A Year Ago….

I happened to look back at the blog from this time last year, thinking I’d post a photo from then, to show ‘how it was’, and one from now to show ‘how it’s going’, but I was waylaid in my search, because I started reading the blog I wrote on 2 September 2020 and I had to smile, because this is ‘how it was’……

Jack was cleaning and polishing the car in readiness for our trip to Cath’s holiday home in Norfolk and then I wrote: ‘No sooner had Jack left than Michelle and Tim arrived. What joy! It is more than year since we’ve met up (might even be two?) and so I was delighted to greet them.’ That was then. And this is ‘how it is now‘, today: Michelle and Tim called in this morning.

Well, well, well – who’d have thought it? A year, almost exactly, to the day, for a Broadribb visit.

Interestingly, last year, we sat out in the garden and the weather was chilly, so we stepped indoors, keeping a safe distance. This year, we sat in the lounge because the weather was chilly, also keeping a safe distance, with the windows open and a CO2 monitor to keep an eye on saturation levels.

In COVID terms we now know, definitively, that the virus is airborne, and ventilation will help with keeping the volume of bugs at bay. Also, we’ve all been vaccinated – although there’s no data yet on how effective that is, in transmission terms, for the Delta variant.

We had a lovely time with the Broadribbs as usual, because they are very good company, but there had been an upset because Michelle’s car had been pranged in the hotel car park where they stayed overnight last night. The driver hadn’t stopped and reported the incident, so now it’s hunt the culprit.

Michelle had spent a fraught morning speaking to the insurance company, the hotel manager and the police. I think she felt a bit better when she left our house though, because she’d finally managed to report the incident online to the police, who hadn’t been able to take a verbal report last night. “Sorry, madam,” they’d said, “You’ll have to report it online.” The hotel internet wasn’t secure, of course, so no reporting could be done from there. Honestly!! Such bureaucracy makes me grind my teeth. Whatever do people do who haven’t got access to the internet?

After Michelle and Tim had left, we grabbed a bite to eat. I am not sure if it was the food itself that had a soporific effect or whether we are just feeling our age, but after lunch, it was ‘watch-the-cricket-and-snooze-time’. We did absolutely nothing this afternoon. Just whiled away the time, pretending we were actually there at the Oval, and resting our eyes whenever the mood took us.

This evening we watched a film about how time flies and how we may regret putting things off until later, not following our dreams. It was a bit of a trashy film but it gave me food for thought. I am a great procrastinator. Maybe I should ‘have a go’ at the things I dream of. Yes. Maybe tomorrow……..

So, just so you know, the COVID figures are still not going down. Funny that. Can’t think why…… which brings me on to people’s behaviours and beliefs. I had a run-in with a woman at the pharmacy today.

The pharmacy has a policy of 2 people in the store at any one time. Being mostly a law-abiding lot here in Balsall Common, there are often streams of people waiting outside to go in. Anyway, I had been in a queue, but there was no longer a queue and I was in. There was one other, vulnerable lady in, who had been recently discharged from hospital.

The pharmacy assistant had just stepped into the back of the shop to check on our prescriptions when a group of three mask-less adults and two children opened the door and half-bundled themselves into the shop. In the absence of the assistant and knowing that the lady was vulnerable, I turned and said, “It’s only two people in the shop.”

“What?” came the reply. “Two people, it says on the door,” I re-iterated, indicating the notice on the door. “What? Are you the police?” said one of the women. “No, but that’s the store policy,” I said, standing my ground. “Well, COVID’s not as bad as it was,” retorted the woman, a little bit aggressively. “I think it is!” said I.

Anyway, the upshot of it was that the group fell back out through the doors and went off down the road, but not before the woman shouted through the glass at me, “Shut up!” Oh.

How can you believe that COVID is not as bad as before? This is ‘how it was’ this time last year – 1,508 new cases and 10 deaths. This year? This is ‘how it’s going’ – 42,076 new cases today, 121 deaths in the community and 45 on 1 & 2 September in hospitals. Not as bad? Not as bad…..???? Oh, Lord, give me strength.

Take care everyone. As you see, it’s still not over….. anyone got any conspiracy theories on it all? God bless.