Luke

Gavin and I went grocery shopping straight after breakfast to get the final groceries for the Christmas weekend. It was much quieter than expected, and they had everything I needed in stock which was great. We were in and out in no time, no queues at the checkouts as in previous years, and it was all quite easy and pain free.

When we got back I had to unpack everything and try to rearrange everything in the fridges, leaving enough space for the Christmas meats which we are collecting tomorrow. Xena was waiting patiently all morning but then she finally had her walk. Today was so grey and dull, very mild but just flat light and boring, so I never took any photos on my walk.

Luke finished off work today for the Christmas holidays, so we went back into the village for a quick lunch at a favourite café. He provided me with this emergency blip, standing in front of the village Christmas tree and decorated village clock.

It is very good news that Omicron, while being very contagious, is less serious than initially thought and up to 70% less likely to need hospital care. It surely must be a good thing if this weaker strain of Covid is replacing the Delta strain? While that is good news that hospitals are still under pressure with nearly 19,000 NHS staff off work due to Covid - apparently people are also going in to hospital for non-Covid health reasons, and then contracting Covid while there which means they have to stay on to isolate and take up much needed hospital beds. Not good news is that the protection from the booster can drop by 15%-25% after 10 weeks after having it. I look forward to the day when Covid will be like getting flu, we don't report the daily cases and people just get on with life and live with the virus as part of our everyday lives. I think England has done the right thing by not introducing stricter Covid measures now, the leisure industry is already on it's knees and I feel very sorry for those who have lost their livelihoods and do not get a chance to now bounce back. 

I cannot believe it is only two more days to Christmas! Adam comes home tonight, and Tommy returns from Inca's house tomorrow, so it will be a full house by tomorrow.