Sunday 5th July will be the 72nd anniversary of our NHS. To mark the occasion the photographer John Rankin Waddell, known as Rankin, has taken photos of 12 NHS staff members from around the country. These twelve represent all frontline workers and include a doctor, a cleaner, a call handler and all other roles. He travelled around the country at the height of the pandemic as he wanted to offer his services in some way. This tribute to all NHS staff everywhere is his way of thanking the people who risked their own lives and at times sacrificed time with their own families to save others. Rankin worked as a hospital theatre porter when he was in his twenties and now he will donate the pictures to the NHS. They will be seen in lights around the country, in Piccadilly Circus, on billboards in cities and at bus stops. The pictures were released today and are truly beautiful.
Leicester is to get the first localised lockdown in the country and only essential shops will open and the other businesses which were due to open at the weekend will have to be delayed. Schools will shut from Thursday. Sadly Leicester has more new cases of covid than anywhere else and three times more than the next largest. The residents are disappointed to say the least but most realise that it is the only way forward. Localised lockdowns do seem sensible at this stage of the pandemic but travellers in and out should also be restricted. Good luck to everyone there.
In a New York park a homeless man who claims to be Jesus was found laying naked face up on a drained fountain. This was the third time the man had been naked in the park and this time he was arrested. Officials tried to cover him and tried to persuade him to leave but the naked ‘Jesus’ would have none of it. ‘No, no, no’, he cried out, ‘if I need help I will ask my mother, she is a virgin’. Nice try, Jesus but he was still carted off to hospital. I wonder if he would have tried the same stunt in winter?
It’s the end of the academic year for university students even if they haven’t managed to take advantage of lectures. Still they had to pay their rent till the end and now is the time to clean up the student accommodation and hand the keys back to the landlord. One group of seven students in Burnley did just that and waited to receive their deposit back. Imagine their surprise when each of them received not only the £250 they had paid but an extra £50 each as a thank you from their landlord. He sent them a note saying that they had been excellent students, a pleasure to deal with and he was sorry to see them go. That made me smile.
Talking of smiles and universities. My grandson Thomas has just received his results and now has a first class honours in Finance and Economics. Yippee, one down and quite a few to go. Proud Grandma moment.