Another day

We had a sunny walk this morning but then the clouds have rolled in and it has got cooler. At lunch time we ate indoors as it was a bit cool to eat outdoors, and Xena always tries to sit at the table with us when we eat a meal, she is part of the family and therefore wants to be included in everything! Most Vizsla owners will tell you the same about their dogs, they are very velcro and don't want to be left out of anything. Here she is saying, what do you mean I can't have any of your chicken and salad?

So tonight is the BIG announcement on TV on the latest lockdown measures from our PM - except it has already been leaked to the press so I am sure many will not bother watching it, which is a pity as we are at the dangerous stage where we have passed the peak but people have lockdown fatigue and so are starting to flout the rules - yet we need to avoid a second wave of infection. The big news is that we are going on to a threat level safety alert system, so in stage 5 you can do this, stage 4 you can do that - as if most other countries have not already been on this system for month now. Oh and the NHS has realised that they cannot compete with Google and Apple in producing their own track and trace app but have done a U turn and will switch to the global standard app instead. The PPE problem still exists, and we are still not achieving the testing goal of 100,000 daily tests (and also had to send 50,000 tests to be carried out in the USA as we had a 'technical' problem with our testing)

But despite these problems and frustrations, about half the population are now paid by the government - we must be one of the few countries providing so much financial support for its population during this crisis which is important, as the financial crisis may soon overtake the virus as the bigger problem. It was also disturbing to read that far more people in Australia will kill themselves because of the lockdown than those that die of the virus - as much as four fold. This is based on modelling and who knows if it is accurate.

Tonight we are eating out at home - we received our first delivery from Cote Brasserie* so that will be a treat.

* Cote Brasserie is a popular high street restaurant that has been quick to adapt to delivering take away from their central London base.