Sunny Snowdrops

It was a lovely sunny morning, so I walked into town to look for snowdrops in the churchyard. I also did some paperwork and had a lovely 90 min chat to a friend.

Snowdrop Fact:
Snowdrops were named after earrings not drops of snow. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries women often wore dangly, white drop-shaped earrings known as ‘eardrops.’              (wildabouthere.com)

Day 312 / Day 17 of Lockdown 3 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 1,290 to 94,580 (revised basis), with 37,892 new cases, 38,676 patients in hospital, 3,953 on ventilation and 3,709 new admissions. c5m have now received their first dose of the vaccine. Total cases to date in the US passes 25m and deaths in Germany passed 50k yesterday. NI extends lockdown until 5th March. 363,508 1st doses of the vaccine were given yesterday which is a record. To meet the Govt target of 15m 1st doses by 15th Feb, 400k a day are needed, so we're getting there. 63% of elderly care home residents have now had a jab. The REACT-1 study by Imperial College says that 'during the initial 10 days of the third COVID-19 lockdown.......prevalence of COVID-19 was very high with no evidence of decline.'. The briefing today revealed a new £800 fine to be introduced next week for those attending house parties of 15 or more people, which doubles for each offence up to £6,400. The use of online vaccine booking sites / apps by those not yet eligible in order to jump the queue was described as 'morally reprehensible'. Covid crimes being prosecuted are mostly assaults on emergency workers including police officers being 'coughed or spat on' - what a horrible minority there is! Since June 2020, workers borrowing £1k or more rose from 35% to 45%, mostly being the self employed. Glastonbury 2021 has been cancelled. 
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