rather than the Delta variant but we shall have to wait about 2-3 more weeks before this prediction can be confirmed (or not)

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Monday, 6th December, 2021 [Day 630]

We woke up to quite a raw day today but there no active frost or snow – just a constant icy drizzle. Last night, Meg and I were fighting off streaming colds so we treated ourselves to our second hot toddy of the day (whisky, sugar, lemon,boiling water) and took some cold and ‘flu relief powders as we were going to bed. We woke up feeling marginally better so perhaps the self-medication was proving its worth. I needed to pop into Waitrose to buy one or two things of which we were running short so we went down in the car, collected our newspaper and provisions  from Waitrose and then shot home to have our elevenses at home. We cooked ourselves a small joint of gammon (transferred from yesterday) and then settled down for some afternoon chores. One of these consisted in hanging onto the help line of the customer services firm from which we have purchased an artificial Christmas tree but which has got stuck somehow at the carriers. I somehow feel this is a saga which is going to run and run but as I have already paid for the tree, I feel I must try and get through the suppliers (on the non-suppliers) somehow. 

The health secretary has admitted that the latest Omicron figures are such that he is uncertain whether or not the UK will be knocked off by the latest figures which have now risen to 336. Sajid Javid has admitted that there is now ‘multiple community transmission’  which means basically that the new variant of the virus is all around us and looks as though it is outcompeting the Delta version of the virus and will become the dominant variant of the virus within a few weeks i.e. by Christmas. What I think is quite interesting is to see how a virus-weary population might respond to all of this and whether it will impact on the family visits and celebrations over the Christmas period. I would imagine that many of the traditional Christmas parties might be abandoned or radically scaled back but I doubt that it will stop people seeing their relatives as happened last Christmas.

We have received some very worrying news about my brother-in-law, still in hospital in Yorkshire. It looks as though the cancer from which he is suffering has spread from his spine to his liver so may sister and the rest of the family are preparing for some very sad news in the days and weeks ahead. Because of COVID restrictions, only one member of the fairly large family may see my brother-in-law at a time (my sister has four children and they all live fairly locally) The family are doing all that they can to support my sister who now seems resigned to the inevitable – but it is a very sad and troubling time for all of the family.

We are looking forward., if that is the right term, for the latest storm to sweep across the country. It looks as though we are in for a period of high winds and freezing temperatures – but the snow looks as though it may fall mainly on the high ground and in the already afflicted north east areas of the country. I think it was a hardy Scandinavian who coined the epithet ‘there is never bad weather, just inappropriate clothing‘ so I suppose we need to prepare ourselves with multiple layers of jumpers supplemented by good outerwear, gloves, scarves, hats and sound footwear plus trekking poles (if the need should arise). Tomorrow is the day when I traditionally walk down to my Pilates class and it looks as though the height of the storm might just be as I am undertaking my walk. But, ‘sufficient to the day is the evil thereof‘ as the good book says.

A most extraordinary new principle by which we are policed has just been announced. Some Labour MPs have reported to the Metropolitan Police (in the capital) that Downing Street had had a party about this time in contravention of the then regulations. A spokesman for the police has announced  ‘we do not investigate transgressions of the regulations that might have occurred in the past’ (in other words, they don’t want to tangle with the political elite who do not feel themselves bound by the same rules as the rest of us) As has been suggested on Twitter, one could always try this out on the police next time one has an encounter with the police, say for a traffic offence:  ‘Well, I might have been speeding in the past, officer, but I am not speeding at the moment.‘ It is also reported in the headline in today’s Times that Boris Johnson is to instruct the members of his government if any of their actions are subjected to judicial review that they should ignore the rulings. This is the start of an authoritarian progression which means that the very foundations of our democracy are being undermined by a Prime Minister who is beholden to the right wing of the Conservative party.

 

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Sunday, 5th December, 2021 [Day 629]

Winter has set in with a vengeance and today dawned with a generally raw and icy blast. As is customary, I walked down to our local newsagent on my own coming back in time to watch the Andrew Marr show. The deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, was interviewed and I was wondering how he was going to reply. He admitted that a  ‘formal party’ in Downing Street last December would have been contrary to Covid-19 guidance saying it would have been ‘the wrong thing to do’. However, Boris Johnson had assured him no rules had been broken over the alleged gathering last year, despite reports from various sources in several newspapers. So that is all right then! Meanwhile, some of the Sunday newspapers are recounting poignant stories of how about a year ago now, relatives were not allowed to be present at the deaths of their close relatives (observing the rules) whilst a party was taking place in Downing Street  (where ‘no rules were being broken’). Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday has not denied that the party took place but has denied that any rules were broken. But holding a party (breaking the rules) is not breaking the rules. This is Alice in Wonderland politics and I wonder for how long the present government can continue with such rampant dissimulation.

