Where is Blitzen, Baby?
Matt Hancock said on TV this morning that the new variant Covid is ‘out of control’, which is remarkable language from him. As I said yesterday, brown corduroys and adult nappies to the fore. I’ve seen a few things today that suggest that the scientists are still in much the same place as yesterday in their analysis–increased transmissibility but no sign the variant is more virulent. To be honest, this close to the vaccine being rolled out, increased transmissibility is itself enough to concern me, partly because I don’t like odds of contracting the thing being increased but mostly because I’m not sure what it means in practice.
Does it mean that if you have a casual encounter with the virus it is more likely to find a home in you, or does it mean things that were previously thought relatively safe now aren’t? Should we be wearing masks all the time outdoors as well as in shops, for example? Is it more transmissible airborn? No idea.
As I write, pretty much everywhere seems to be closing borders to flights from the UK, though the strain has been identified already in Denmark and the Netherlands, and there’s a reasonable chance we know about it because we do more routine sequencing than other places. Still, I presume all those trucks in Kent will be going nowhere, and certainly not through the channel ports. What’s that you say? Brexit imminent? Fastest deal in history mate, nothing to be concerned about?
We have two catastrophic situations simultaneously with a government that would struggle to organise a tombola stall at a church jumble sale.
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A pale winter sun in a blue sky was enough for me to get out for a walk at lunchtime and get in my 10,000 steps. That cold still lingers, but a scarf under my coat kept out the chill, and I enjoyed it. I took the opportunity to take an old Nikon FM camera out for a walk too, although it will be a while until the film is finished, let alone processed.
This afternoon, I came up to the shed to write, but fell into a YouTube black hole and have only recently managed to get out. Fingers crossed I’ll do some writing tonight since I’ve already had my walk. Tomorrow, I ought to catch up on 1970 music posts–there isn’t much of December left and still several LPs to mention
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As regular readers will know, I’ve posted here every evening since March. Back then I said that restrictions would be with us until September and we should plan accordingly. I now think that, depending on how this variant of the virus is finally understood in terms of transmissibility, we will likely go into full lockdown again very soon. It follows that I now expect to write a full year’s worth of these posts. Hooray! I may take a night off over Christmas, though; I haven’t decided yet.
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Music: back to the Christmas theme with the Ramones: Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight).
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