It’s been a tolerably good week. We’ve had some stunningly bright sunny days with gorgeous clear blue skies accompanied by a sharp frost. We even had a dash of sleet and snow on Monday before the clear weather arrived. Not enough snow to make a fuss about but it’s “good” to be back to temperatures which are more “normal” for the time of year.
The weekend, however, brought the return of milder temperatures, still too mild for the time of year, along with lashings and lashings of rain. The frosty mornings are lovely – no mud and no muddy dog. The mild weather and rain are just about the last thing you want for your dog-walking occasions.
We were to go to another Not a Pub Night with our lovely neighbours on Friday evening but, in the end, decided against it. It’s always a lovely occasion but we know that a number of folks are harbouring coughs, colds and sniffles and we didn’t fancy being in an enclosed space with everyone hacking. Next time.
We did, however, enjoy the Garden Club annual dinner on Saturday evening. It’s always a nice occasion and an opportunity to have a drink and chat with fellow villagers. Some coughs and sniffles to be sure but held in the village hall, a somewhat more open space, rather than someone’s crowded front room. The meal was “fine” if nothing to write home about – chicken Florentine for me and mushroom Florentine for the vegetarians. There was an alternative – sausages/vegetarian sausages – which neither Penny nor I thought of as high cuisine!
I wrote last time about my progress along the Lincoln Highway. As I mentioned, the route passes relatively close by Park City, Utah where my lovly sister Sallie and her husband live. Sadly, they were out when I called in.
Not much else has happened this week apart from . . .
YCNMIU
The report of the second phase of the Covid enquiry looking into the decision-making (or lack thereof) by the government during the early stages of the pandemic was released. Not surprisingly, the report was a stinging criticism of the “toxic and chaotic” culture inside Boris Johnson’s No 10. It was almost always a case of “too little, too late.” E.g., the introduction of the first lockdown – had it been a week earlier something like 23,000 deaths could have been avoided. And, having arrived too late at that decision it meant that the lockdown was longer than it would have been.
a consistent picture of delay, inaction and an apparent inability to learn lessons.
The failure to appreciate the scale of the threat, or the urgency of response it demanded, meant that by the time the possibility of a mandatory lockdown was first considered it was already too late and a lockdown had become unavoidable.
Many of the same mistakes – reacting too slowly and underestimating the speed and impact of Covid’s spread – were then repeated later in 2020, as restrictions were lifted and then belatedly reimposed in the face of infectious new strains, the report adds, calling this “inexcusable”.
We always knew Johnson was a liar and a chancer who had no interest in anything other than his own self-aggrandisement. We also suspected he was borderline incompetent. Now we know he was.
Huffpost very helpfully compiled a concise list of the main findings:
1. UK’s response was ‘too little, too late’
2. Lockdown could have been avoided
3. There was a ‘toxic and chaotic culture inside No.10’
4. February 2020 was a ‘lost month’
5. The same ‘inexcusable’ mistakes were repeated
6. Johnson acted with his own ‘optimistic disposition’
7. Matt Hancock ‘overpromised and underdelivered’
8. Advisers’ fear over ‘behavioural fatigue’ were unfounded
9. Government gave the public ‘false hope’
In a nutshell, useless.
Also, I burst out laughing when I read about this!
You really could not make that shit up!
And, I think that’s about it for this week. We have a lot of exciting things to look forward to next week including a visit to the optician, a delivery of logs for the wood burner, lunch with an old friend, a visit from the carpet cleaner to deal with the large glass of red wine I knocked over the other night and the arrival of some great friends for the weekend. Wow! So much to look forward to!
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg