3rd December 2020. 263 days of lockdown/isolation.

A vaccine has arrived sooner than expected and I expect that Jenny and I will be in one of the earlier tranches of recipients. In theory, we could be done and dusted by the New Year. I am concerned about how mum is going to be included. She is not in a care home as such but with four carers a day attending to her then her own home is the care home and her being 94, there should be no problem. Maybe a call to the care providers (private) might be useful. 

I find it very distasteful that the government is spinning this great development into a victory for them. Hang on a minute! The vaccine is being produced in Belgium having been developed in Germany by the children of Turkish immigrants under the auspices of an American company. No mention of the UK anywhere in the vaccine’s development. Gavin Williamson (Tory Education Secretary) thinks “..we’ve got the best people in this country and we’ve obviously got the best medical regulators. Much better than the French have, much better than the Belgians have, much better than the Americans have. That doesn’t surprise me at all because we’re a much better country than every single one of them aren’t we”. AND THIS LOT ARE IN CHARGE. HELP!!!!!!!!!

Tier 3 is upon us today. It is still cold and damp and we are in lockdown so nothing is changed. Spain has announced that nobody can enter the country without having a certificate of a negative corona test from the previous 72 hours. We won’t be going there any time soon then.

There continues to be debate about visiting Mum on Xmas Eve, With Tier 3, I don’t think any one should go. \that would be unpopular but necessary, I think. Whether or not she has had the vaccination.

I went to the Hull Eye Hospital for some laser work on my retina, yesterday. I was there for three hours which culminated in a part lasering of a split in the retina causing spots and blemishes to my vision. The split is caused by dryness in the retina which can be pulled apart which in itself is not a massive problem but if eye fluid gets behind the retina it can “lift” causing blindness. As it is, even if they can “weld” the split, I can be left with a blind spot. The split itself cannot be repaired. I have to go in again in 14 days for a consultant to finish the job. The procedure is painless except for some stinging eye drops.

We have posted all our Xmas cards to the UK and abroad at a cost in excess of £50. I don/t object to the cost this year as we will not have a chance to see many of our friends and family so we could write a message on a card. When we were in Spain, we sent a “round robin” email card and donated the saved postage cost to charity. If we are out of the pandemic next year, we may revert to doing that.