21st January, 2021. 313 days of isolation/lockdown

Unbelievably, we have got our dates for the Corona Virus Vaccine. We get our first on Sunday, 24th January and the second on Sunday 4th of April, one day before my 73rd birthday. Thank goodness! Mum has not yet heard anything but we know that the GP will be doing it in her house. It is a real relief to get on the list but we recognise that we still need to be careful as we can still carry the virus despite being more or less immune. We have just heard that Sally and Jim get their first vaccine jab in Bucharest on Sunday morning so they will beat us by a couple of hours. We have also now heard that sister in law Carol has her vaccine appointment on Friday and our dear friend, Val, on Saturday. Things are gathering pace and I can now see light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t however, see us going to Germany in June. It also seems that the powers that be want to divert our stocks down south as we are racing ahead in the north. So we are delayed here to allow the slow south to catch up. What north/South divide?

The news of our vaccination came just after Northmore Garage had been to fit a new battery in the Ford Kuga. The mechanic was unable to jump start the car with the old battery still in place. Obviously no power whatsoever left. So he had to do the job on site and it proved very difficult and time consuming to get the old one out. With the bonnet up it was even difficult to see the damn thing but after all sorts of cables and tubes had been detached and moved out of the way, it slid out easily enough. Again it was difficult to put the new one in but he managed it. The car started first time and he did warn me that these batteries could be twice as expensive as a normal one. I went to the garage next day and found the charge for the actual battery to be £150. With labour and VAT the total cost was £234. Ouch!!

Apart from signing a dozen or so executive orders. Mr Biden has been very quiet since his inauguration and the predicted “trouble” from Republican supporters has not materialised, thank goodness. Trump is in Florida on holiday. Well, he really deserves one having masterminded winning the title of “The worst president in USA’s history”. The idiot is keeping a low profile at the moment but I can’t see that lasting. He thrives on being in the limelight even if it is to incite the trailer trash mob, to riot.

I have no idea what Boris is up to. I tend to go and make a coffee as soon as he is on the news. It is a more productive use of my time. Even in lockdown.

Jenny went to David’s house today to do some cleaning and I have no doubt bring some washing back. I will go another day to adjust some shelving I put up to accommodate Ronnie’s TV and X-Box.

We got a lovely belated Christmas card from our friend Diego in Murcia. He is looking forward to us going to Spain as soon as possible so we can celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary and Vega’s birth. We look forward to it. Whenever it might be.