Staying Home: Day 34

This morning I caught up on the news and read various articles about the coronavirus crisis. The Sunday Times published an excoriating article detailing the failure of the UK government to adequately prepare for the pandemic, both in the short term and the longer term. A 2016 exercise to test the UK's response to a future pandemic showed up disastrous shortcomings, but the recommendations made were not acted on because the government was distracted by preparing for a no deal Brexit. Then in February Boris Johnson was distracted by his domestic circumstances and failed to attend the first five COBRA (crisis) meetings, apparently blithely assuming there was no crisis. On a more cheerful note, I watched clips of a TV interview with an Oxford scientist who is working on a vaccine which is expected to start trials next week. She came across as extremely competent and knowledgeable, and is optimistic both that the vaccine will be effective and that it could be available for public use as early as September.

We varied our routine today and had a proper Sunday roast at lunch time. I cooked the chicken and made a rhubarb and apple crumble for dessert, while H - who is the roast potato queen - cooked the vegetables. I then used the chicken carcass to make stock so we can have some good immune system boosting chicken soup for lunch tomorrow. I sat in the garden for a while enjoying the sun, then went for a walk through the woods. For no particular reason I decided to photograph the trunks of various trees and learn to identify them by their bark. I think I have identified them all correctly.

Horse chestnut

Beech

Sycamore

Ash

Birch

Our Disney marathon continued with Toy Story 2. We only have about twelve films left on our list to watch. They we will have to move on to something else - maybe a Harry Potter marathon? I would like to try to watch the Marvel movies, but I'm not sure anyone else will want to watch them with me. Possibly TG would as she enjoyed Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. I'm feeling a bit despondent that our long planned and anticipated trip to Disneyworld will probably have to be postponed. A very small problem in the scheme of things, I know, but I find the general uncertainty about what the future holds unsettling so can easily get things out of proportion. It doesn't help that I never do well with uncertainty. I'm sure learning to live with not knowing how the next few months (or years) will work out is a good lesson for me.