17th October, 2021. 576 days since our first lockdown day.

We had a lovely time with our mates Andy and Lindy in Sutton in Craven near Kieghley. We had a really good catch up, with wine, and a beautiful drive on the Monday morning to the Old Dairy at Wycoller, quite close to Colne in Lancashire. followed by a super lunch at a pub in the middle of nowhere. We had a good drive home, enabling some mileage to be put on the milometer.

Unbelievably, I have managed to get a face to face appointment with my GP, albeit not until next week but beggars cannot be choosers. It will be a busy week with visits to the eye hospital, the Covid booster and giving a blood sample.We had David and the grandchidren fo lunch on Sunday after watching Ronnie’s football match in Beverley. They lost 3-2 but it was a tight game with Ronnie scoring near the end with a well headed goal. It made for an exciting last 10 minutes. Melanie did not attend but she is finding any excuse to see David’s new house. He will have to watch that she does not use the kids as a reason to gain entry while David is at work. David will be talking to his barrister soon prior to the court case next month.

The loft ladder expert called round and has already given us an estimate of a total of £140. Bargain!! He is coming to fit it onThursday 28th November. He will only need a half day. Brilliant. After that the two major items on the calendar will be decorating downstairs and landscaping at the back. We should finally be done for next spring, hopefully.

The big news this week has been the murder of the Conservative MP, Sir David Amess. It is irrelevant which side of the political spectrum he represented, or that he voted for Brexit. He was doing his job by seeing his constituents at his weekly surgery and was killed by one of them who had even made an appointment. We need to protect all our public servants who are regularly targeted with violence and trolled on the internet.

I am a bit worried that a UK government which makes lying to it’s electorate normal, is attempting to bring in legislation to “correct” human rights court judgements that ministers believe are “incorrect”. Oh dear!! When the Nazis rose to power in 1933, the German system of justice underwent “coordination”. All professional associations of justice were merged into the National League of German Jurists. There are some frightening parallels here. Fascism can creep up on you but Johnson seems to have picked up the baton and Raab will surely follow. My Dad and my German grandfather (who was an ardent anti-fascist) will be turning in their graves.

I found a tweet where Boris is quoted as saying “The best way to ensure that every MP is properly safe is to GET BREXIT DONE” which could be translated as “Follow my political agenda or die”.This allows people like Gove to put a number of favoured companies into a VIP lane for test and trace contracts. Were some of these companies also Tory donors? I think we should be told!

As for the Covid pandemic, I am pleased that our two granddaughters have been vaccinated but as a whole the UK is losing he battle compared to many European countries. At one time we had less new cases and less hospitalisations but now we lag way behind many others, such as Germany and Spain. Thank goodness for Romania who continue to make us look good.