A New Year

I was tempted to go all Star Wars and title this post "A New Hope", but while there is certainly hope that we will see the end of the pandemic some time in 2021, there is going to be a very rocky path to tread for the first part of the year. This new Covid variant has us going backwards fast, and it is going to be a while before the vaccine digs us out of this mess. Then there will almost be post-Brexit bumps in the road to negotiate. Still, the vaccines are here and things should look very different in the spring. Meanwhile, I intend to keep away from people as much as possible - staying home and only going out for walks until I have had the vaccine. The young and vaccinated members of the family can do anything else that needs doing! Mind you, M was disappointed to hear that the second dose of his vaccine has been postponed. The plan is now to allow up to 3 months between doses so that more people can be given vaccines more quickly. I can only assume that the scientists you have made this decision know what they are doing, and that any risks of postponing the second dose are more than outweighed by the benefits of getting the vaccine out there more quickly. 

We enjoyed our Zoom New Year's Eve with our friends and watched the New Year fireworks from London on TV in our respective houses. There were none of the usual public celebrations, but we were impressed with the fireworks and accompanying drone light show which marked the turning of the year with tributes to the NHS, the Black Lives Matter movement and the way people have come together over the past year in the face of adversity. I took some photos of the screen from a slightly dodgy angle. 

Today was another day of walking in foggy drizzle, watching movies (Finding Dory) and playing games (Mega Monopoly and Bananagrams), edible treats (Christmas chocolate and M made a madeira cake) and general laziness. Getting back to work next week is going to be hard, especially as my body clock has reset itself to going to sleep late and waking late. TG will not be going back to school until January 18th at the earliest - my guess is it will be later - so will be starting back with school at home. Her dance classes and my band rehearsals will also go back to Zoom for the time being, which is a very good thing in the current circumstance. Studies are showing that the new variant of Covid is around 50% more infectious, which means shutting down as much as possible for the time being.