Three teasels (and a spider)

Thankfully it was cooler today, the heatwave has broken although it was still rather humid. I did some laundry this morning and then we took Xena for a walk in the woods near us, which despite having a week of parching heat was still muddy in places. It is the horses and bikes that churn up those sections so it does not dry out that well, plus the clay soil retains water. 

After our walk, Gavin came with me to get some groceries. I noticed that nearly all of the customers in Waitrose were wearing masks, yet only about half the staff were wearing masks. They had a few items that were in short supply, but not as bad as other supermarkets who have been badly affected by staff working in the food supply chain who have to isolate due to being 'pinged' by the track and trace app, resulting in shortages of many products - thankfully that rule as now been changed for those staff - although not supermarket staff, which seems crazy - so they do not need to isolate but can be tested every day instead. 

Both Tommy and Inca managed to get their second Pfizer vaccines today at a walk in clinic in London, who are doing them earlier than the 8 week interval between vaccines (despite the manufacturer Pfizer saying 21 days was the the recommended interval, the UK initially recommended a longer interval in order to get more people vaccinated with their first jab ) I think the race is on to get the young people vaccinated as quickly as possible as that is where the infections are happening now, even if they are generally not very ill with it. Inca managed to get time off for her jab from the dairy farm where she is doing her veterinary practical work - it is gruelling hours for her from 4am to 5pm seven days a week.

With the younger adults all getting their second jabs it looks like we will be able to go to Switzerland next month, provided the Covid travel rules do not change again. Switzerland is only accepting doubly vaccinated visitors from the UK, unlike other European countries who accept a negative PCR test. Of course the rules could all change again by then!