Month: January 2021

What’s happening in the world? At the moment it’s all about Covid and getting vaccinated. Fortunately the number of cases here in the UK is dropping and it’s a third down on one week ago. The Committee on Vaccination here has stated that the vaccine already seems to be reducing cases and protecting recipients from symptoms. I’m hopeful but it seems to me as if it might be a bit early to state any results but then I’m not an expert.

Police are seeking a man who tried to remove a patient from a Surrey hospital saying that Covid 19 had not been proven to exist. I believe the patient might have been a relative but he was being treated with oxygen, antibiotics and steroids. A doctor was seen on CCTV explaining to the unmasked visitor that if removed from his bed and treatment he would die within half an hour. The covid denier was ejected from the hospital by security and police say he could be a health risk as he came into close proximity to a Covid patient. Is it me or are there more stupid people trying to make everyone believe their idiotic theories? Never used to happen.

Another idiotic theorist in the news again is the Horned Viking who stormed the Capitol and then got arrested. Having had his mum telling his gaolers what they should serve him to eat, is now willing to testify against his hero the Trump. The poor love feels he has been betrayed since he never received a pardon from the then President. He says he was very horrendously smitten with Trump and believed he was following orders to go to the Capitol with the President and fight like hell. Not sure why the Viking is needed as Trump gave out his invitation on social media and it was in the public domain. Let’s lock the Viking up.

Two women who also stormed the Capitol and have been arrested have published selfies saying what their intention had been. The video was sent by one of the women to her children and shows her saying, “We broke into the Capitol, … we got inside, we did out part. We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we couldn’t find her”.  Seems to me that all these Trump followers are cut from the same cloth as him. Maybe they should all be locked up together and not allowed to see anyone else. There must be somewhere they can be kept out of harms way.

Welsh women like to look nice so a few of them went to an illegal hair and beauty salon in lockdown. The local police got wind of it and raided the place. The customers weren’t risking getting arrested or fined and ran like hell via a fire escape, one with shampoo still in her hair. The owner was fined £1,000 and three customers were also fined and police are looking for others seen on CCTV.  Hey people, let’s be careful out there.  😴💤😴

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. Dated from the Liberation of Auschwitz which was 70 years ago on this date. Somehow it doesn’t seem true that such horror happened during the lifetime of so many of us. “The last generation of living witnesses is tragically passing from this world”, said Prince Charles who is Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Trust. He then reminded us all that the task of bearing witness falls to all of us. The theme this year is ‘be the light in the darkness’.

A nurse in London who gave birth via C-section three months ago has been reunited with her daughter for the first time. She was on maternity leave when she was taken to hospital with a severe case of Covid and gave birth a week later. She has no recollection of the event and at 30 was one of the youngest patients to be put on an artificial lung. Her husband also had Covid so was unable to hold his baby for three weeks. They are all now reunited and have celebrated a late Christmas. A Happy New Year to them all.

It’s said that more people are baking during lockdown and YouTube is of course full of delicious and not so delicious recipes. I can’t say that I’m doing a lot of baking myself as living alone would mean having to eat all of what I cook. However, I have watched a few videos and I must say that I’ve been impressed with a delightful young Irish woman named Gemma Stafford who has set up Bigger Bolder Baking. Two recipes of hers that I might try but when I can share them with someone are her ‘best ever Irish Scones’ and ‘Japanese Cheesecake simplified. You can of course look them up on YouTube and try them out before me if you like.

I’ve rejoined my old art group but on zoom now of course. Our group leader, Jacqui Gush is brilliant at getting us all motivated and trying something new. Just what I needed. We have started with creating texture in our paintings or drawings and I’ve quite enjoyed it. I’ve had a go at a sort of papier mache stuck onto a board and then painting over it. I created a 3D tree which I still need to finish. This week we’ve been practising visual texture using pens. Jacqui introduced us to zentangle which is a way of creating images by drawing structural patterns. I’ve just posted a couple on FB. I could certainly while away a few rainy days doing that.

