isolation

I was hoping that I was going to feel better today but no. If anything I feel worse, tired, wrung out and muzzy, an annoying cough and congested sinuses. I received confirmation that I’m out of strict isolation! That indicates that I’m not likely to be very contagious even if I still feel crap. I’ll do another test tomorrow. There doesn’t seem much point in doing one today.

The good news is that Liz is feeling much perkier. She did a test and only had a very faint line. The bad news is that my younger son, Henry is feeling crap and has gone to bed. His test was negative but that does not necessarily mean anything.

I’m so glad I’m fully vaccinated. You can feel how quickly this could develop into something nasty. I was just talking to a friend whose son is working on the covid wards. He said that all the patients in the hospital were unvaccinated. I think that Trump and all those spreading the antivaxxer crap propaganda have something to answer for. I can’t believe how people are still taken in by that greedy arrogant grifter.

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, our clown is still pretending to be Churchill – with no luck. He’s got the obesity and slouch right though. The Wurzel Gummidge scarecrow look does not exactly give the appearance of a dignified, serious world leader. It’s like having a summit meeting with Coco the Clown prancing around or flying across the table on a zipwire.

You could say the clown is riding his luck. Getting the MET in when his goose was cooked saved his skin at the very last minute. Now he’s hoping to mesmerise us with distraction after distraction and that Putin and the Ukraine invasion will take up all the news headlines.

It’s a fine state of affairs when our clown becomes the first Prime Minister in the whole history of Britain (and there have been some shady crooks) to find himself under caution for a crime. His questionnaire was leaked. There were some awkward questions. I wonder if he’s going to lie on that form like he’s lied to the Queen, House of Parliament and the public. He most probably doesn’t know what truth means. He’s never told it in his life. He’ll go down in history as the lying Prime Minister. What an embarrassment.

There were 88 people questioned by police so it is going to be hard for Johnson to control what they say. How long does it take for the police to decide that he’s a lying bastard who broke the law and issue him with a penalty? Five minutes? Four? One?

Roll on the MET and Sue Gray reports. We’ll see what the public think about having a criminal as leader of the nation!!

All we see of him is silly photo op after photo up – in a bullet-proof vest (looking like a scruffy Billy Bunter) with the police busting county lines, sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet giving us the thumbs up. Why doesn’t the guy sit down in the studio and start leading – telling us why he’s doing everything?? I know why. It’s because he doesn’t know what he’s doing and can’t justify what is happening.

The Tories are desperately hoping that removing all restrictions will give them a bounce in the polls. That is what it is about. Nothing to do with science.

I hope that Sue Gray lets us finally see the back of this populist joker.

They say the levels of covid are falling but it doesn’t look like that to me – 41,353 new cases with another 205 deaths. And that’s with limited testing.

Testing kits will go on sale in April for as little as £1.99. A new vaccine by Sanofi claims to be 100% effective against serious illness.

Maybe, with the hospitals full of antivaxxers, we are witnessing natural selection in operation??

Wouldn’t it be good if by the time of the next US election there were no TRump supporters left???

Stay safe – remember this world is run by a bunch of greedy, self-serving madmen for the good of a very wealthy, powerful minority!! That’s why we ended up with Trump and Johnson!!

This feels like a momentous day. I started writing these diaries exactly two years ago. We have just returned from a trip to Brazil, down the Amazon, an amazing experience. On our return in early February we discovered that there was talk of a virus. As the news progressed, coupled with my biological knowledge of viruses and pandemics we decided to isolate ourselves a week before the country went into lockdown. That was two years ago.

Little did I imagine that I would be writing this two years later. I imagined that the virus would burn itself out in a few months. I also imagined that we would probably go down with it and so I started this diary. I wanted to record what was going on around me and what it felt like to have Covid. I had to wait nearly two years for that.

I still have Covid.

My symptoms today are a slight muzziness, fatigue, a cough, occasional sneeze and a congested head. It’s more of an annoyance than anything more. My voice is croaky and I don’t feel right, but I don’t feel very ill either.

I am playing some Elmore James, reading I Married A Communist by Philip Roth and keeping myself busy with chores.

It’s all becoming tedious. I want to go out for a walk!!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, our resident clown is trying to be Churchill on the centre stage as Russia moves into the Ukraine. It’s rather like watching Charlie Chaplin wrestling a sabre-toothed tiger. I’m sure Putin is quaking. The rest of Europe is – but it’s with mirth.

Our clown has told us that Covid is over; all restrictions are lifted. A wiser nation, looking at the high number of cases, the Queen and oncoming variants, are not so sure. They, like me, think we’ve got a way to go yet. Despite what this fool is telling us we know that his management of Covid has been a litany of mistakes – unprepared, arrogantly complacent, panic, dumping patients into care homes, illegal contracts, useless apps, useless Track and Trace, locking down to later, opening up too early, making stupid announcements about world-beating failures, bringing in stupid schemes – back to work and eat out to help out, locking down too late, not sealing borders, allowing the Delta variant in……………….. If it hadn’t been for the scientists developing the vaccines and the valiant NHS delivering it we’d be in a right mess. As it is he still managed one of the worst records on the planet. Yet, like someone out of George Orwell’s 1984 he arrogantly crows about ‘I GOT COVID DONE!’ What a joke!! Everything he touched turned to shit – King Mudarse!

