That Time of Year

It’s that time of year when a lot of fields turn bright yellow from growing oil seed rape. I managed to stop and take this photo on the way to the garden centre. I had a 4th piece of bad luck yesterday with a silver bracelet breaking, not sure if it’s repairable. The good news is I got a text today inviting me to book for my 2nd jab next week.

Day 420 /  Day 29 of Step 2 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only
Boris thanked us at the briefing today for our efforts during lockdown which have ‘so visibly paid off’ and confirmed that the tests have been met to proceed to Step 3 of lockdown easing next week on 17th May. So indoor pubs, restaurants and entertainment will reopen (with limitations); 6 people or 2 households can meet indoors; no face coverings to be required in secondary schools; overnight stays allowed with limitations; and meeting outdoors in groups of up to 30 to be allowed. Hugging will be allowed with close family and friends, but we were warned to act with caution. Wider social distancing rules remain in place. This is a very big step and the data will obviously be monitored closely. One particular area to watch is the variant of concern B.1.617.2 (India) which has already seen 520 cases in the UK up to 5th May, up 318 cases from the week before, and we know what devastation that’s been causing in India. The UK Covid alert level is reduced from 4 to 3 (a Covid-19 epidemic is in general circulation) on the recommendation of all CMOs. No Covid deaths were reported today in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. PHE data shows that 2 doses of the Pfizer jab reduces death from Covid by 97%. A third of UK adults are now fully vaccinated.