Well, here we are: another Easter Sunday. Any plans we had for today and the week to come have been put on hold because of Phil’s Covid test result. So far he has symptoms of a bad cold and no more. Hopefully that is how it will remain. It is quite ironic that he, who is extra careful, wears a mask on the rare occasions when he has to use public transport and only really goes out to chess club at present, seems to have contracted the lurgy when playing in a chess match against another club last Wednesday.
I on the other hand tested negative. And I am the one who hops on a bus (yes, wearing my mask) to go to Tesco or to go and visit our granddaughter. I am the one who regularly goes into the local coop store for odds and ends, again wearing my mask. Of course, I may have had the lurgy asymptomatically and I might be responsible for passing it on to him. Our daughter commented that there must be masses of people wandering around with a cold that is in fact Covid now that we are not so actively encouraged to test. And besides, unless people still have some free tests in hand, as we do, testing now costs money!
Our daughter tells us that the staff of her school are being actively discouraged from testing. The school’s insurance policy no longer covers them for staff absence with Covid and so will not pay for supply cover. If staff are absent for other reasons, all is well, but once they admit to having tested positive the insurance company won’t cough up. And I think of all the years that I and all my teacher colleagues would drag ourselves into work feeling ill, whispering to a class because we had no voice, feeling an obligation to the pupils to be there for them. And all the while our establishments were paying insurance policies that were rarely called on!
All because teaching, like nursing, is a vocation. That’s why it is not usual for teachers and nurses to gather in the staffroom for a glass of wine at the end of the day, no matter what some people seem to think. No parties for us!
At some point yesterday afternoon we did get around to opening the shed door to release the bird that seemed to be trapped inside. In my best cowardly fashion, I went to the bottom of the garden while Phil dealt with it. I was expecting a bird, possibly a blackbird as we get a lot of them wandering around the garden and one could have “wandered” in through the space at the bottom the door, to come flying out. Door open, nothing happened! Phil poked around in the shed in case it was hiding behind some garden equipment. Nothing! Either it made its way out or it has met its end behind something inside the shed. I hope it is the former. I certainly don’t relish finding a dead bird in a few weeks’ time.
Anyway, all that aside, it’s Easter Sunday. And I haven’t bought any Easter eggs. Well, that’s not quite true. I bought mini-eggs to decorate an Easter cake which is not now being made as we are no longer going for a meal at our daughter’s house. I’ll save the mini-eggs to decorate a birthday cake for her next Sunday! But I have bought no huge chocolate eggs this year. My daughter hasn’t either. Other family members have bought and donated enough chocolate to keep her small people busy for weeks. Instead she bought binoculars and nature-spotting books and ceramic egg painting kits for her small people.
Inadvertently we have been following government guidance. I read that new obesity laws will legislate on how sweet, sugary and fattening foods can be displayed on supermarkets. No longer will it be permissible to pile up huge stacks of chocolate at the entrance to a supermarket to tempt customers to buy more than they had planned. Why huge piles in other parts of the supermarket will not be equally tempting remains a bit of a mystery. Maybe they should be dotted about the supermarket, like a pre-Easter egg hunt! That way people could get some extra exercise at the same time!
In one article I read this:
“In the Tesco Extra store in Royston in Hertfordshire, , instead of chocolate, shoppers are greeted with a garden compost promotion and “clubcard price” deals on big whisky and gin (alcohol is not affected by the new rules). Shoppers must go on an Easter egg hunt if they want to buy one.”
So it’s all right to promote alcoholism but not obesity!
Meanwhile, I also came across this:-
Someone on Facebook - “Made some Creme Egg Scotch eggs. Creme Egg wrapped in fudge and rolled in chocolate flakes”
Life goes on. Stay safe and well everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment