Day 99 - Friday 26th June
Another bright, sunny day although with a little more cloud. No early morning walk today; instead I walk to the GP surgery for my appointment with the nurse. It takes exactly an hour to walk there, get a pneumonia jab and walk back. She unsettles me by asking if I've been shielding - the really extreme isolation recommended for people considered very vulnerable. I reply that I haven't because I wasn't officially advised that I should. Her skeptical look makes me think she considers I should have.
I have lunch with the teens - springtime jumble, which is a favourite Hello Fresh recipe of my son's, adapted to use up veggie sausages left over from last night's barbeque and toasted veggies from uneaten kebabs. I have a webinar at 2pm - a climate change organisation has arranged a virtual lobby of MPs on Tuesday of next week to raise the importance of an ecological and socially just recovery from Covid-19 and this is training on how to maximise the opportunity. I have frequently written to my MP - who happens to also be the president of the next COP climate negotiations - and always been disappointed by his response. He hasn't yet committed to a meeting for the virtual lobby; I very much doubt that he will.
Horrible news this afternoon - people have been stabbed in Glasgow. It's alarmingly similar to last week's attack in Reading. It happened at a hotel that houses asylum seekers and the media are quick to label it terrorism, although the authorities insist that there are no terrorist links they're aware of. It's unclear how many people died, although it seems the attacker was shot dead and a policeman was badly injured. There's more troubling news, with many illegal raves and street parties that led to violence and Liverpool fans gathering in large numbers to celebrate winning the premier league. I fear that the fabric of society is getting frayed, although it seems much worse in the United States where they have a patchy response to the virus and a very vocal anti-mask lobby; some states are reporting horrific numbers of cases.
My friend who's Dad died recently messages to ask if I fancy meeting for a gin. She arrives around 6 and we settle at a table in the early evening sunshine, suitably distanced. She's in pretty good spirits considering; we chat until it begins to get chilly and polish off a couple of gins each. She takes two tomato plants and a chill with her - we're a bit overrun with tomatoes so Hubby sold them quite hard. She buys a few bits from my online shop too. By the time we finish my arm is really sore from this morning's vaccination. I can hardly lift it.
I've messaged my son's driving instructor again today, as they announced yesterday that driving lessons would be allowed to recommence from 4th July. He responds to say that with school no reopening until September he can't work as he has to take care of his daughter. Apparently he has no access to government help; he sounds pretty despondent. I don't know him well - we've never actually met - but my heart goes out to him. I send an encouraging response suggesting informal childcare may soon be an option but I have no idea of his personal circumstances or whether that's even possible for him.
We don't eat until 9pm due to my gin date; we all have paella with added chicken for hubby. Tonight I am grateful to have some protection against pneumonia.
I have lunch with the teens - springtime jumble, which is a favourite Hello Fresh recipe of my son's, adapted to use up veggie sausages left over from last night's barbeque and toasted veggies from uneaten kebabs. I have a webinar at 2pm - a climate change organisation has arranged a virtual lobby of MPs on Tuesday of next week to raise the importance of an ecological and socially just recovery from Covid-19 and this is training on how to maximise the opportunity. I have frequently written to my MP - who happens to also be the president of the next COP climate negotiations - and always been disappointed by his response. He hasn't yet committed to a meeting for the virtual lobby; I very much doubt that he will.
Horrible news this afternoon - people have been stabbed in Glasgow. It's alarmingly similar to last week's attack in Reading. It happened at a hotel that houses asylum seekers and the media are quick to label it terrorism, although the authorities insist that there are no terrorist links they're aware of. It's unclear how many people died, although it seems the attacker was shot dead and a policeman was badly injured. There's more troubling news, with many illegal raves and street parties that led to violence and Liverpool fans gathering in large numbers to celebrate winning the premier league. I fear that the fabric of society is getting frayed, although it seems much worse in the United States where they have a patchy response to the virus and a very vocal anti-mask lobby; some states are reporting horrific numbers of cases.
My friend who's Dad died recently messages to ask if I fancy meeting for a gin. She arrives around 6 and we settle at a table in the early evening sunshine, suitably distanced. She's in pretty good spirits considering; we chat until it begins to get chilly and polish off a couple of gins each. She takes two tomato plants and a chill with her - we're a bit overrun with tomatoes so Hubby sold them quite hard. She buys a few bits from my online shop too. By the time we finish my arm is really sore from this morning's vaccination. I can hardly lift it.
I've messaged my son's driving instructor again today, as they announced yesterday that driving lessons would be allowed to recommence from 4th July. He responds to say that with school no reopening until September he can't work as he has to take care of his daughter. Apparently he has no access to government help; he sounds pretty despondent. I don't know him well - we've never actually met - but my heart goes out to him. I send an encouraging response suggesting informal childcare may soon be an option but I have no idea of his personal circumstances or whether that's even possible for him.
We don't eat until 9pm due to my gin date; we all have paella with added chicken for hubby. Tonight I am grateful to have some protection against pneumonia.
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