Ghoulies, ghosties and goblins...

... aka politicians, scientists and Govt advisers. Happy Halloween!

You're in Tier 3... no sorry, you're not, it's Tier 2; no, not you, you're in Tier 1; you up North, Tier 3 now! and if you don't behave yourselves, it'll be a total lockdown... in, out, in, out...shake it all about.

Gloomy faces with even more gloomy voices keep popping up in the news online, giving us every possible doomsday scenario they can think of. To hear them speak you'd think the end of the world was imminent. Oh well, I suppose coming up with more and more nonsense keeps them off the streets.

They actually expect us to take this crap seriously! Those in power (I won't say "in charge" because none of them are fit to be in charge of a whelk stall) are allegedly having a meeting (another one!) to decide what the Christmas rules will be. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. I said we might have to stand on one leg wearing odd socks - it may still happen.

I have a vision of folk dragging garden furniture out onto their drive, or even onto the pavement, to eat Christmas dinner because their families aren't allowed indoors. Could be quite convivial, if a little chilly...mince pie anyone? I'm joking but nothing would surprise me any more.

Busy week chez nous. Tea and cake with the Troops last Sunday, then did our M&S shopping on the way home; our lovely plumber fixed the leak in the upstairs bathroom on Monday and the window cleaner came round; visited a sick relative on Wednesday and on Thursday we had the weekly Waitrose delivery. Friday, I cleaned the insides of the upstairs windows. Now look, you can't say I don't live life on the edge - it's just one long whirl of fun and excitement!

After much tearful dithering on my part (and an astonishing amount of patience on the part of Mr S-V and our son!) a decision has finally been made about Christmas... the Troops will be coming here for lunch as usual on Christmas Eve!! I'm so pleased, I couldn't bear not to see them. I'm a very happy bunny. We never see them on the Big Day anyway, it's always just us two, we're used to that and it's nothing new. 

Just need to sort out a menu and the logistics for grocery deliveries now.

Of course... the best laid plans, etc.... it may yet go horribly wrong if Boris goes all weak-kneed and throws us into lockdown again. We'll see...

Update: We'll be in lockdown sooner than I thought if this morning's news is anything to by. It looks like there'll be a month-long lockdown sometime between now and Christmas. Jesus bloody wept. Here we go again...

Update Saturday evening: Well, he's done it. Lockdown from Nov 5th to Dec 2nd. He's insane - fully certifiable - there's no other explanation for it.

It could be a long winter...

Every time a politician opens their mouth, things get worse. 

Manchester, along with a large part of the North of England, has been put into Tier 3 and Wales is going into a 'firebreak' lockdown for a couple of weeks. Wee Nippy has just extended Scotland's 'circuit-breaker' for another week... and Boris? Who knows? He doesn't have a clue what he's going to do next. 

No doubt, when everything opens up again, cases will go up and off we go again - more Tier 3s and local lockdowns, maybe over Christmas and New Year. Rinse and repeat... 

Until someone grows some balls we'll just stumble from one bad decision to another, but sadly, Boris is weak. It's just a virus - there've been plenty of them since mankind first evolved and we'll need to learn to live with this one, same as we have with every other virus we've ever encountered. The only way to deal with this is herd immunity - we can't keep dipping in and out of lockdown forever... the economic damage is astronomical as is the damage done to people with illnesses other than Covid, most of whom are being ignored by the NHS, incidentally.

In search of a little light relief from the relentless doom and gloom, I read this piece about biscuits earlier this week. Who knew there was so much history to the humble biccie? My favourite is a plain digestive; the ones from M&S are really good, like McVitie's used to be before they ruined them. I'm also a fan of custard creams... in fact anything cheap and cheerful without chocolate will do me nicely, even a Rich Tea, but never dunked. I can't stand sog!

On the subject of biscuits we sent some Halloween chocs to the Troops, along with a tin of these little beauties. I'm reliably informed they are very nice... well actually, "Ahmazinnggg" is the exact word my daughter-in-law used in a text!

We change the clocks this weekend; it's staggering to think we hadn't even changed to summertime when all this Covid nonsense started. We will be plunged into darker afternoons but at least the mornings will be a little lighter for a while. Comfort food, in some quantity I think, will be required to get us through what promises to be a bloody awful winter.

Mr S-V is still manfully attempting to teach me to play chess... and I am still womanfully doing my best. It's probably true to say our games will never be quite on the Grandmaster scale, but I'm not giving in yet; he might, though!

Tiers of a clown

Apparently, we're all going to be in tiers. Some of us of course are already in tears every bloody day...

Boris, Sunak and Whitty - the Three Stooges - put on their best grave faces and gave a press conference on Monday, giving chapter and verse about how they're going to continue fouling up our lives for the foreseeable. As of today there are three tiers of restrictions... I can't bear to read the details, for all I know it may depend whether there's a full moon or a northerly breeze.

My money is still on another full lockdown - I think Boris is daft enough to do it and there are plenty of people daft enough to support it.

Honestly, if you read any of this nonsense in a work of fiction, you'd bin the book for being too far-fetched and completely unbelievable. But, sadly, this is our life now.

