Tiny tree lights

The weather's been good today, but I'm still surfacing a bit slowly from the tummy bug. So I've been indoors, finishing off some Christmas plans and purchases.  No Frieda to look after today; we cancelled, aware of the danger of giving this gastric bug to her at just the worst time.  Fortunately Marianna had no training session to deliver today, and so this hasn't caused her and Jack any difficulties.
I've also been peering out of the back bedroom window again, this time at the strings of tiny raindrops on the quince tree. Arranged along its bare and twisty branches, they look a little like tiny Christmas lights (with the help of a little Lightroom faffing).
What to make of the rolling Omicron news? We are back into the ebb and flow of uncertainties about Christmas. Will Marianna's parents be able to make their planned visit from Greece in late Dec? Will Richard's niece be able to come and stay - or will it be a solitary Christmas for her?
We're both very relieved to have had our boosters, having seen the reports of massive queues at vaccination centres. Today Richard phoned Tom, one of the two friends who regularly meet up with him to play in an informal acoustic trio... Tom, plus his partner and 3 year old daughter, all have Covid this week. Tom reports experiencing the signature symptoms of Omicron; he is usually one to underplay physical discomfort, but says he has had a very bad week. At 40-odd, he's not in a vulnerable category. Richard persuaded his partner to give him a shopping list, and delivered their food supplies to their doorstep.
I write all this not to wallow, but to keep a record, as the somewhat surreal debate in Parliament, about Johnson's half-hearted proposed measures, blunders along this afternoon. I see that Scotland is moving to limit household mixing, and wonder how long it will be before England follows.