This was supposed to be posted yesterday. What went wrong? Here it is now!
Yesterday was a fine and sunny day, if rather windy. In fact the wind was a little on the chilly side. But still the sun shone. And today is much the same. The police have put warnings out, requesting people to be sensible and reminding them to respect the restrictions - if they can work out which restrictions apply to which areas, that is! The weathermen meanwhile are telling us that this weekend’s good weather is probably the end of summer, and so we should benefit from it while we can. Hmm! Contradictory messages!
Somehow we did not get around to going out for a walk yesterday until late afternoon. We hoped we might get a final bit of sunshine but it was too late. The sun had already gone over the hill. It was clearly shining in some places but not where the shadow of the hill fell, in other words where we were walking. Not so long ago we were still getting sunshine quite late in the day, even on our early evening walks. That was another thing the weatherman was wittering on about: the days growing shorter as the autumnal equinox approaches. Next weekend we put the clocks back and the nights will really draw in, as they say. That will curtail our “adventuring” somewhat. We’ll have to see what today brings.
Experts are advising us to “embrace an alfresco Covid winter”. At the start of lockdown, with the fine and sunny spring weather, people went out or went online and bought barbecues, garden furniture and gazebos. Now it seems there is a boost in sales of winter garden rugs, whatever they are, chimeneas, other kinds of garden heaters, outdoor lights and handy blankets to wrap up in as we entertain guests in the garden. Assuming we can entertain folks in the garden again! But in general the advice is to entertain outdoors rather than indoors as the virus spreads less easily in the open air. So let’s hope for some dry cold weather rather than lots of rain and snow!
Meanwhile, Bolton, on the other side of Greater Manchester, still has the highest infection rate in the country. One of their local MPs believes this is the result of Covid scepticism, fuelled by a social media trend, #thinkingforyourself. “There is a lot of confusion about the virus in the area and there are a lot of people now who do not believe it is true,” said MP Yasmin Qureshi, “They genuinely believe it’s some kind of conspiracy. A lot of them don’t understand the rules either and so there are many who just aren’t following them – they think it is a way of controlling them somehow. It is very dangerous.”
A Bolton resident said this: “I would say that the majority of people around here are not wearing masks when they go into shops and if you do wear one you are considered a sheep. I’ve seen people laughing and shaking their heads at others who are wearing masks. It’s so frustrating. Lots of people in supermarkets, everywhere really, just not wearing them. They don’t quite understand how dangerous it is.”
Wow! Do these crazy people not watch and listen to the news? It’s a little ironic that #thinkingforyourself prevents thinking!
Of course, it’s not just Bolton. People in the North West of England are no crazier than people in other parts of the country, yesterday 3w people were arrested in central London during a demonstration against Coronavirus restrictions and mass vaccinations. The demonstrators, more than a thousand of them, called themselves the “Resist and Act for Freedom rally”.
There were apparently people selling T-shirts bearing 5G conspiracy theories and calling for the legalisation of cannabis - the usual sort of stuff - alongside banners calling for government scientific advisers to be sacked and declaring Covid-19 a “hoax”.
Addressing the crowd to huge cheers, organiser and so-called “natural nurse” Kate Shemirani said: “We are the resistance.”
It’s amazing what people can be persuaded to believe.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.
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