The Trump must be feeling that nobody loves him, that’s if he is capable of feelings of course. His departure from the White House was a non event and his arrival at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida was not exactly welcoming. It’s said that members of the supposedly exclusive club are leaving in droves. Lawyers are also trying to have him removed as the rules of the club are that nobody can stay there longer than three weeks per year. His time is nearly up. Hey people, let’s be careful out there.  😴💤😴

I have to admit to not watching the daily Covid update on TV. Apart from depressing, irritating and inconclusive, it’s actually quite boring. I can put on the news at 6 o’clock and get all the highlights or lowlights by 6.10 pm. Job done. BoJo’s government is talking of quarantining travellers arriving in the UK. Of course Australia has had these rules in place for a long time and their numbers have been controlled with new cases becoming almost non existent. There have been less than a thousand deaths in total. Now the big question here is, do we quarantine visitors and if so where do we put them. Hotels say it will take a good three weeks to prepare for quarantine and that providing three meals a day and enhanced cleaning will mean that visitors will have to pay at least £100 per day per person. I can’t help wondering what meals would be served to their rooms three times a day. Airport hotels are not renowned for their cuisine.

If you’re a parent wondering when your kids can go back to school you’ll have to wait and see. At this moment in time no one knows. The PM said that the R number is down below 1 again across the whole of the country and he doesn’t want to jeopardise the progress made during the latest lockdown. Fair point but parents and all the children are beginning to feel the strain.

Now I know that the Trump has disappeared into some Mar el Lago bunker but his old lawyer Michael Cohen has suggested that he might have given himself and his children pardons before the end of his tenure. It appears that pardons do not necessarily have to be made public so it could have happened in secret. However it’s not clear if a sitting President can actually pardon himself as it’s never been done before. If it is allowed, will it stop him being impeached? These questions and many others will be answered in the next episode of Soap.

Donald owes £400 million which will need to be repaid in the next few years. The rumour on Wall Street is that he will try to convince his 74.2 million voter supporters to pay him $100 each per year to receive his musings in a newsletter. He’s still banned from social media of course so he’s hoping they’ll be so desperate to know what their hero is thinking that they might just cough up. If only 25 million people signed up he would net $2.5 billion. It doesn’t bare thinking about.

Have you been watching Finding Alice on ITV? I’ve seen two episodes and can’t make up my mind if I like it or not. There’s a supply of good actors and Joanna Lumley and Nigel Havers are great as Alice’s parents who come out with endless unhelpful questions and statements. Anyway having now seen episode 2 where Alice and her daughter are arranging the funeral , I think a more suitable title might have been Losing Harry. That’s it for today, don’t forget people, let’s be careful out there.

BoJo has told us that there is evidence the new coronavirus variant could be causing more deaths. But, one of the scientists who wrote the study says that it remains an ‘open question’. The trouble is that when the government doesn’t listen to the scientists, even when they only ‘suggest’ something to do with Covid but that later turns out to be a fact, every headline shoots them down. If they report what they have been told they still get shot down. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. I wouldn’t want their job.

Controversy over the vaccine now as well. Should Pfizer jab number two be 4 weeks after the first or 12 weeks? Hope they decide soon because I’ve had mine. I don’t like the idea of waiting 12 weeks but that’s mainly because the first person I heard suggest it was Tony Blair. I bet he’s had both of his jabs. Iain Duncan Smith said we should listen to the scientists. One thing’s for sure, we shouldn’t be listening to politicians no matter what side they’re on. Prof. Whitty said the delay from 4 to 12 weeks was a Public Health decision. The chair of the BMA however said we are the only country to follow this procedure. The WHO recommended that the 2nd dose be no longer than six weeks after the first. Pfizer said it should be given 3 to 4 weeks after the first. If all this controversy hasn’t driven you mad yet, it soon will.

Spain’s PM said earlier this weeks that only mass vaccination would open the borders this summer. But the tourism minister said the country will begin to reopen in Spring, Easter being when the season officially starts. However, my Spanish sister in law called from Madrid yesterday and was surprised that I had had my vaccination. They haven’t even started there yet. They still seem to be arguing who will get it first. She also said that public hospitals are overcrowded and badly managed, most people have private cover and choosing that option. I think holidays abroad are not top of most people’s list right now. A BBQ in the garden with family and friends are what we all need. Or a good old East egg hunt.

BoJo has had his first conversation with the new POTUS Joe Biden. One report actually claimed that he was the first European leader to get a call from the president. They scratched each others backs and promised to tackle world issues together and politely forgot past differences. Time will tell.

