When Shall We Three Meet Again?

It was 2 years ago that I last went to see The Lord Chamberlain’s Men at Holkham. It was wonderful to go to the theatre again, I usually go to the theatre and to concerts an awful lot, so I’ve really missed live performance during the pandemic. This evening’s performance (as you’ve probably guessed) was of the Scottish play which I studied at O level many years ago and is my favourite. It wasn’t ‘in thunder, lightning or in’…..well actually we did have on and off light rain. A great performance as always by this touring theatre company, ‘presenting Shakespeare’s work as he first saw it; all male, in the open air and with Elizabethan costume, music and dance’. There were good controls against Covid transmission (the audience didn’t always follow them) and because of this there was no interval this year, with the performance lasting 95 mins. Just fabulous.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Paralympics this morning, Ch4 does a brilliant job at coverage. Congratulations to Dame Sarah Storey for getting an incredible 15th Paralympic gold medal.

Day 527 / Day 38 of Step 4 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
Analysis from the Zoe Covid study has found that protection against infection given by the Pfizer jab has dropped from 88% a month after the 2nd jab, to 74% after 5 to 6 months. Over the same timeframe, protection from the AZ jab fell from 77% to 67%. Thus protection could fall to below 50% by Winter for the elderly and healthcare workers. This is mirrored in a report by the CDC in the US stating that vaccine effectiveness during mid Dec to mid Apr was 91%, but during weeks to mid Aug was 66%. Of course the Delta variant might also be playing a part in this. Israel also reported a drop to 64% in July. The pandemic led to a 40% increase in the cost of self-catered accommodation in the UK. Research found that a week in Brighton this year was slightly more expensive than a week in Nice and a week in Lake Windermere cost over 3 times a week in Lake Garda. During Lockdown 1, the number of 18-34 year olds who classified themselves as smokers rose from 21.5% to 26.8%. Heaving drinking increased at the same time across all age groups. 1,051 people tested positive in the days after attending the Latitude Festival (c40k attended), despite having to show proof of a negative test or being double jabbed.