Meg and I got into contact with our University of Birmigham friend to indicate we would have to  have a truncated meeting this morning as we were off to visit our friends down the road for a coffee. In the event we decided to call off our meeting in the park and we made our way, cold and shivering, to have coffee and a chat with our Irish friends. We spent a very happy couple of hours and it was particularly nice to accept the offer of a hot toddy (whisky and boiling hot water)  to help to overcome the effects of the cold and streaming colds that are afflicting Meg and myself. I think it migh be another case tonight, as last night, to have a ‘cold relief’ type of medication before we settle down for the night. Our chat was very useful to us, though, in lots of ways because as well as a laugh and a joke, we discussed some of the ways in which we might align our holiday plans for later next year. It could be that we go off to our normal haunts in Northern Spain next year when the coast has cleared (in the spring) and then we might holiday together on the same pilgrimage to Rome and Assissi in Italy in the autumn.  Of course, so much depends on how much damage the new COVIFD variant of Omicron manages to wreak on the European population and how viable travel to any European country turns out to be.

In the Sunday Times, I read a wonderful  quote which rather tickled my fancy. This was an apparently an old expression that if you being pursued by a bear who wants to eat you, then it not important to be at the front of the group of people who are running away but rather one should strive not to be the slowest person in the group (at the back). This rather reminds me of an article which I read decades ago and this was entitled ‘Protection of the Inept’ The idea here is that all organisations contain within people who are obviously inept in their current role for the psychological well-being of the other organisation members. These may well say (or think) ‘However badly I am doing, I am not doing worse than X’), the principle being that all organsations find it useful not to sack evidently inept people. Whether this was intended to be a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ article or a serious organisational principle, I am not in a position to determine – but it is an amusing idea. I am pretty sure that I can discern this princple at work in every organisation in which I have been employed (since 1962)

It is scary time in the Omicron saga again tonight. The number of new infections in which Omicron has been identified has leapt by 50% in a single day. Whilst the absolute number of cases is not huge at this stage, the rate of increase is dramatic. The cases have risen from 160 yesterday to 246 today and this must be getting close to an exponential rate of increase. According to the scientists, we have to wait for about three weeks (which takes us very close to Christmas Day) before as a society, we can discern what degree of threat the new variant poses to us and what further measures might be necessary.  I can see another lockdown coming on but no doubt it won’t be called that but will have the attribution of ‘Plan B’ or something similar. I think the degree of complacency in our current political leadership lamentable – one suspects they are holding their fingers and hope it all goes away (but we have to have lots of socialisation over Christmas to give the new variant an especially forceful boost)

 

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Saturday, 4th December, 2021 [Day 628]

Today dawned fairly bright and clear and the only thing to disturb our equilibrium was that quite a cold and gusty wind blew from time to time. On hearing some banging noises from an adjacent garden, we looked out of our bedroom window and noticed that our next door neighbour was completing the construction of his garage-type replacement adjacent to his house and right up to our boundary fence. We spent several minutes observing them closely, largely so that we could act immediately in case there were to be any more trespass to occur as it did about a fortnight ago. The builders (evidently, employed to work over the weekend) were busy putting on a type of damp proof membrane, fastening it down with battens and finally hanging the tiles on it. When they evidently having a coffee/cigarette break, I popped down into Mog’s Den to ensure my video camera was working OK (which it was), largely to act as a reassurance that we wouldn’t have workmen hopping over the fence into our garden to finish off the job. Meg and I walked down to the park, where we met with our University of Birmingham friend by prior arrangement and he turned up with Seasoned World Traveller so that we could make up a foursome. About a couple of days ago, Meg and I had watched the first hour of the spoof disster mobie ‘Airplane‘ that we had first seen in a little local cinema in Leicestershire about 36 years ago. We still enjoyed many of the visual gags and some of the dialogue, funny at the time and still funny, could not be repeated in these more politically correct times. So we spent a few happy minutes mutually recalling some of the more memorable scenes in this and similar movies before we were joined by one or two of the local dogs (complete with their owners) who sensed that food was in the offing whilst Meg and I were consuming our coffee and biscuits and they hung around expectantly, to the chagrin of their owners, waiting for crumbs to fall from the rich man’s table, as it were.

We collected our Saturday newspaper and were then fortunate to bump into one of our Irish friends who we had not seen for several days as we had tended to make our journeys by car rather than walking down in the last few days. We got invited around for coffee tomorrow morning at 11.00am to which we will look forward tremendously as we have quite a lot to catch up with one thing or another. We also saw some of our other oldest friends who had been especially busy preparing Christmas wreaths which are sold through the church. Having spent some time last year getting suitable screws into the walls in our porch upon which to hang our wreaths, we will be delighted to receive ours in about a week’s time. Needless to say, we haven’t heard any more about our missing Christmas tree so I expect that will be even more hassle and another ½ hour wait on the customer helpline on Monday. 

We had to have a ‘quickie’ lunch as we got in a little late after our conversations this morning. The wind was biting cold and most unpleasant on the way home so we were delighted to get home as soon as we could. One thing that we could not help noticing as soon as we got home was that the building work next door seems to have been largely completed. I took Meg down into ‘Mog’s Den‘ so that she, like myself, could inspect the new edifice at close quarters. From what we can tell, the overall result is not displeasing – the bricks match up with the original house and the new construction has been tiled. From what I can tell, there has been no provision made for any rainwear goods so I suspect that after my intervention of a couple of weeks ago they have decided not to bother. The ‘catchment’ area for any rainwater is not huge but nonetheless I suspect that in the fullness of time a certain amount of water, not to mention snow, will shed onto our land. I will have to decide what to do about this a little later on. At the same, I showed Meg my new video camera which is trained on the fence and provides us with a measure of security, as well as capturing images of any would-be trespasser. Much to my surprise, Meg thought the installation looked very professional and would certainly do the job for which it was intended. At the same time, I can check that the electronics are all working as they should.

Meanwhile the number of Omicron cases has risen to 160 in the UK. The government has also announced today that all travellers to the UK will have to have a negative test before they are allowed to travel to the UK.The rule applies to all travellers visiting the UK or returning from a holiday, regardless of vaccination status, and will come into force from 4am on Tuesday 7 December.

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Friday, 3rd December, 2021 [Day 627]

Friday has rolled around once again and normally it is the day when we meet our University of Birmingham friend either in the park or in a local coffee bar, depending on the weather. Today, though, we had an exchange of text messages and we have agreed to meet tomorrow rather than today, all being well. Today, we had our usual natter with our domestic help whose ‘day’ it is on a Friday and we always seem to have a good laugh, one way or another. As the weather was a little indeterminate thiis morning, we decided that we would collect our newspaper by car and then go and park in the ‘top’ carpark in the park. This way, we have a little walk to give us a breath of fresh air and to blow away the conbwebs but withour getting thoroughly chilled. Meg is still fighting off some sniffles and although it is not a fully fledged cold, we are not tempting fate by getting needlessly chilled. Later on in the day we decided to sort to sort out our collection of gloves that had been populating the piece of furniture in our hall called a ‘Monk’s bench’  and bring some kind or order to the motley collection. Once we had matched up the pairs, we divided them into ‘quality’ items such as real leather gloves and ‘utilitarian’ gloves, normally made of a wool mixture and made weather resistant somehow (the trade mark is ‘Thinsulate’). We did end up with a collection of leather gloves, woollen gloves, fingerless gloves (that we must have thought useful at on time e.g. if you don’t want to take gloves off whilst tapping the keys of an ATM) and a couple of odd gloves of which the companion must have been lost. My first thought was, of course, to throw these away but, in the event, they finished off in the boot of the car where I reckoned they would always come in handy to clean off a misted or frozen window.

Today being a Friday, we had our by now traditional meal of sea-bass with salad – which only takes about 5 minutes to prepare which is just as well as we often seem to run late on Friday mornings. This evening, we raided our supply of diced carrots and parsnips from which we made another hearty soup, given a slightly spicy twist by the addition of a spoonful of Balti cooking sauce. I am getting into the habit of buying from Waitrose some diced vegetables known by the Italian name of ‘Soffritto’. I had no idea what the constituent parts of this mixture were but, by consulting the web, I have learnt that Soffritto’ is actually a mixture of diced onions, carrots and celery with perhaps a bit of garlic thrown in and tossed in an olive oil. This means that the hard work of dicing the vegetables has already been done and after a bit of parboiling it just have to be thrown into the SoupMaker, together with some ‘sweated’ onions and eventually served  with some croutons and a big dollop of yogurt (which helps to cool it down).

The Omicron variant news coming this evening continues to be a source of concern. More than half those who were confirmed to have been infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus in the UK were double jabbed, health officials have said. A new technical briefing from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says 12 of the 22 known cases up to 30 November had been fully vaccinated. Admittedly, this is a very small number of cases upon which to base a trend but I am not sure that this news has fully sunk in with the general population. If one has to go in for ‘clutching at straws’ time, then there are a few very slight indications that the severity of the new variant might be less than than other variants and, in particular, the Delta variant which is now the dominant one.

This afternoon, I spent a certain amount of time completing the most esoteric questions that are a necessary to fulfill the safeguarding provisions of our community bank account. One of the questions asked whether any members of our group had any dealings whatsoever with the ‘Crimea’ which is, of course, the bit of the Ukraine that Russia seems to have reclaimed in the last few years – with more to come. The interesting thing about all of this is if I did have any connections with the Crimea are other outposts of the Rssian empire, I would hardly  tick the box marked ‘Yes’ on the form. I seem to have got to the stage where the whole of my complex form seems to have been completed and submitted and I am now told that is being ‘considered’ by the SafeGuarding unit of the bank so I have to wonder all of this is going to take.

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Thursday, 2nd December, 2021 [Day 626]

This was a day for leaping out of bed early and heading off for Waitrose bright and early. After a very vivid dream (basically it involved smuggling myself from Mexico into Brazil, bartering for a large and gaudy cake and then smuggling myself back again, all without papers) I made some tea in the early morning and promptly fell back to sleep again. After I had thrown some clothes on, the weather had been so frosty overnight that the car required the trusty old method of a trickle of warm water across the windscreen and window areas before I could set off. I got to the supermarket only a few minutes after the opening time, got some cash out of their ATM and then proceeded with my normal weekly shopping. Finally, I got home a little late having filled the car up with petrol on the way home and then Meg and I had a quick breakfast and a slow unpacking of the shopping. Then we had a long phone call lasting ½ hour to work out what had happened to our Christmas tree which should have delivered a week ago and seems to have ‘stuck’ in the carriers. As we going out in the afternoon, we again popped out in the car to pick up our newspaper and then proceeded to prepare our lunch of chicken curry. Half way through this, our central heating engineer arrived and we were mightly glad to see him. The kitchen mixer tap which was a good make and failed after only about 18 months of use was still covered by the five year warranty. But our central heating firm had to request an invoice from their wholesalers that had to be sent to the manufacturers who then had to authorise and post on a replacement mixer tap. All of this process has taken the best part of 2-3 weeks in which time, Meg and I have had to suffer a slowly running tap which couldn’t be turned off and after a while, this proved irritating beyond all measure. But the replacement tap is of a variety named ‘Easyfit’ and indeed so it proved. The whole job took only about 5 minutes to fit  and as well as fully functioning tap, we could then restore the contents of the undersink cupboard to their proper home (relieved of their contents in case more serious access was required).

This afternoon, we had been invited out to visit close friends who had just moved house. It is always an interesting experience to see furniture that you are used to seeing on one place relocated to entirely new surroundings but the overall effect was stunning. The new flat contained a mixture of both the existing furniture, some bought from the previous owners and some newly purchased but they blended with each other perfectly. Moreover, the views from the new dwelling were absolutely fabulous and we were delighted that everything hd worked out well in the end. When you see someone else’s place, you are never fully aware of the various little traumas that have been involved getting things to exactly the way they would like them. So it was back home braving the Bromsgrove rush hour which I had forgotten can be truly dreadful if you happen to find yourself in the middle of it.

The COVID news this evening sounds rather alarming.  Omicron has a ‘substantial’ ability to evade immunity from a previous COVID infection, according to the first real-world study of the variant’s effect.  The finding suggests the new variant could cause a substantial wave of infections, even in populations with high levels of antibodies.  Researchers at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) warn their finding has important public health implications.  They add: ‘Urgent questions remain regarding whether Omicron is also able to evade vaccine-induced immunity and the potential implications of reduced immunity to infection on protection against severe disease and death.’ On the other side of the equation, there are also reports that cases of the Omicron variant might be much more infectious but has symtoms that are mild rather than severe. The trouble about all of this is that the data upon which predictions are based is at best, incomplete, and at worst misleading. The early findings from the South African data (where the variant was first identified) were from a population that was predominantly young and we know that the COVID virus, in general, affects the young less severely than the old. So at this stage, it is incredibly difficult to form any firm conclusions and we just have to wait for 2-3 weeks until we have a sufficiently large data set upon which we can draw even tentative conclusions.  The debate in this country is still intensifying as to whether we should hold Christmas parties as normal, scale them back radically or avoid them altogether. Some government advice is not particularly helpful or enlightening such as ‘do not snog a stranger at a Christmas party‘ which sounds rather like the first entry in the Manual of the Exceedingly Obvious.

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