On getting back to normal,

Having walked to Uppermill to go to the market, as I usually do on a Wednesday, I notice some people’s determined efforts to “return to normal”. These are mostly small cafes, it seems. The “Vintage Cupcake Kitchen” now has a sign declaring that they are open for business Friday to Sunday at limited times and for take-away only. I hope enough customers are desperate for vintage cupcake to make it worth their while. The small cafe that calls itself “The Secret Garden” was cleaning up, looking for all the world as though they were planning to open. Now, they have an external area with separate “pods”, kind of plastic bubble cabins, where presumably customers could socially distance themselves. And another cafe, one that used to belong to the Java chain but has now changed its name, was also busy sprucing up. Are they allowed to open now? Are they planning a busy weekend?

The shops and market stalls I wanted to go to were all still maintaining socially distanced queues - all good. I did overhear conversations between stall-holders about how much busier the roads have been already. In city centres public transport is reported to be getting relatively crowded again! I think I’ll stick to going to places I can reach by walking.

In the spirit of “getting back to normal”, here is some non-coronavirus related stuff. Pearl Lowe was the vocalist of the indie bands Powder and Lodger and part of the “Primrose Hill set”, alongside Kate Moss, Jude Law and Sadie Frost. I can’t say I’ve heard of her but I think that’s a generational thing. Anyway, she has also been a fashion designer. Here’s something she said:

“I’ve always been very much my own person. Everyone I knew in the 90s was so thin and I’m not. Skinny jeans don’t suit me because I’ve got hips and a bum. Attitudes to body image weren’t so accepting when I was younger but I love voluptuous girls. When I’m casting models for my range I’m like: ‘Hang on, I don’t want a size four – have you got any … 12s?’”

Since when has a size 12 been voluptuous? I hover between a size 10 and a size 12 and if I were as tall as most models, I would be pretty skinny.

Then there is Twiggy, who says: “I don’t think the high fashion industry will ever go completely away from slimness but I think other parts of the industry have started to use different shapes and sizes, and I think they should.” Her range for M&S, she points out, went from a size eight to a 22.

Okay, that’s the fashion bit. Now for some other stuff.

Here is a section of a report about Mike Pompeo:

 “The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has arrived in Israel amid the coronavirus pandemic to discuss US-backed plans to annex large parts of the Palestinian territories. The single-stop visit – Pompeo’s first in nearly two months – will last just a few hours, with a small US team afforded exemptions from strict Israeli coronavirus restrictions that require any arrivals to self-isolate for two weeks. Pompeo stepped off the plane wearing a striped face mask in the colours of the US flag. He will travel to Jerusalem to speak with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Benny Gantz, the former head of the opposition who will soon join Netanyahu in a unity government.”

Some things don’t stop for Coronavirus. But how about this from the USA, where some Republican states are seeing a sudden increase in Coronavirus cases?

“The geographical spread of new hotspots suggest that the virus is advancing quickly outside major coastal towns and cities such as New York, Newark and Seattle where infection rates are now plateauing or dipping. Many of the new emerging hotspots, both rural and urban, are in states where governors refused to issue stay-at-home orders, or are following Trump’s advice to relax lockdown restrictions despite public health warnings about the dangers of doing so too soon.”

Mr Trump says the crisis in dying down in the States and yet he appears to be putting his fanbase at risk!!

We are getting more than a little anxious about our daughter, who is going through major anxiety herself, because of the decision that primary schools should reopen on June 1st. Teachers’ unions and a large number of head teachers have protested about this but our daughter’s head wants all his teachers back in school. Here are a couple of extracts from this rather disturbing report from the TES:

“Government guidance on reopening schools says that most staff will not need personal protective equipment (PPE), and admits that social distancing cannot be maintained with the youngest pupils who could return to school on 1 June.
"The majority of staff in education settings will not require PPE beyond what they would normally need for their work, even if they are not always able to maintain a distance of two metres from others," the guidance says.”

"We know that, unlike older children and adults, early years and primary age children cannot be expected to remain two metres apart from each other and staff. In deciding to bring more children back to early years and schools, we are taking this into account," the Department for Education document says.
Because of this lack of social distancing schools should "work through"  a "hierarchy of measures":

* Avoiding contact with anyone with symptoms.
* Frequent hand cleaning and good respiratory hygiene practices.
* Regular cleaning of settings.
* Minimising contact and mixing.

"It is still important to reduce contact between people as much as possible, and we can achieve that and reduce transmission risk by ensuring children, young people and staff, where possible, only mix in a small, consistent group and that small group stays away from other
Well, I can think of all sorts of ways that won’t work. You keep one small group away from another in school but how do you prevent them from mingling as they make their way to and from school, especially if they live, for example, in the same street? Even if they don’t mingle on the way to and from school, those children will go home to a household where maybe the parents have had to go to work, maybe bringing home another load of germs!!

We are hoping for a reversal of the decision to reopen schools.

 Mind you, today Mr Rees Mogg, in his wisdom, has said that MPs should prepare to get back to the Houses of Parliament in person. MPs should “lead by example”, he said. Remote voting on bills and the like will be extended until May 20th but by the beginning of June voting should revert to the old pattern. Doesn’t that involve MPs filing through doors on the different sides of the House. Well, that will need a bit of social distance policing! The madness continues!

Today I have had a request to put baked beans on the menu. That’s nice and easy.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!