Day 127 Please mind the gap!

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

As I have missed several days due to carelessness with a cup of tea, I am just going to fill the gap with some pics I took at Graig Fach on Tuesday celebrating Lincoln's birthday.

Hand-made birthday card and Joni

Rose and Hydrangea 

Oak tree and shrubs where Jim's ashes are

Ed, Lincoln, Jan and Andy

Here is a picture of our first courgette -

- but it would seem that someone has nicked our broad-beans, they have disappeared.

Friday

Today started off very sunny and became rather warm but it has now turned dull with the odd spots of rain.

Ironed all the scrub tops I had finished and took them to Julia. She gave me the last 5! I am not going to start them today but spend sometime on the masks.

Jasper had another walk with Julia and as he seemed rather tired of walking in the heat I didn't take him out again.

After today I am not going to write this blog every day but probably every week or more frequently if there have been momentous happenings. Covid-19 is still with us and will be for a while to come. The government still don't know what they are doing and the whole episode has become a shambles. It is down to each of us to take what care we can to see that we don't fall victim to the scourge or unwittingly help it on it's way.

Snippet from the News

UK passes 46,000 coronavirus deaths

A further 120 Covid-19-associated deaths have been recorded, according to today’s update on the government’s coronavirus data dashboard. That brings the government’s tally to 46,119.

However, there is a caveat about this data, as my colleague Andrew Sparrow writes:

This is a Public Health England figure for the UK as a whole. But, confusingly, the Department of Health and Social Care has given up publishing this figure as part of its only daily update, because it no longer views it as reliable.

The PHE figure is suspect because it includes people in England who tested positive for coronavirus and died, even if they died of something else.

But the main problem with the headline total is that it is an underestimate because it does not include people who died from coronavirus without testing positive. When these deaths are included, total UK coronavirus deaths are more than 55,000.

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Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks

Random Photo

Dress designed and made by Joni  whilst at school.

TOT ZIENS! 

Day 126

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

It rained on and off for most of the day but Jasper and I managed to get out and do some shopping and have a walk. We met Sheila and her grandson Cameron. They were off to The Yard for a Pizza.

Worked a bit on the scrubs. Not done the amount I set myself but should get them finished tomorrow. 

Accidentally spilt some tea on to my number 1 computer. It still works but the touch pad is erratic. I may have to take it into the Gadget Master in Cowbridge on Monday. No I have just messaged a Jacob Davies who fixes computers  I will give him a try.

It's Alison's birthday today. I have sent her an ecard. I can't get my head around the idea that NZ is 12 hours ahead of us. I was expecting to do it tomorrow when it would have been late. 

Update: the computer went to be fixed by Jacob. Got it back today (Thursday) Cost a few £££ - I shall watch my teacups in future. I have had computers since 1984 and its the first time I have done that to one. 

Snippet from the News

Angela Merkel’s government has called for more realism from the UK in the ongoing trade and security talks, after the EU capitals were given a “sobering” update by Michel Barnier following the recent round of Brexit negotiations.

After a presentation by the EU’s chief negotiator to ambassadors from the 27 member states on Friday, a spokesman for the German government, which holds the rolling EU presidency, said the bloc was ready to move negotiations quickly forward but “expressed the need for more realism in London”.

The comments will be a blow to Downing Street, where it had been hoped the resolution of the EU’s internal budget and recovery fund debate would allow Merkel and the other leaders to intervene and unblock the negotiation following a month of little progress.

“With the [budget] now wrapped up we hope member states will become more engaged in this process in Brussels and get them moving forward politically in a helpful way,” a UK source close to the negotiations said.

The two sides completed their latest round of negotiations in London on Thursday without being able to agree on the basic outlines of a deal to reassure businesses about the future, which Boris Johnson had said in June should be possible.

But despite publicly warning on Thursday that a deal by the end of the year appeared “unlikely” given the British position on fisheries and Brussels’ demands for a “level playing field”, sources said Barnier had not been overly pessimistic in his presentation on Friday.

He warned the ambassadors that he believed negotiations needed to be wrapped up by the beginning of October due to the lengthy ratification process.

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So Long Marianne

Random Photo

This my late sister-in-law, Irene. She was the first wife of Leslie and they married in the December of 1958. Originally she was a nurse but went on to qualify as a midwife and health visitor. A lovely lady full of common sense and kindness. Jim and I enjoyed her company and she came on several holidays with us. This photo was taken about 1957.

TOT ZIENS! Stay Alert! Watch your teacup!

