Health

Phew!!! Still not ill!! 260 days in and still isolated (apart from picking up the paper from the shop and buying a bit of chocolate!) Wine and food comes regularly to the door. All other needs are satisfied on line.

I’ve watched a hell of a lot of drama on TV! Read some books and written some!!

Today I walked up my hill. My breath came out in puffs of smoke. The hills were misty. The light shone in a twilight.

Back home I’m cleaning my den. I’ve been working here nonstop and it was getting very cluttered, grimy and smelly!! It’s now tidier, cleaner and still smelly!

While I cleaned and tidied I was playing some Beefheart really loud – great music for cleaning!!

I’m trying to free a bit of time for editing! We’ll see. My taskmaster is pretty tough!

Out in Coronaland we’ve started to vaccinate. I hear Russia is vaccinating but I haven’t heard of anywhere else. We’re the guinea pigs! Not that it worries me. I don’t mind vaccination. It’s saved billions of lives! The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned.

In the US it is good to see that the lying ass Giuliani has gone down with the disease and is in hospital. Serves him right. So much for all this non wearing of masks or distancing! You get what you do! Trump, having lost all his unbased lawsuits is stopping Biden from attending the vaccine conference. It was fun to see that the top vaccine companies were boycotting Trump’s do and attending one with Biden!! Ha Ha!!

Trump an Giuliani need locking up!! Another 202,268 new cases yesterday with 1522 more deaths!! That’s appalling!!

Here in the UK we have flat lined on 14,718 new cases and deaths are coming down – 376. We’ve still got a long way to go to catch up to Vietnam and New Zealand with 7 new cases between them and no deaths. They make our leaders and strategies look pathetic. But then we are being led by a giant orange narcissistic conman and a gormless clown! What do you expect??

To add to the chaos to the economy created by their mismanagement of Covid we have our oven-ready, easiest deal in the world Brexit coming up! I don’t remember them telling us that it was going to cost us countless billions, laden us with masses of bureaucracy, reduce our options, slow everything down, cause massive queues, make a carpark out of the South, put millions of people out of work, drive firms abroad, shut down firms, put up the prices, make it hugely expensive and difficult to travel and make it ridiculously difficult to work or study abroad? Instead of the EU we get the joy of being ruled by an Eton buffoon and a bunch of snooty millionaires!! Sounds great! Good choice Britain. What were the benefits again????

Well at least the vaccination has started and we might be able to look forward to a more normal year! It’ll take a few months but……………………….

Stay safe everyone!!

A cold day with ice and steamy breath. I fed the birds, put out the bins and did some editing in the warm!

Later in the morning I walked up my hill. Blackbirds were sitting on their hedges, playing sentinels, crows were sitting on the tree-tops. All the world was in a strange misty twilight. The sky yellows and mauves, skeleton trees in the mist on the horizon. Quite magical.

I went back home, played so Love and did some more editing.

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland the madness continues. Fake news, propaganda and lies are deployed.

It seems that Trump won, the Earth is flat, the vaccine is lethal, The Democrats stole 8 million votes, there is no global warming, we are being ruled by alien lizards who eat babies and the whole pandemic was a hoax.

The cohesion of the world is breaking down. Social media, with its algorithms, along with blatantly partisan media, has divided, fed the hoaxes and split the population. The hate and fury is being whipped up.

Russia and China are laughing.

The UK is plunging into a No Deal Brexit or a Hard Brexit at best.

We are already world beating in two areas (most Covid deaths and biggest impact on the economy) and shortly going to be world-beating in a third – biggest rise in poverty.

Fortunately we have Johnson and the Eton boys to bail us out. The country has every confidence that the millionaire Tories have the interests of the poor at the heart of their policy making.

I thought it would be interesting to do a complete comparison of the 5 countries I’ve been focussing on:

Country	New Cases yesterday	Deaths yesterday	Total deaths from Covid
The USA	173,457	1,111	282,000
The UK	17,271	231	61,245
Brazil	26,363	313	177,000
Vietnam	1	0	35
New Zealand	1	0	28

While I don’t think the figures are entirely accurate (I know the figures in the UK are a lot higher than those recorded) and I know one has to take population size into account, but even with all that I find the figures stark.