Are people stupid enough to fall for his crap?

He’s been crowing about ‘I GOT BREXIT DONE!!’ – look what a mess that is!! What he did was to push through an ill-thought-through disaster that is drowning us in red tape, causing mayhem at ports, costing us £30 billion a year, creating massive labour shortages and hitting us with tax rises and rising prices. Some bloody achievement!!

King Mudarse is hoping that shouting ‘I GOT COVID DONE!’ and removing all restrictions will make him incredibly popular again. His Tory minions and ogres are hoping for a bounce in the polls.

I suspect that they might be a little disappointed. Once people see that King Mudarse actually has no clothes, that instead of a statesman hey appointed a clown, I don’t think they’ll be able to see him any other way. The man is an incompetent blithering conman, deliberately ruffling his hair up, sticking union jacks up his arse while spouting schoolboy Latin to impress the plebs and then expecting world leaders to respect him.

Elect a clown and you get a clown – not a world leader.

I think a lot of people are beginning to rue their votes. They see through the rhetoric – Levelling up meaning shovelling cash into his chums’ pockets – just words words words – no end product!! In fact the very opposite of what he spouts!

This man is a nasty, greedy, incompetent Tory pretending to be a man of the people. He doesn’t give a shit about ordinary people. He treats them with contempt and thinks he can treat them like fools.

Huge tax rises, price rises, energy rises, petrol rises, national insurance rises, Partygate, Sleaze and Corruption – I think he’s dead in the water!!

So we go to war! Russia attacks Ukraine. We feed Ukraine arms. The danger is that it escalates. What a farce.

As Brexit descends into a mess, the UK looks to disintegrate, Covid staggers on and Europe is at war, we have the worst leader in the country’s history to get us through – HEEEEELLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!

So, yesterday, in the pandemic that has ceased to be a pandemic, despite sporadic testing and unreliable data, there were either 34,377 new cases, or 49,205 new cases, or 47,685 new cases – depending on where you get your data. There were either 128 deaths, 30 deaths or 158 deaths.

Confusing eh? Pretty much what Boris Johnson wants – he likes confusion. Keep us in the dark – the mushroom theory. If he stops testing and there’s no reliable data he can spout what he likes.

I bet it will be something like:

‘I GOT COVID DONE!!! LET’S HAVE A PAAAAARRRRTTTYYYYY!!!

Stay safe, I’m not celebrating yet. I’ve got covid!!

Well I’ve still got covid!! I tested positive last Thursday and am still not right.

the disease continues to morph. My main symptoms now are a slight grogginess, an annoying fatigue and a tickly cough. Last night I was sneezing. None of it is particularly severe – just inconvenient and intrusive.

If anything I am sleeping better than normal.

I am now wondering how long this is going to linger. I have no doubt that the triple vaccination has saved us from a much more severe bout of illness. This has been no worse than a winter cold.

I am now becoming a covid survivor!!

I am hearing of a 4th booster!! But, it seems that this booster is likely to be for those over 75. So I’ll miss out. Not to worry. Having gone down with the virus now I should have another twelve weeks of antibodies to last me into summer. We’ll see what happens then. It’s no good planning too far ahead with this virus.

With our clown in charge anything could happen. We are no longer subject to science; we are subject to populism with a view to keeping Johnson in his job.

Whatever, it’s not going to affect what I do one bit. It will just free the nutters and make things more dangerous.

So, we are now part of an experiment in which variants are to be bred.

Today we have been locked away in our house. I’ve been reading some Murakami (First Person Singular – nowhere near his best), playing Fela Kuti’s infectious beats and writing a little!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, Johnson is trying everything he can to gain more popularity ahead of what is going to come.

Free testing is to go. People with Covid can wander around at will.

Is this wise?

Seems to me that there are a number of issues:

What about the vulnerable people? (numbered in millions)

We know Track and Trace has been useless. We won’t miss that. Neither will we miss paying for the grotesquely high salaries being paid.

We know that there are lots of other things (Like the NHS and Education, Youth Services and Police) who need a big boost of funding. I suspect that the Tories won’t fund these. Any money available will go on tax cuts for the wealthy

I think that the Test kits will still be available even if we have to pay for them.

We know that masks and distancing work and it would be wise to retain these while the virus levels are so high.

We know that working from home has proved to be effective and a future hybrid model is likely to inform our future behaviour to everyone’s benefit. Removing all that commuting will save us time, energy and reduce pollution levels. Working from home can be very good for everyone.

Will we ever get back to the normality we had before the pandemic?? I think so.

As for our clown: hardly a day goes by without further sleazy revelations. Through the pandemic it seems that Johnson was offering access for big Tory Donors to both himself and the cabinet. Cash for access – how sleazy can you get??

For me this is much worse than the law-breaking parties of Partygate. We’ve had cash for questions, cash for peerages and here we have cash for lobbying. It’s corrupt. These big wigs who have put millions into the Tory Party give their money for something in return. They’ve been lobbying for tax cuts for the wealthy.