Day 125 Windrush

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

Dull day. Jasper's third walk with Olivia and he came home all huffy and puffy but happy. I told Olivia she could walk him twice a week from now on. Monday's and Friday's. Money well spent if Jasper gets more exercise and loses some weight.

Spent 2 and half hours on the scrubs. Should get them done tomorrow. Sheila is asking for 5 more masks for Long- meadow Court .

I have got 4 books from the Cat charity shop. They are detective stories by LJ Ross. Not read her before but I must get back to reading at bedtime and less on iPad playing games.

Sheila wants and needs a cooker. She is going to ask the church she cleans for (Radyr) to loan her the money. I have looked up some on line for her.

Snippet from the News

Boris Johnson has conceded there were “things we could have done differently” over Covid-19, and admitted the government did not understand the virus in the “first few weeks and months”.

In a sometimes combative interview with the BBC, the prime minister repeatedly refused to discuss any lessons that could be learned before a possible second wave of Covid-19 this winter, saying it was not the moment to “run a kind of inquiry into what happened in the past”.

But Johnson admitted there were “very open questions” about whether the lockdown had started too late. Recollecting that period, Johnson said “the single thing that we didn’t see at the beginning” was the extent to which coronavirus could be transmitted asymptomatically between people, meaning it had spread further than believed in the UK before the lockdown was imposed.

Several of the government’s own scientific advisers have said the lockdown came too late. Prof John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said in June the decision “cost a lot of lives”.

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Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington

Random Photo

The two sides of a glass bowl designed, blown and engraved by daughter, Claire when she was on a glass-blowing course in Stourbridge. Inside the bowl are small sea shells.

TOT ZIENS! STAY HAPPY! Play Scrabble! Or read a book!

Day 124 Staycation

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

Wet day today which means we don't have to do any watering of garden or allotment. 

Worked on the scrubs for a couple of hours' Sorted some files on the computer but otherwise had a more relaxing day. 

Snippet from the News

Longstanding under-investment in the NHS will hamper its ability to tackle the backlog of tests and required treatments that built up during the Covid-19 pandemic, research shows.

A new 31-country study found patients in the UK will face long waits for care and the rationing of treatment because the health service has so few staff and beds.

The research, by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank, found that the UK is near the bottom of the league table for health resources – staff, equipment and buildings – on a list of comparable countries. Staff shortages in particular will lead to patients facing long delays for care, it said.

Ministers have insisted since May that, after coping with the peak of the pandemic, “the NHS is open” and ready to provide its usual full range of services, such as A&E and cancer care. However, hospital bosses have warned that it will take up to four years to again provide diagnostic tests and surgery within usual waiting times.

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Dream a Little Dream of Me - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Random Photo

No, I am not wearing a lampshade - but an Asian Bamboo Hat. Part of Matthew's one-time hat collection.

TOT ZIENS! Stay Home! Staycation! What a stupid word that is!

Day 123

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

Peg rang this morning about a Singer sewing machine left down at the theatre about three years ago. Was it mine? No. I can't imagine what it is doing there or who it belongs to. CADS Committee have decided to spend their windfall on the roof and some electrical work. Excellent!

Blitzed the house with the vacuum cleaner today. Worked on the scrubs - did the pockets and the facings - 2 hours. 

Sheila came and did some ironing after we had some lunch then we took Jasper out. Nice day again. 

Snippet from the News

MPs have voted against an amendment to the Trade Bill that was intended to protect the NHS and publicly funded health and care services from any form of control from outside the UK, according to the House of Commons.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas put forward the amendment, New Clause 17, with the support of Labour leader Keir Starmer and a number of other senior MPs.

As well as being designed to protect the NHS from foreign control, New Clause 17 listed other measures to protect publicly funded health and care services including:

* Providing a comprehensive publicly funded health service free at the point of delivery


* Protecting the employment rights or terms and conditions of employment for public sector employees and those working in publicly funded health or care sectors


* Regulating and maintaining the quality and safety of health or care services


* Regulate and controlling the pricing and reimbursement systems for the purchase of medicines or medical devices


* Regulating and maintaining the level of protection afforded in relation to patient data, public health data and publicly provided social care data relating to UK citizens


It was voted down by 340 votes to 251 in parliament last night. No Conservative MPs voted for the Labour amendment and no Labour MPs voted against it. Plaid Cymru MPs voted for the amendment.