Countries like Vietnam and New Zealand have handled the pandemic well, have not taken the economic hit and are largely back to normal. The death-rate is negligible compared to the UK, USA and Brazil.

The USA, UK and Brazil have been appalling. Poor planning, poor leadership, mixed messaging, complacency, lies, misinformation and politicization of the crisis has resulted in huge loss of human life and massive economic hits. Trump, Bolsonaro and Johnson have been scandalously inept, callous and a liability.

The figures speak for themselves – Trump has killed more Americans than all the wars in the last century!

Here in the UK lockdown ended and some people were out on the streets as if there was no pandemic. There are even mass antilockdown rallies with people packed together without a mask in sight. Some people seem intent on being fools.

We are beginning to roll out the vaccination programme. I reckon it’ll take a couple of months to reach me and probably five months to do the whole country, reach herd immunity and get back to normal!! YipppEEE!!!!

Can’t wait!!

So – let the idiots kill each other off and stay safe!!

Day 258 was a foggy, misty morning following a night of rain. I spent an hour or so editing and then set off up my hill. Yesterday the buttery yellow light had cause the green hills to glow with inner luminescence, today the bare skeletons of trees were silhouetted against a bank of mist and an ethereal light permeated everything.

Crows sat in the trees, a flock of starlings on the telegraph wire and blackbirds kept sentinel on tops of the flayed hedges.

Strange days.

Back home I’ve been playing the Doors Strange Days album! We do live in strange days.

While I was walking I was thinking about that vaccine and the testing that has been carried out. I do not know how much has been published. I would hope there is good public access. There are a number of questions I would like answered. Perhaps Neil could help me out here?

How many were in the test group?

How many would have been expected to go down with Covid and how many did?

Of the ones who did go down with covid how many were really ill?

What were the side-effects?

What percentage had side-effects?

I am very confident in the science behind mRNA vaccines – it’s what I used to teach. I certainly will be taking the jab. I just like to get the full picture.

The vaccine is being rolled out this week starting with the over eighties! It’ll take a while to get everyone done and get us up to herd immunity so normality is still a few months off. The Pfizer vaccine had 40,000 volunteers it seems – none of who had more than minor symptoms. We all get a little reaction to a jab. I don’t mind a sore arm or bit of a temperature for a day or two. A small price to pay!

I wonder what Trump is feeling now. All his legal challenges are being kicked out as having no basis and the virus is raging – another 205,513 cases today with a staggering 2190 deaths. I wonder if he’s feeling guilty? I don’t think sociopaths do do they? I think he’s blaming the virus for his defeat and probably wanting it to kill. It would be interesting to analyse the stats. I bet it’s killing a hell of a lot more Trump supporters than Biden ones.

In the UK we still, despite lockdown, have another 15,539 new cases, but at least the deaths are coming down a bit – 397 deaths today. What is quite apparent is that this last lockdown was totally different to that of the first. In the first one there was hardly a person to be seen, nature came out of the shadows. Everywhere was like a ghost town. During this last one you wouldn’t have known we were in lockdown; people were out and the roads were as busy as ever. It’s no wonder the virus wasn’t more depressed.

Brazil is still raging away – another 43,209 cases and 664 deaths. Having a useless, callous leader certainly has an impact. Compared to New Zealand, with no new cases and no deaths, it is quite apparent what good leadership and strategies does. They are back to normal which the USA, UK and Brazil are suffering catastrophes.

Christmas is coming – I’m expecting a big spike!!

Hang in there – the vaccine is on its way. Normality is just around the corner! Don’t die now!

Stay safe!!

Every time I write that number at the top I do a double take. Has it really been 257 days since we were last in normality? An awful lot of things have happened in that time. 60,000 people lost their lives. Countless thousands are suffering the long-term effects on their hearts, lungs, kidneys and brains – some permanently – and millions have lost their jobs.

On the positive side nature has had a bit of a reprieve and the pollution levels went down for a while!

Personally I am finding it all a bit jading. There is a constant tension and not seeing people to interact normally takes its toll. I normally have a mad social life. Everything is dead. This routine is becoming dull.

But, on a positive front – I have written lots and decorated the house. I’ve had 257 two hour+ walks and am fitter than I was – so it’s not all bad!

I’m just fed up with it now. I want a jab and to get back to normal!

The question is – what will normality look like? Will the restaurants, cafes, pubs, shops, clubs, cinemas all be open? Will the bands still be together? Will people have changed?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how bad the fall-out is.

Today I worked all morning editing and went for my walk this afternoon. I’ve got used to stepping out to give people a wide berth and wearing a mask in shops. Things that would have seemed very strange eight months ago.

I’m going to do a bit more editing and go and watch the footie with a beer!

Here in the UK I think we’ve got a lot to learn from the USA. With Trump not pushing social distancing or masks and no lockdown the virus is going berserk. Predictably, following the stupidity of people crossing the country to get back together for Thanksgiving, the virus is storming – 229,077 new cases yesterday with 2637 deaths. That’s a heavy price to pay. I’m sure there are going to be a lot of people feeling very guilty that they killed members of their family. The lesson we have to learn is not to make the same mistake over Christmas.

Over here lockdown has reduced the rate substantially but it’s still there biding it’s time – eager to jump from host to host. We had another 16,298 new cases yesterday with 504 deaths. If we all get together for Christmas that number will zoom!

Too many people are relying on this rapid test – but it is flawed. It only detects around 50% of cases and leads people to believe they haven’t got it and can’t spread it. They can.

I’ve heard people arguing that they won’t catch Covid because they’ve got good immune systems and never get ill. It doesn’t work like that. This is a new virus. Nobody has antibodies. If you are near someone with it you can catch it. Then it’s a lottery as to how ill you get.

The other issue is whether unvaccinated people should be allowed in planes, cinemas, restaurants or schools.

I think not. They could be asymtomatic carriers who might spread the disease and kill others! I’m for the vaccination passport. If the antivaxxers don’t want vaccination then they should not be allowed to mix and spread the disease. Their choice.

What do you think?

Stay safe folks – the end is nigh!

Cold, bright and sunny today. I’m not such quite how I’d have coped with these 253 days of isolation if it had been rainy. I think I’ve only been rained on three times since the beginning of lockdown. Of course, I’ve had to pick what time of day to take a walk but even so.

To be able yo get out into nature and see the fabulous wildlife has been a real boost.

Today I’ve been reliving by early youth with all those fabulous Beat groups of the mid sixties. I was fourteen again!!

It seems that my younger sister and husband are recovering from Covid. They’ve both been really ill. Their older son is still very poorly though the other two (who live in the same house) have not gone down with it. Strange eh?

My friend seems to be on the mend too! He’s been really ill.

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland Trump continues to rage impotently, making up all manner of conspiracy theories – it is like a brat in a real tantrum. Perhaps, he should give up holding all these meetings with his sycophants about how to steal the election. I think he believes all that shit. He does think that the machines were rigged and truckloads of ballots were brought to the polling stations in the middle of the night.

He has a job to do and he’s not doing it. Another 167,756 new cases with another 1265 Deaths. And he is still not telling people what they need to do! His buddy, Bolsonaro, is backing up his absurd claims. He’s presiding over another 21,138 new cases and 287 more deaths as Brazil is up there with The USA as the worst in the world.

Even Scott Atlas, the radiologist who knows nothing about pandemics, who Trump stupidly put in charge, who played down the virus and so is culpable, along with Trump, is jumping the drowning ship!

Here in the UK we have a further 12,155 new cases (coming down as the lockdown bites) with 203 new deaths. Still 203 too many! We trot out these numbers and each one is a life! Trump doesn’t get that. To him they’re just losers!! Johnson should b contrite and embarrassed. He may be a clown but I don’t think he’s as callous as Trump or Bolsonaro.

Today in parliament they are voting on the tier system. The Tory right-wing want to open up the country and let people take their chances. The more moderates put people first. Labour is abstaining and watching the Tories tear themselves apart. Should be fun.

Vaccination may start in the USA in a couple of weeks. They were going to start here too but seem to have put that back a week or two – probably January now.

The Antivaxxer conspiracy theories are rampant. I can understand people being a little leery of side effects byt Bill Gates putting in microchips to control us??? Really??? How stupid do you think we are??? Who makes this stuff up??

I’m counting the days until I can get a shot in my arm. I’ll risk side effects over Covid any day. Vaccines don’t scare me!

Stay safe!! Herd immunity is on its way!!