Gourds

This morning I laid another 2m of my root barrier, despite heavy overnight rain. At lunchtime I headed off to Felbrigg as they were advertising a display of gourds to celebrate harvest time - except it wasn't on yet and no-one knew when it would be. Instead I photographed some gourds and flowers in the walled gardens, one of the nicest walled gardens I've come across. I didn't hang around as the temperature suddenly dropped and the wind got up - sure enough 5 mins after I got in my car the heavens opened and it hasn't stopped all afternoon. 

Day 568 / Day 79 of Step 4 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
A study has shown that 2 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are 'highly effective' in preventing hospitalisations for at least 6 months, but that protection against the virus fell from 88% a month after vaccination to 47% after 6 months. The Telegraph is reporting having seen a report that the virus was circulating in China much earlier than initially thought, with  'notable, significant and abnormal' purchases of PCR lab equipment in H2 2019. Boris says that the latest coronavirus data suggests there is no need to deviate from his 'Plan A for England and the Health Secretary said that the 'vaccine wall' has 'held firm' so far. Nicola Sturgeon apologises for the poor launch of Scotland's vaccine passport app. Prof Neil Ferguson of SAGE warns that the UK doesn't have much 'headroom' for rising cases before the NHS becomes 'heavily stressed'. The DfE has estimated that 204,000 children didn't attend school for Covid related reasons last Thurs in England. Russia reported its highest ever daily Covid deaths at 895.