In London a woman in her 80s was attacked in her home by five men who had claimed they were delivering food in the pandemic. The woman had a sock stuffed in her moth and a man sat on her chest while another cut jewellery from her wrist. The horrific ordeal lasted between 20 and 30 minutes. What a load of cowardly scum. Lock’em up and throw away the key. Hey people, let’s be careful out there.  😴💤😴

Today was the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century and it will not happen again for 100 years so most of us will only experience it once in a lifetime and we could easily miss it. How did this come to my attention, my granddaughter Elizabeth sent me a WhatsApp to let me know. It’s a great date to be born I wonder how many babies arrived today? How many people were 21 today? I’ll shut up, I don’t want to bore you.

Covid news is not getting any better and we’re all going to have to wait and see how things pan out with the vaccine and how the new variants can be contained. I can’t imagine what state the country is going to be in at the end of this. Unemployment has to be at an all time high and Brexit will not help matters. Flooding following storm Christoph and other weather systems are causing havoc and more distress to people around the UK with 200 flood alerts recorded. The PM went to Manchester to see how the environment agency was coping and saw that during the night the use of sluice gates and improvised emergency flood defences have hopefully protected 10,000 homes. I’ve got everything crossed for those people.

Idiots will always be idiots and a father and his two children had to be rescued from the sea off the coast of Anglesea where they had visited during the storm yesterday. They had also broken local level 4 lockdown rules. The three were cut off by rising tides as they walked on the beach. The man received a fine, hopefully a big one. The government today announced a fine of £800 for attending an illegal house party and the person hosting or organising such an event will receive a fine of £10,000. I hope my grandchildren who are back at their student houses are aware of this.

Also in Manchester what appeared to be a sinkhole swallowed a car and a few hours later two house fronts next to it collapsed into the road. What a shock, there you are having a cup of tea or watching a bit of tele and suddenly the front of your house disappears. Fortunately no one was hurt but the residents of four properties have been rehoused. It seems that a sewer had collapsed causing the sinkhole to appear and affecting the nearby building. It never rains but it pours.

A man has been accused of killing an acquaintance of his and chopping up the body. Police in Denver Colorado were quick to solve the crime after the body parts were found in two suitcases. The murderer hadn’t realised that a United Airways luggage label was attached to the suitcase and this led the police back to the murderer. Just another type of idiot. Hey people, let’s be careful out there.😴💤😴

Somehow today, having just watched the inauguration of the 46th President of the US Joe Biden, I felt as if I had been holding my breath and suddenly it was released. A big sigh of relief if you like. Now I can’t say I’ve ever felt the the President had much if any influence over my everyday life but there was something about the Trump being in charge over there that made me and many others nervous. It was his unpredictability and his inability to face reality that was scary. He’s gone now and I truly hope that the new administration will bring unity, equality and stability.

The ceremony was performed before a small socially distanced audience and along the National Mall there were 200,000 state and territorial flags . Somehow it all appeared very dignified. The flags will be used as a fundraiser to support a project helping young homeless people.

The new POTUS has been in The White House before, in a different role but his past and vast experience should stand him in good stead for what lies ahead. Today saw Kamala Harris become the first female vice President as well as the first Asian and the first black person. I do like the look and sound of this lady. The new FLOTUS is another welcome addition to the White House, I’m sure she will be very popular with those surrounding her.

I must just mention Melania’s exit from Washinton. She boarded Airforce One with her husband and wearing a black outfit. When she landed in Florida she exited the aircraft wearing something floral. There must be a message there somewhere but ‘I really don’t care, do u’?

And on this auspicious occasion, what’s happening this side of the pond? Another record  of daily coronavirus deaths has been recorded. There have now been a total of 93,290 deaths in the UK within 28 days of diagnosis. The increase in fatalities follows the surge of diagnosed cases in December. The vaccination programme is beginning to bite and less new cases are being reported. The number of new cases is down by 21.5% but the number of patients being admitted to hospital has not gone down.

Flood alerts have been declared in Wales and Merseyside and Manchester areas. Police are having to warn people not to visit the areas as ‘flood tourists’ as has happened elsewhere. Honestly I think people breaking lockdown to gawp at others’ distress should be made to fill and deliver sandbags or something else useful. Thousands of people might need to be evacuated. I’m not going to have another moan about having to stay at home.

