On this day March 23rd 2020, my blog reported that the PM announced a full lockdown. With a few exceptions everyone had to stay at home. We all thought it would be over within a few weeks or at most a couple of months. And here we are now, 2 years on and thanks to vaccinations we are able to go about our business much more freely. However, Covid cases are on the rise again but fortunately hospital cases are not rising as dramatically so there are little or no restrictions.
Over the two years, in the UK 186,094 people have died with Covid 19 on their death certificate. The Govt have spent billions on tackling this virus and it is still with us. The personal health effects are now less serious as an illness and life will carry on as we do with colds and flu. I do seem now to know more people close to me that have Covid. I went for a club bike ride last week and in discussion out of a group of 7 or 8, I was the only one that hadn’t had a positive test.
What has changed in these two years personally? Sue and I have been careful to always use a mask and minimise crowded situations wherever possible. Touch wood, I have not had my annual couple of severe winter colds in all that time so something good has come out of it. I think much of the population has learnt to take more care, using masks and sanitiser but of course, there are still those who ignore every control. Similarly, the vaccination programme has worked very well, but there are still thousands of individuals who will not be vaccinated. The Govt has just announced that all 75 years and over can have a 4th jab. I have just missed out as I am still 8 weeks away from my 75th birthday.
Mum is looking very frail now but I am amazed how well she has done since moving to Barty House in May 2020. She will be 97 in June. Her brother Les is 89 now and today I rode with him on one of his epic bike rides. What a family! Sue and I visited Malc in Devon last week and he is dealing with his Parkinson’s Disease much better than I know I would in his situation. Stuart our eldest son will be 49 in April, now that is frightening, where has that time gone! Michael is keeping well and all our grandchildren are of course, very special but with Ollie at nearly 18 and young James now a teenager I do tend to start counting down my remaining years. However, I am very lucky to have such a wonderful wife even though she can beat me at tennis!
I had intended to stop this blog at this stage but I will leave it open and if anything significant occurs I’ll report it. The invasion of Ukraine by Putin and his brainwashed people continues unabated but the brave Ukrainians have fought back gallantly. Over 3 million of the 40 million citizens have now left their devastated country and many hundreds of innocent people have been killed.
I would like to finish this summary with some optimism but it looks like there will be much more bloodshed and poverty in the years to come. Let’s hope I am wrong and peace will return sooner than later, it is something we can only wish for.
