Not Good

Not Good. 

Halloween. Day of the Dead. Zombies, ghosts and witches roam the streets grasping candy from friendly neighbours. I have done my bit keeping the tradition alive with all 4 grandchildren and am Halloween-ed out. I never want to see another pumpkin again.

Scratch the surface of this happy picture and all is not good.

1. Welcome back the "super cold", lying myself and millions more low.   Community immunity is wiped out by a year of self isolation, social distancing and mask wearing. Tests show definitely not Covid. Just a plain old horrible bug. 

2. Covid cases hover at 40,000 daily but worse the hospital and death rates continue to rise. Hospitals are showing signs of overheating. Intensive care beds are filling up.

3. Booster program is running slowly. Too slowly. Walk in clinics are often standing empty as social media/online adverts fail to reach those elderly and vulnerable most at need. People waiting patiently for a call from their GP will wait for months, sadly. 

I am due my booster anytime now. Plan is to wait til cold subsides and find a walk in, which will involve travelling to Brighton. Deep joy. GP surgeries are so behind any residual acclaim those services had for delivering the first two jabs has long worn off and those GPs protesting that it is Covid that prevents them seeing patients face to face have no credibility.

4. The complete breakdown of our GP service is symbolic of the breakdown of pre Covid society. Blaming Covid is only part of the picture. The rest is about money. Brexit and a global supply chain crisis from food to energy has collided with a Tory Government prepared to put up NI rates, thus affecting the lower paid, rather than changing the higher tax rates. Protect the wealthy at all costs.

The latest grim scandal is the sight of sewage ruining our beaches. Water companies use legal loopholes to wash untreated sewage out to stop the nations Victorian sewers backing up. The Government has a policy of mass house building. No new sewers. MPs are not prepared to stop the overflow policy. The sea does not bring in money. 

5. The UK hosts COP 26 in Glasgow, cue cynical laughter across the whole world treated to images of raw sewage washing up on the sands. Delegates fly in from the climate change conference in Rome, causing mass disruption to the city and creating their own  minor climate hiatus.  You couldn't make it up.

6. France and the UK engage in yet another squabble over fishing rights. Someone tell the fish to stop swimming, that'll sort it. Seriously, you couldn't make it up.

The clocks have gone back. Winter is officially here. There is a deep seated somber mood of foreboding under those jolly Halloween antics. Covid is still with us. No one is convinced the vaccine will be enough. It is gong to be a long cold winter. 

  

Crisis, what Crisis?

Crisis, what Crisis?

Autumn mists, balmy weather and as yet ( see **) no major resurgence of Covid, life seems on the surface to be back to normal. I have stayed away from home, not just in the relative safety of the cottage, but in London and in Kent. I have travelled by train and tube. Family life is thriving, birthday parties, multi family gatherings, chatter and natter with no talk of Covid. 

And yet underneath this apparent normality,  with shops open, offices open, rush hour commuters surging onto tubes and buses,  there is a surreal sense that this is all an illusion and that any week now we will be plunged back into a winter of dispair.

We are already teetering on a winter of discontent. England is suffering food, fuel, and gas shortages. The Government blames Covid. Brexit is a forbidden word. Whilst it is true that this is a global problem driven by a global pandemic causing lack of production across the board and major issues in shipping and transport it is also true that Britain's shortages are worse thanks to our Brexit policy of non immigration. Nothing has showed Brexiteers more how much we rely on the EU and how bereft we are without it. 

Boris Johnson throws out exemptions by the day, come over til Xmas EU lorry drivers, oh, not enough, come til March. Bring in more care workers. Sadly the EU workers once happy to work here went home post Brexit and during Covid and show little inclination to come back. I can't say I blame them. 

**Covid rampages among us, positive cases rise by the day. Hospital cases also rise, and although severe illnesses overwhelming the NHS is so far being held in check only by vaccinations, as winter looms over an exhausted population I feel the pervading unease that bad times lie ahead. 

 Boris Johnson, however, jets off for a five star holiday, riding the crest of a bizarrely successful Tory party conference.  Inside the hall is all cheers and applause, outside is misery and protests.Inflation has risen sharper than predicted. The Tory party has withdrawn the extra £20 top up on universal benefit introduced during covid. Words fail me. Wages are rising but this triumphant Tory catch phrase missing the end of the sentence, i.e not in line with inflation.  Food banks, once rare, are now normal even in an affluent town like Lewes.

 A cartoon in The Independent summed up the stark contrast between them and everyone else  Boris Johnson is depicted lying on a sunbed, champagne glass afloat, sealed in a bubble soaring high above the burning dystopia of post Covid, post Brexit Britain. 

The NHS , whilst not at breaking point just yet, is very close, and  creaking at the seams. A drs appt is the golden grail. Like most people I ve given up waiting for my flu jab from my GP and had it done by the chemist. As for when I get my promised booster, my best guess is about 3 months after it is due , which is 1 st November.

This promised booster is our only defence but this too the Government has failed to deliver. Supplies are short, clinics everywhere are cancelled often on the day. I simply don't think about the worst than can happen any more because otherwise living a normal life in a society and culture returned to normal is impossible.

No coincidence Boris was on holiday when the long awaiting public report on the Governments handling of the Covid crisis was published, and was as damning as expected. 

Cue Tory Ministers focusing on how a successful vaccination programme is all that matters and simply refusing to engage about how many of those 140,000 deaths so far could have been avoided had the Government not made such a b** awful shambles of handling the pandemic. And if a successful vaccination program is the end game, where the hell are the vaccines!

This surreal sense of "What on earth is going on" as everything falls apart at the heart of our culture and society is reflected in the media headlines awash with bad news. The only person oblivious is Boris, pictured telling his party faithful to worship the ground he walks on, before heading to Malaga and avoiding any questions as well as providing any answers. 

I am one of the lucky ones. I am not dependant on my car, so no need to queue for petrol,  I can absorb food price hikes, food shortages. I have no economic concerns. 

With winter looming, the future is unclear.  London has cancelled its New Years Eve fireworks again due to Covid concerns. Lewes is planning to go ahead with the stupendous bonfire night celebrations. This is life in England, we all know Covid is still with us but no one knows what to do about it. I can only live in hope and enjoy life as it is now, savouring the everyday normality that only last year seemed impossible.