Buzz

The easing of lockdown restrictions and the unseasonal weather combined to create a buzz around town. A buzz that for some groups exceeded the 6-person rule by a factor of ten. I spotted some huge groups of teenagers revelling in one of the parks as I cycled in the early evening. I can understand them going wild; we all may feel the same urge if we were 18, had essentially lost a year at such a formative age and were confused about next steps in jobs or education. I observe this rather than judge it, but we are going to see high prevalence rates of the virus. The hope is that it will be less destructive with the more vulnerable protected by the vaccine. However there will be exceptions who suffer badly and by increasingly mixing, people are sending a message that they have accepted this trade-off.

Never one to simply cycle around without wrestling with society’s problems, I then went to Grantchester and enjoyed the late sun on the Cam.

Meanwhile at work I spoke to one of our key collaborators in Mozambique about a few things. He has a level of exasperation because a few visiting folk haven’t been able to get visas, and the slowness of my current application is just one of several examples, although I expect mine to eventually succeed. Until conservation work there doesn’t rely on some external visitors, the government is going against its own conservation targets and strategies by not facilitating visas efficiently. My Mozambican contact reckons it’s due to competency rather than a hidden agenda.