Feest Isolation Days – 26 October
Some days the Coronavirus hits home and it suddenly feels very real. A very good friend had it after an abortive skiing holiday cut short by a lockdown and now has Long Covid! Enough said about that. Our Grandson who is eighteen and at Cambridge has tested positive and been feeling unwell with a fever and aches. He’s self isolating. Another friend who I intended to walk with this week has a son who is now self isolating because someone at his work tested positive and she is being very cautious. So – no walk.
Is it any wonder I told off a girl in our local small Tesco’s who was stacking shelves with her pretty mask drooped around her chin? I don’t often go in to the shop and when I do it isn’t for long. I stood well away from the young woman and explained through my mask that she needed to wear her mask over her nose, not on her chin.
When I went to the checkout the girl behind the Plexiglas had her mask at chin level as well. I suggested that she needed to wear it properly or there was no point. She said because of the Plexiglas she didn’t need to wear it. I said the girl stacking shelves wasn’t behind Plexiglas. This is not a joke! Our city numbers are climbing. She assured me they were taking it very seriously. Good I said. Everyone in this store needs to. As I left I noticed that the girl stacking shelves had her mask back on properly. The Plexiglas story was correct. If there is a shield between you and the customer you don’t need to wear a mask. The rules changed on that one three weeks ago! Ministers change their minds and the rules so quickly it’s no wonder people are unclear about what they should or shouldn’t be doing.
My testiness is normal. Millions of people up and down the country are in lockdown again – or nearly – as they have been moved to Tier Three. We are tucked safely in our lovely home. We are some of the fortunate people.
Bristol remains at Tier One but the numbers are climbing. Students returning have caused a huge rise in our infection rate. They apparently are self isolating and that’s got to be a good thing. Who would have thought that getting students from all over the country to move into crowded halls where sharing facilities like showers and toilets and kitchens is a given might cause a surge in infections in a Pandemic? Or perhaps, the Universities across the country reckon the money they get from the students was worth the risk? Students not only pay at least £9000 a year, but on top of that they pay for their accommodation. Bristol University students are planning a strike and don’t intend to pay all of their rent. Watch this space!
MPs voted NOT to give kids subsidised food over the half term holiday this week. The cost would have been twenty million. With all the expenditure occurring at the moment it would have been a drop in the bucket. The MPs argue that there is plenty of money in the system for food for kids. Yet in the House of Commons the public spends £1.7 million to fund MPs, their staff and guests in bars, canteens and restaurants. A tiny amount of money yet their crass and blatant disregard for poor kids means that over half a million people have already signed a petition to stop public spending on MP’s food. Join them if you like!
Thankfully, restaurants and cafes up and down the country have set up local schemes to feed kids, or subsidise their meals during half term. Does this government know nothing about PR?
Meantime, the wind is howling and the trees are shaking their autumn leaves off. And Saturday night the clocks went back! It is no longer dark at eight in the morning…but the nights are drawing in. Something tells me it is going to be a longggg winter!
Enjoy the cosiness and warmth that comes at this time of year.
Enjoy!
With love
Kathy x