Trying to understand why they're doing this is impossible... Like trying to put your elbow in your ear or reason with a two-year-old - it can't be done.

It must be devastating for people still trying to run a business in the areas with the strictest restrictions. This is all so unnecessary - they'll be tearing their hair.

Donald Trump seems to have recovered well from his brush with, as he calls it, the "Chinese Virus". Given that he's 74 and overweight, that's quite a turnaround. Well done, that man!

There's a couple of walking groups round here - I saw a group of about a dozen ladies "of a certain age" go past last week. They weren't socially-distanced and not one of them was wearing a mask - they were just walking, chatting and having a nice time. I nearly rushed out and shook them all by the hand! It felt weird to see something so unremarkable that actually felt so strange.

If you're as brassed off as I am, you might like this recipe from Nigella's site for Emergency Brownies - it struck me that, the way things are going, it'll be needed sooner rather than later.

Masks and hugs...

.... my biggest personal bugbears right now.

Without the mask rule, I'd feel able to go out for a spot of shopping followed by lunch somewhere nice, but there's nothing normal about having to cover your face to go to into a shop or restaurant. It's also completely irrational and illogical... Mask on to go into the restaurant, mask off when you sit down, mask on if you need to pop to the loo, mask off when you get back to the table, mask on when you get up to leave. Jesus bloody wept! Someone explain how the hell that constitutes "normal" because I'm damned if I know. Does the virus know when people are standing up??

Then there's hugs. This piece caught my eye. Touch is a normal part of our existence - starting with cradling a new-born baby and continuing in a myriad different ways throughout our lives... until the final hand-holding as we breathe our last.

All I want is to hug my son and grandchildren. It's a physical pain I carry around with me. The Govt has told them not to, to protect us because we're "old"... so, until the Govt tells them it's ok, they won't. We love them for thinking they're protecting us, even though we don't want them to! I honestly don't blame them at all for being cautious, they're just following instructions. The instructions have come from a discredited, dishonest Govt, though... and therein lies the problem.

The situation needs a shift in public opinion, where the public finally says "Enough - we're sick of this! We're not doing it". That shift can't come quickly enough for me.

I know there are bigger issues attached to Covid but these are my issues... the ones that really brass me off and affect the quality of my life. The biggest issue, of course, is the trashing of the economy; thankfully, at my age, that has limited scope to affect me, although for some poor souls their lives have been irreparably damaged. Well done, you absolute planks in Govt. *walks off, shaking head*

I'm still working through all the bits of housework I usually ignore - the pantry has come in for some serious elbow-grease this week. I'm very lucky to have a proper pantry where absolutely all our ambient food is stored, but it's a bit of a job to clean. One shelf at a time, followed by a cup of tea, is the way I'm tackling it!

Mr S-V has also taken on a mammoth task - he's attempting to teach me to play chess... again! He's tried several times over the years and I still haven't got it, but hope springs eternal... there's a chance I might grasp it this time - a slim chance, but you never know!

Tests, Trump and treats

I went to my GPs' surgery on Friday for a blood test, which I should have had four months ago... but, thanks to Covid, it's been easier to get into the Queen's bedroom than to see a healthcare professional in person. They've been holed up behind locked doors for six months - quite possibly hiding behind their desks, for all I know. 

Getting into the building was quite a saga. Ring the doorbell then wait in the pouring rain for someone to unlock the door; don a mask (or in my case, a scarf - I don't do masks!) and have my temperature taken before being allowed to stand inside the door; confirm answers to the questionnaire that was taken when I booked the appointment; administer hand sanitiser... and finally... I gained admittance to the inner sanctum. Hoo-bloody-ray!

We were told to "Protect the NHS" way back in March - is this what we were protecting?

Blood test was completely uneventful (although, thanks to a heavy-handed phlebotomist, I have a massive deep purple bruise to show for it!) and a bit of an anti-climax to the pantomime that preceded it. Incidentally, the surgery itself was like the Mary Celeste - well, they don't want sick people coming in and cluttering up the place, do they?! 

Speaking of sick people, Donald and Melania Trump have both tested positive for Covid. Donald's in hospital but it hasn't stopped people being absolutely vile about him - shame they can't see that even the President of the United States is more than his politics... he has a family that loves him and wants him back. The last thing a world in chaos needs right now is the death of one of the most important people in this world. Get well soon, Mr President.

Mushrooms

It's been raining almost continuously since Friday - that's enough now, thank you! The lotties are looking very sorry for themselves and there's no hope of the farmer ploughing just yet, the fields are sodden. With all the wet weather we've grown some pretty impressive clumps of mushrooms on the grass in the front garden. I've no idea whether they're edible and I'm not about to risk life and limb to find out! Not a great picture but it was taken from the porch because of the damn rain...

I'm pleased to report that our treats from Bettys have been a delight. The Fat Rascals are bloody lovely, as is the Lemon and Lime loaf - they remind me of my childhood, when cakes were plainer but tastier, somehow. Stem Ginger cake will be sampled tomorrow. I was a bit worried about buying cake online - would I just receive a box of crumbs?! - but the packaging was excellent as is the taste and quality. 

I wonder what they'll have in the way of Christmas goodies? Asking for a friend...