Can You Dig It?

Another boring blip today, but I've spent the day laying/leveling the remaining stepping stones, digging out the shrub root ball that I cut back yesterday and starting to dig over the other half of this part of the garden. Apart from that I had my Sainsbury's delivery and put the general bin out - not very photogenic either. Oh and I attended a very interesting U3A Zoom talk on The Art of Celebrating Christmas, which surprised me by saying that Christmas was first celebrated on 25th Dec in 336AD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGSHIidlesQ

Day 276 / Day 15 of the 3 Tiers v2 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 612 to 65,520 (revised basis), with 25,161 new cases, 18,038 patients in hospital and 1,326 on ventilation. Globally cases to date pass 74m with over 200k new cases in the US alone yesterday which also had 3,001 daily deaths. Whilst the Covid rules in law will stay the same in all nations, guidance has been strenthened in each nation as the situation is worst than when they were set. I liked the CMO's analogy that you wouldn't drive on an icy motorway at 70mph even though that's the speed limit. Then Wales breached this agreement and changed the rules in law to restricting gatherings to two households which is ahead of a new lockdown from 28th Dec and the closure of non-essential retail, leisure and fitness centres in Wales from close of trading on xmas eve and the closure of hospitality venues from 6pm on xmas day. The CMO said we should 'keep it small, keep it short, keep it local and think of the vulnerable'. Boris stressed that there is risk as 1 in 3 of all infections are asymptomatic (at one point it was thought be as high as 2 in 3) and the rules are maximums and not targets to aim for. I feel so sorry for those giving the briefings when it comes to Press questions as when the Govt sets rules in law, the Press argue for free will; when the Govt offer free will / personal discretion the Press want guidance; when they offer guidance the Press say the Govt is abdicating responsibility, and so on. The WHO has said face masks should also be worn at xmas gatherings. 137,897 coronavirus vaccine jabs were given in the first week in the UK. A number of staff have tested positive at a mass vaccination centre in Cardiff. Experimental statistics published today put the number suffering from 'long Covid' at over 150,000 with fatigue, coughs and headaches as the most common complaints. And as Boris concluded, 'so have yourselves a merry little Christmas and, I'm afraid, this year I do mean little'.