Project 365 day 193: drizzly walk to the post box

It has been very wet today, but late this afternoon the rain slowed to fine drizzle and I walked to the post box. The airy, delicate Queen Anne's Lace of the early summer months has now largely given way to these large heads of cow parsley, which create lovely twilight silhouettes. Even in today's poor light they stood out against the misty valley and downs.

I've supported J with an online activity and a video chat with friends, and been quietly industrious in the kitchen stewing lots of rhubarb for the freezer, preparing currants and raspberries for summer pudding and shelling broad beans. I'm also quietly seething at the government's determination to allow everyone to do whatever they please despite the huge daily increases in corona virus infections, which are leading to a steady rise in hospital admissions. Although vaccination has brought a big reduction in the percentage of infected people who need hospitalisation, a small percentage of a huge number still adds up to a lot of people. It seems utterly irresponsible to do nothing further to limit the soaring numbers, when some safety measures could perfectly well be continued alongside the re-opening of the remaining sectors of the economy. I'm very concerned that J's long awaited and much needed specialist hospital appointment, already postponed from August to late September, may become one of many casualties of this situation. We are also frequently told that the NHS app, which instructs people to self-isolate if they have had close contact with an infected person, now needs to be "adjusted" because so many people are being told to isolate that there are huge gaps in the workforce. The government and media response is to regard this as an administrative inconvenience which shows that the app should be tweaked to allow many people to work despite potential infection, rather than to recognise it as clear indication that infection levels are running dangerously out of control. There's far more to be said on all this, but I'm weary of shouting at the radio. If we have more months of self-imposed restrictions ahead, as looks increasingly certain, then I remain grateful that I live in such beautiful and spacious surroundings.