WEEK 48 LOCKDOWN: VACCINATION TIME BUT FULL LOCKDOWN CONTINUES

Today week marks a turning point: Iain received his vaccination today. He is part of the Second group targeted to get vaccinated. (Care home residents and workers plus health workers comprised the First group.) The rate of infection appears to have plateaued; hospital admissions also plateaued but the death rate is still going up.

The sun is now higher which means the morning sunshine beams through the outside glass door into the kitchen.

Daffs and the kitchen kettle

* * * * * * * VENDÉE GLOBE RACE * * * * * * *

Ten sailors are now back home from 80 days at sea in the Vendée Globe Round the World Race. Lots of excitement and photos from Les Sables-d'Olonne.  These photos show the welcome for each skipper as he/she comes up the channel to the marina. More photos to come.

The  coverage of this race started in the first week of November and has been very well done. Reports with interviews and video footage from the yachtsmen/women were hosted daily by Andi Robertson who is a sailing media man from our part of the world... associated with 'Yachting Life' magazine. 

It has greatly eased lockdown for me!  (I would probably not have watched it in normal circumstances!)  Having spent so many years on a boat sailing in Scottish waters I took great pleasure in vicariously watching how the various skippers handled their boats and the various wind, sea and weather conditions, gear failures, stinging jelly fish, Unidentified Floating Objects, night-time sailing, being on their own etc!

WEEK 47 CORNOVIRUS: VACCINATION PROGRAMME TOP PRIORITY

Another week of lockdown and we carry on living our rather monastic life!  Corona infection rate is worryingly high, as are deaths and hospital ICU numbers of patients. The new variant appears to be the reason for this second pandemic; apparently it is more transmissible and also more pathogenic, i.e. you get sicker.

The vaccination programme continues but is taking a long time due to problems due to getting (obtaining/delivering?) supplies to the place of injection.

It has been a week with a lot going on.  Ellie was 6 years old on January 20th. There was another event in USA taking place the same day in Washington D.C.

Ellie on her 6th birthday... in her party dress. That is her default wardrobe choice!

I was very impressed with Amanda Gorman The Young Poet Laureate delivering her 5 minute recitation at the Presidential Inauguration.  Marvellous use of language ... and as The Guardian newspaper said, "She stole the show."

We keep our spirits up by having a family quiz every Sunday. We cater for all ages. 

Alastair sent me the joke: Why does the Norwegian Navy use barcodes on all their ships? 

It’s so that when they get back to port they can Scandinavian.

(This viking ship image is something I created for Harriet who has been learning about the Vikings.)

I have spent some time composing a couple of quizzes. I learned a lot!

Having learned about latitude and longitude at school I did not know about 2 interesting places on the globe.  They are to do with the lat and long co-ordinates.  The first one is Null Point which is not an actual place but it is the intersection of where zero degrees 0 °  latitude and zero degrees 0 ° longitude intersect, as above, showing off the coast of Africa.

Why have this? The reason is that when addresses are added to a map, a program called a geocoder translates the physical address into its geographic coordinates, which allows the location to be easily mapped.   But sometimes due to human typos, bad data or even bugs in the geocoder itself, the geocoding program fails to run correctly and the output of the program becomes “0,0”—or no information. For example, while taking a photo with your smartphone camera.

Null Island

And the second place I found which, again, is simply a reference point on the globe is Point Nemo. I have been following the Vendée Globe race since early November. About 4 weeks ago the first of the yachts passed Point Nemo or ('Nemo Island') and are now safely around Cape Horn and within 5 days of finishing at Les Sables d’Olonne on the west coast of France (Bay of Biscay).

Point Nemo 

In the Southern Hemisphere. It is the place in the ocean that is farthest from land (more than 1,000 miles).

It is also a space equipment dumping ground.

WEEK 46 CORNAVIRUS RATE TREBLING AND NHS IN OVER-DRIVE

The coronavirus is spreading rapidly as new variants emerge.  The  number of cases being admitted to hospitals is soaring. More younger people are being admitted to hospital. Ambulances are sitting in the hospital emergency bays waiting to unload.  The death rate is up.

On the other side of this worsening situation (along with the usual winter ailments and accidents due to the icy conditions) the new vaccine (actually 2) is now being rolled out.  

We received a text from our doctor's surgery to say they are not taking any appointments.  Some weeks ago we had a letter from the Scottish government saying we would be contacted in due course by our doctor as to when to present ourselves for vaccination.  Presumably this is what is going on in the practice.

Retired NHS people are being used to help vaccinate; pharmacies offered too but apparently offer not taken up (maybe that has changed). Facilities are still being set up e.g. exhibition centres, halls. The Pfizer vaccine has been used so far and the Astra-Zeneca one is due to be used now as well. (Have been awaiting shipments.)

So we wait patiently and continue to lead a very monastic life.  The sun has been shining on recent snow and the skies remain blue.  That helps!  Iain continues his daily Route March locally; I busy myself with house and garden and lots of piano practice.  We are also getting through a pile of pleasant reading!

A friend noted that this is what it must have been like in the 1920s as people were treated in sanatoriums for TB for example. There were no antibiotics so infections and recovery was so much different than we have got used in my (and subsequent) generation.

Harriet (7)  and Ellie(6 next week) here on Saturday morning.

The Florida flamingos are my outside temperature gauge.  This one has its nose dripping so I know the thaw is happening outside.

(These flamingos were sent via Amazon from Florida and arrived in a box the size of a car tyre.  There are 2 and they are surviving outside all year round.)

Flowers in the garden porch. An absolute joy!

WEEK 44 CORONAVIRUS - WORSENING SITUATION

The rate of covid infection is now alarmingly high with hospitals finding that they are becoming filled to capacity with covid patients.

For this reason all areas of the UK are in full lockdown, i.e. we are back to where we were in March.  Mainland Scotland has been in nearly full lockdown since Boxing Day.  Now it has been decided that the children will not be going back to school.  Non-essential shops and services are to close so there is no hair-dresser, pubs or restaurants allowed to be open.

What to do?  Well the weather has been reasonable, i.e. clear and cold.  It's icy underfoot so we are really mindful about moving about the back door, driveway, or paths in the garden.  (Thank goodness we have a garden; the sun has been shining in clear blue skies so it does give us a small amount of pleasure as well as brighter daylight,)

Mairi gave me some books for Christmas and I have just finished this one: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.  It's a gem!  I would say it's a woman's book; it has lots to think about... and it is set in Glasgow!

Two recent photos:

Ellie aged 5.95 years old. "Grandma my favour colour is pink."

Harriet, aged 7.5 years old.  She chose this sweater as part of her Christmas present. 

This is my attempt at making Tiger Bread.  Basically it is simply white bread with a crusty topping that you put on just before it goes into the oven.  The topping is a 'paste' mixture of rice flour, yeast, sugar and oil.  Very nice!