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Bad Penny Blues - Humphrey Lyttelton

Random Photo

This was a scruffy blackbird who came and sat at our table at a cafe on the Isles of Scilly. The birds there are so tame they will eat out of your hand. Jim and I had some good holidays there - a lovely place.

TOT ZIENS! Stay Alert! Protect the NHS against Trump!

Day 122 The Russian Report

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

Part of the garden at Eastgate

Started on the scrubs today. I have 11 medium tops to do. I spent a couple of hours or more overlocking and ironing the pockets. More tomorrow.

Went to Waitrose later in the afternoon and took Jasper a walk around the town. Lovely weather.

Snippet from the News

Rishi Sunak has warned public sector workers to expect a renewed squeeze on pay and ordered government departments to find cost savings in response to the economic shock unleashed by Covid-19.

Against the backdrop of rapidly rising public borrowing after the government pumped billions of pounds into its initial emergency response, the chancellor announced the launch of a comprehensive spending review to set out his longer-term priorities.

Sunak promised to raise overall spending in real terms to meet the Tories’ manifesto promise to “level up” Britain, but also served notice that cost savings would still need to be found across Whitehall given the scale of the economic shock

On Monday night the Treasury announced an above-inflation pay rise for 900,000 public sector workers this year. But in a letter sent to government departments, the chancellor said that over the next three years “we must exercise restraint in future public sector pay awards”.

One union leader described the pay awards as “a smokescreen” to hide bad news.

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An amendment to protect and maintain standards on animal health and welfare, food safety and the environment in the UK in any post-Brexit trade deal was voted down last night, by 337 votes to 251.

New Clause 11 to the Trade Bill – put forward by Labour leader Keir Starmer with the support of Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and others – related to imported agricultural goods.

The amendment would have guaranteed that standards remained “as high as, or higher than” those that exist currently, in the following areas:

• Animal health and welfare
• Protection of the environment 
• Food safety, hygiene and traceability
• Plant health

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So What? - Miles Davies

Random Photo

This is a panoramic view of New York from the roof of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Taken about 10 years when I was visiting New York with a friend Peg.

TOT ZIENS! Look under the beds for the Reds!

Day 121 More Scrubs!

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

The old Bramley Apple at Eastgate

Another busy day. I got up early as I didn't know what time the new window cleaner, named Neil, would turn up. After breakfast I started on the new masks and after a few amendments I was satisfied with the result:

It has a nose wire which can be adjusted and a pocket for a filter.

Christine came and collected the mask she ordered and brought me a lovely bunch of sunflowers.

I made five before Neil turned up but he messed me about rather as he did not work sequentially up the street but did the first floor windows first, then the ground floor and, of course, I was the last so it was gone three before Sheila and I I made it to Llantwit. I have 11 medium scrub tops to do. We then went shopping, came home and walked Jasper to the allotments. Too tired to do any more masks. 

Won £25.00 on the Premium Bonds!

Snippet from the News

1. Failures of the government’s test-and-trace system are risking an exponential growth of coronavirus in hotspots across England, a director of public health has warned.

Dominic Harrison, the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen, said the national tracing system was only managing to reach half of those who had been in close contact with a coronavirus patient in towns with high infection rates in the north-west.

In Blackburn with Darwen, where officials are battling a “rising tide” of cases, only 44% of 799 close contacts of someone with coronavirus had been successfully contacted by call handlers, according to Harrison’s analysis. In Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale and St Helens, fewer than half of the at-risk people had been reached.

The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) told ministers in May that any delay beyond 48-72 hours in isolating an infected person’s contact would result in a significant increase to the local infection rate, adding: “The sooner it is done, the better.”

2.The reckless behaviour of this government in ignoring a vital and legally required safety step known as the data protection impact assessment (DPIA) has endangered public health. We have a ‘world beating’ unlawful test-and-trace programme.

A crucial element in the fight against the pandemic is mutual trust between the public and the government, which is undermined by their operating the programme without basic privacy safeguards. The government bears responsibility for the public health consequences.
The test-and-trace programme is central to easing the lockdown and getting the economy growing again. The ICO should have taken action but did not. We were forced to threaten judicial review to ensure that people’s privacy is protected.
The ICO and parliament must ensure that test and trace is operating safely and lawfully. As we have already seen individual contractors sharing patient data on social media platforms, emergency remedial steps will need to be taken.

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Come Away With Me - Norah Jones

Random Photo

This is Joni at her 4th birthday party wearing the courtesan's dress I made for her.

TOT ZIENS! Stay Away! Nothing to see here!