In the City of London a Cannabis factory has been found in the basement of a commercial property in Throgmorton Street. There were 826 plants growing there and police believe the entrepreneurs took advantage of lockdown and few people around. Two men have been arrested. I wonder if they were collecting furlough. Hey people, let’s be careful out there.😴💤😴

 

Five million Britons over 70 years old will have received today or will be receiving a letter from the NHS inviting them to book for a free Covid vaccine. The government seems to be in a hurry to get everyone vaccinated with promises to put police, school staff and other key employees at the top of the list. It’s difficult to know who to leave out with bus drivers, supermarket workers and others in the service industry putting themselves at risk most days. I got my letter but as I already had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine it says I can just ignore it. I wonder how many more people like me received one. Surely doctor’s surgeries are on a central database and people already vaccinated should have been identified. Another waste of tax payers money.

Also in the news is the unwelcome fact that over the last week the UK has the highest rate of Covid daily deaths in the world. 16 deaths in every million have died each day. We sadly top the list, this is nothing to be proud of. It can’t necessarily be because we were mixing too much over Christmas period. I spoke to a friend in Spain yesterday and their shops, restaurants and bars are open until 6 in the evening. She’s in Andalucia and I’m not sure about Madrid. Everything was closed a few days ago due to storm Filomena which brought the heaviest snow seen in the capital in forty years. I’ll have to see what I can find out.

The Trumps will be leaving The White House at first light tomorrow I believe. The POTUS and the FLOTUS have given their farewell speeches via video link and they will be gone in Airforce One to their Florida bolt hole. Then as I understand it, their goods and chattels are moved out before a team of cleaners move in to deep clean before the new President takes up residence with his missus. We can watch the inauguration ceremony on TV from 4 pm if we feel like it. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of useless chatter going on before that.

It will be interesting to see what the MAGA & QAnon will be up to but no doubt there will be heavy security in Washington DC tomorrow at least. There was one woman Trump supporter today who absolutely denied there was any violence in the Capitol the other day. She said she was there and it didn’t happen. Maybe it was a Hollywood film we all saw, it certainly looked like one with the horned beast rearing his ugly head.

And while all this has been going on in the capital, in Chicago a man has been living in O’Hare Airport for three months (and no, it wasn’t Tom Hanks). The man from California said he was afraid to get on his flight because of the coronavirus so he just hung around the airport. He was arrested for illegal trespass. The judge was shocked by the lack of security that allowed this to happen. Hey people, let’s be careful out there. 😴💤😴

 

Did I mention that I had my vaccine jab last Thursday. All very efficient and didn’t take a moment with the longest bit having to sit down for 15 minutes afterwards to make sure I didn’t get a reaction. I had the Pfizer one and will be getting a call to go back in 11 weeks. The latest news today is that more people have been vaccinated in Britain than have tested positive for Covid since the beginning of the pandemic. I guess we could add to that the people who have had the illness and therefore have some immunity. Trouble is, how long will the immunity last in either case? Public Health England thinks it gives 83% protection for at least 5 months.

Covid is rife in prisons with outbreaks in 65% of all prisons in England and Wales. A large proportion of staff are off either with the virus or self isolating because of family members being positive. Lawyers are asking for a pause on court cases as staff, jurors and 69 judges have been struck down with coronavirus. A difficult venue to control I should think.

And in case you’re interested, in China a batch of ice-cream has tested positive for Covid-19. Nearly 5000 boxes of the desert which had been produced locally have been found to contain the virus. A virologist here said that because the product is made with fat and stored at low temperatures it’s easy for the virus to survive. He also said that it’s likely down to poor hygiene at the plant. I have to wonder what will happen to the managers at that factory in communist China. I don’t suppose they’ll be sleeping in their own bed for much longer.

In Australia a man using a drone filmed a lake between an estuary and the sea and as the water runs out it formed a shape in the sand which looks like the tree of life. Over here an 81 year old man has shown films which he has made of a similar phenomenon in Norfolk and Suffolk. He has several examples of tributaries as the tides go in and out in Great Yarmouth and patterns in the mudflats along the River Blyth all looking like the branches of tress. Mike Page says he never gets tired of looking at nature’s art from his plane and that you never get to see the same picture twice. He has taken hundreds of images for his archive and for people to enjoy.

Have you ever left anything behind in a hotel? I have, just ordinary things like an electric toothbrush, pair of shoes (new), items of clothing, a hat which I hung on a hook on the wall and etc etc. The Travelodge in Manchester has listed some more bizarre items left there over the last year: A vera Wang wedding dress, two first class tickets to Vegas, a script for a play, a didgeridoo and a framed Manchester City kit.  Also during lockdown several medical items left by hospital staff using the hotel.  Hey, remember, let’s be careful out there.  😴💤💤😴

 

We used to say that some days just shouldn’t be in the calendar. While the last ten months haven’t been anything to write home about, today took some beating. For the first time in history a sitting US President has been impeached for a second time. Donald Trump will now face a trial in the senate. If he is found guilty he could face being barred from ever holding public office again. It is believed that his supporters are still planning more protests in Washington DC and all state capitals before The inauguration next week. Haven’t they had enough?

