the isolation diaries - week eight

I don't swear often.  So when I do it's reserved for particular emphasis where no other word will convey how I feel strongly enough.

Anyway, this week in coronavirus land has been a total SHITSHOW.

On Sunday, our Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined measures for lifting the "lockdown" the country is under.  

Tomorrow, he said, you should now start going to work if you can't work from home, you can take unlimited outdoor exercise and sunbathe or sit in a park, you can see someone outside your home circle.  There were others as well but these were the headlines.

Then the reality.

It actually only applied from Wednesday.  So you couldn't go to work on Monday morning.  Also, you shouldn't use public transport but should walk or cycle to work.  Seeing someone means in a park or outdoors, and then only one to one - and socially distanced.  So you can meet say your sister in a park, but not in their home or garden.

And best of all, these measures only apply to England.  Here in Wales (and in Scotland and Northern Ireland) the message is still to "Stay at Home".  Though here you can bizarrely visit a garden centre - presumable if it's absolutely essential that is.

But best of all is the Government's new slogan (in England only of course).  It's now "Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Protect Lives".

not quite as bad as advocating injecting bleach, but up there real close

So (in England only of course) you have to be alert to an invisible and silent virus.  I presume they'll be issuing microscopes to all residents then?

Here in Wales?

Nothing has changed.  We still have to (by and large) remain at home or incur the wrath of the police. 

And they really are enjoying their new powers.  Fining people for having the sheer temerity to leave the home they've been cooped up in for weeks for a single second.  And then tweeting about their "successes" on social media.  Since when was it their role to humiliate as well as police?  Fair enough if they've caught a serial killer, but to bleat about fining someone who popped outside to relieve the boredom?

And it seem it will be some time before we're afforded the same rights as England.  Whether that's the correct approach or not only time will tell I guess.

Until then though, it's all just shit.

.................................

Just after writing this on Thursday, we had a family emergency.  Dexter, our lovely dog, managed to eat a large slab of chocolate cake - enough to potentially poison and kill him.  

Of course, he did this in the evening meaning a (very, very) expensive trip to the emergency vet who injected him to make him vomit all the cake back up before it could do any harm.  Luckily he is OK and no worse for wear (other than a sore tummy!).  

He's never done anything like this before.  We don't feed him scraps and he doesn't beg for food while we're eating.  But it seems a piece of momentarily unattended cake was simply too tempting.

Anyway, lesson learned.  For all of us.