Here’s one of the oddities of life. We can legislate as much as we like for gender equality. We can protest that we want and deserve the same pay as men when we do the same work. We can look back at the triumphs of the past: women getting the vote, women getting the right to have a bank account in their own name and a job without needing their husband or father’s permission. But we can’t argue with what our bodies do.
It seems that women are far more likely than men to suffer from Long Covid, the ongoing debilitating condition some people suffer even when they have apparently recovered from Covid itself. The same goes for ME and for chronic fatigue syndrome, both of which have at various times been dismissed as “hysterical” conditions. It’s something to do with the way our immune system works, possibly a protection mechanism from our childbearing years. How very annoying!!
Something to annoy men and women alike is the prospect of the final stage of lifting Covid restrictions being postponed for a few weeks while the experts decide whether the link between mass vaccination, infection, serious illness and hospitalisation has been properly established. The Delta variant is 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, so we don’t really know what the chances of a full-blown third wave are. As for me, I’m in favour of proceeding cautiously!
The G7 meetings rumble to a close today. All the leaders will fly away to their various countries. Did they all have tests during their visit or will they be whizzing home with new variants to share with everyone? As all this has been going on, I found myself wondering when we started involving all the spouses in these jamborees. Is it really necessary for Mrs Biden, Madame Macron, Herr Merkel, the New Mrs Johnson and all the rest to be lodged, fed and entertained at these events? I suppose arranging a programme of activities for the spouses provides somebody with a job. Does Frau Merkel follow the same programme as the lady spouses? Is it acceptable for a spouse to just wander around site-seeing and shopping like footballer’s WAGs do? All sorts of questions arise?
In amongst one of the photos of this jamboree there was one of the queen talking to the G7 leaders (but not the spouses at that point!) and apparently joking with them, and asking if they were enjoying their visit. I notice that Her Majesty is wearing what seems to be a lightweight summer coat, smart as ever, and white gloves! White gloves! Is Her Majesty perhaps the only lady in the realm who still wears summer weight gloves. I remember my mother back in the 1950s and 1960s having lightweight gloves for the summer, the perfect complement to a formal outfit, along with matching shoes and handbag. I may even have had a pair of white string gloves as a young teenager myself. But I did not know that summer gloves were still a thing. Of course, maybe it’s so Her Majesty does not have to actually TOUCH anything, or indeed anyone, not royal! I wonder how she is with elbow-bumping!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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