Even worse, for the first time in nearly seventy years a woman has been executed by the US government. As horrendous as her crime was I cannot condone the legal and public killing of anyone. In this case the woman was certified as severely mentally unbalanced following a lifetime of abuse in her own home. She should have been removed from society and kept securely locked up where she could receive adequate treatment and cause no more harm. People around her at the end say she had little if any idea of what was happening. How can this be called justice or even civilised?

I don’t quite understand how bitcoins have taken off although I have an inkling of an idea how they work. A computer programmer from San Francisco wrote a video explaining how cryptocurrency works and was given 7,002 bitcoins as a reward. At the time, some ten years ago, they were worth about $2-$6 each. It seems he stashed them away in his digital wallet and didn’t think much more about them. They are now suddenly worth $34,000 each. Very nice too you might think. Trouble is the owner of this fortune has forgotten the password he used to get into his digital wallet. He has tried eight passwords that he frequently used but the system will lock him out if he has ten incorrect tries. There’s $240 million at stake. Oh dear, I bet he’s not getting much sleep.

According to legend there must always be at least six ravens living in the grounds of the Tower of London and there is a Ravenmaster to ensure that this happens. I wonder how much he gets paid? There are usually more than the required six and right now there are just seven since one of them has disappeared. I guess the Ravenmaster’s job might disappear if he isn’t careful. The legend states that if the ravens leave the tower then the kingdom will fall. It’s not looking good.

And last but definitely not least, Helen Birkin, a friend of many of us here in Bournemouth and Poole, sadly passed away today following surgery and subsequent infection. There is no doubt that Helen will be missed by many but she will not be forgotten. She showed love and kindness to many people when they needed it. Rest in Peace Helen.  🙏 Hey don’t forget, let’s be careful out there 😴💤😴

The news this evening was all about the vaccine rollout and how quickly it’s going and how much quicker it’s going to get. The PM was almost sounding chipper when he came on TV.  Anyway, I can’t argue with his prediction as I had a very exciting phone call today and I’ll be having my first vaccination on Thursday this week. I almost couldn’t believe it because I had expected to wait until mid February. I’ve heard about a few people who don’t intend having one even if offered, they’ve been listening to the FaceBook School of Medicine I think and believe all the tales being spread about bad reactions. Same people who think that the virus is a conspiracy between governments and Bill Gates.

We’ve had the fake news about empty hospitals and therefore no sick people but I haven’t heard any nurses or doctors saying anything similar. All the medical staff I know have a very different story and it’s also been completely debunked by the media and scientists. The conspiracy theorists spend a lot of time in Bournemouth centre trying to convince people and get signatures for something or another. On Saturday a woman was filmed while supposedly being arrested for sitting on a bench. In fact it seems she had been taking  part in an illegal protest, being part of a gathering which hadn’t maintained social distancing and hadn’t worn a mask. The photo opportunity had been very well stage managed.

Should I talk about Trump?  Yes, but just to say what I’m sure you all know, that the Democrats have introduced an article of impeachment against The President for ‘incitement of insurrection’. And the outgoing FLOTUS has condemned the riots last week in the Capitol but says she has been the victim of salacious gossip. She was just busy taking part in a photoshoot in the White House. A few selfies for the future, no doubt and for a coffee table book she will be writing. Oh dear, no one understands her.  To quote the jacket once more ‘I really don’t care, do u’.

Brexit was never going to be easy, especially for people wanting to travel – no problem perhaps for those who don’t even hold a passport. Our poor truck drivers though have come across an unexpected hurdle. They’ve been stopped at the Hook of Holland and had their lunch confiscated. Now we all know that many Brits just don’t trust all that foreign food and because of that our drivers have taken their sarnie with them. And it wasn’t that it looked so unappetising wrapped up in a scrappy bit of tin foil that it was taken away, no, it was the filling that caused the problem. The EU will not allow you to bring in any form of meat or dairy products and that includes your ham or cheese sandwich.  So you either eat it it before you arrive or you buy something tasty on the continent. I know which one I’ll do.  Now let’s be careful out there.  😴💤💤😴