So this is where the money saved from T&T will go!

This country is in a mess. I’m not sure there’s going to be a way of righting the damage these Tories have wreaked.

Stay Safe!! We might survive!!

Yesterday the virus turned my body into a giant snot factory. I felt muzzy all day with a headache caused by pressure in my sinuses. It felt as if my head was swelling like a balloon. Dispirin seemed to improve matters. Incredibly I slept quite well.

Today I have woken up in a better state. I’m still producing quantities of snot but the pressure has subsided and my headache has receded.

Last night I was sneezing a lot more and had a dry, tickly cough. Today I still have the sneezes, but to a lesser extent and my cough is less frequent and intense.

Does this mean that I am on the mend?? I’m not sure. This virus seems very up and down. Yesterday was about the worst I’ve been (so far).

I started feeling a bit unwell on Saturday, eight days ago, but did not test positive until Wednesday. I think Friday was the day that I was a little concerned. That was the day I had a sore mouth and throat and it felt as if my airways were constricting. I could imagine that getting worse so that breathing became more difficult. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Although I am of an age where the virus could have a major health problem I do not have too many underlying problems (obsesity, diabetes or asthma) – although overweight I am fit. I have been walking nearly every day for these last two years. Having been triple jabbed I knew that my risks were relatively slight. That did not stop me from being anxious. I could see how this could rapidly deteriorate into something serious

I am sure that those unvaccinated people, who are feeling that this is a disease of little concern, who are confident that they have the immunity to fight it off, who think they’ve already had it and have the T-cells poised to fight it, are in for a shock.

Having experienced this first-hand I can see that it isn’t like ordinary flu. While I have felt much much worse with flu I have never felt the potential for flu to progress into something lethal. Despite the fact that I have not been really ill with this, not sufficient to take to my bed, I have still tasted its potential. This is one nasty virus and I am very grateful that I have had the vaccine. I would not like to face this without.

Going down with Covid has presented me with a period of time to take it easy. We haven’t been able to go out, not even for our customary walks, and I have sent my Captain Beefheart book into the publishers. I have time on my hands with no urgent pressing needs. That means that I’ve had time to read – first time for a while. This week I’ve read three very different books and greatly enjoyed all three of them – Billy Summers – Stephen King, Lost In A Good Book – Jasper Fforde and First Person Singular – Haruki Murakami. It’s been a pleasure and I think that shows my level of sickness. I’ve lazed on the sofa with a rug and read for hours!!

Today in Yorkshire it is dreary and drizzly. The snow has gone and it still is a bit windy. I’m not too sorry I can’t go out for a walk.

All is quiet in Coronaland as our resident clown keeps his head down waiting for everything to blow over. The crisis feels to have passed but maybe it is merely in abeyance waiting for the MET police outcome and the full Sue Gray report. Rees-Mogg did his job of scaring the shit out the back-benchers by threatening an election. The polls have narrowed a bit. Starmer is proving not too clever an opposition, Ukraine has stolen the headlines as our publicity-seeking clown poses in cockpits and makes inane threats to Russia that has Putin trembling in his boots (from laughter). He’s pretending to be Churchill but he’s chosen the wrong parts of Churchill. He’s got the obesity, slouch, lousy posture and alcoholism to a tee. He’s got the blundering arrogance (as seen with the disaster of Gallipoli), the entitlement and privilege, the inherent racism, misogyny and harking back to empire. He’s got the superiority. What he lacks is the gravitas, oratory and ability to show any leadership. It’s like Wurzel Gummidge acting the part. When he stands on the world stage with his hair carefully disarranged, dressed like a tramp other world leaders laugh, shake their heads and wonder what the hell’s happened to Great Britain – we’ve become Little Britain but a lot less funny. It’s just like Trump and the USA. We’re electing narcissistic psychopaths who are masquerading as champions of the people and fooling us.

We’ll see what becomes of this debacle.

How the hell did we end up having such an incompetent twerp at a time when three major events were threatening us – Brexit, Covid and Ukraine. I can think of few people who I would want less to lead us through such times. The man is an arrogant clown who is blustering and blithering his way through and creating one hell of a mess. We’ll probably never recover!!

We could find ourselves at war next week! It’s not inconceivable with this chump. Just ask Nazarene Sagari Radcliffe.

So yesterday they say we had 34,377 new cases with 128 more deaths. I’m not sure I believe them. The rest of the world seems to have surging cases.

Where is the science? Where is the ‘Big Boy/Girl Debate’?? When are we going to have a roadmap to go forward?? All we’ve had this blithering idiot muttering about Plan B and making off the cuff pronouncement to get him off the hook.

Maybe it is time to lift restrictions?? But we do need a clear strategy. We have to accommodate he vulnerable. We have to sort a way through the short-lived immunity that prevents us from ever achieving herd immunity. We have to look at a logical, sustainable booster vaccination programme for the elderly and vulnerable. We have to prepare for variants.

If we had a real leader, who wasn’t just waving union jacks in cockpits, we might have a clearer picture with a better outcome.

Stay Safe!! The imbecile is giving us the thumbs up from a fighter jet!