On this day in 2020

SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2020

Facts and figures.

14,718 new cases.

189 deaths.

?Daily news.

Sunday Newspaper Headlines:

We’ll give the jab a stab – national treasures line up to volunteer for injections.

?– Sunday Mirror.

Care Home vaccine chaos – old folk told to get on the bus if they want Covid jab.

?– Sunday People.

Final throw of the dice.

?– The Sunday Telegraph.

Military planes to fly vaccines in to avoid ports hit by Brexit.

?– The Observer.

The Queen will get vaccine in weeks – Royals are expected to set example to boost take-up of vital Covid jab.

?– The Mail on Sunday.

Cabinet backs Johnson over no-deal Brexit.

?– The Sunday Times.

Final throw of the dice – One last chance for Brexit deal but EU told: Boris won’t budge.

– Sunday Express.

?

Covid trainers.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - Prince William and Princess Kate have been extremely visible during the pandemic and have done the country proud. They have visited elderly people, made telephone calls to the lonely, and undertook many activities off the radar.

Now they are embarking on a 3-day tour on the Royal Train to thank community workers and frontline staff for their contribution. These two are terrific, and a great advertisement for the country, in my humble opinion. Their trip will take in 1,250 miles and will stop in England, Wales, and Scotland.

Twitching.

The highly infectious ‘Bird Flu’ has been identified in King’s Lynn, Norfolk. It is spreading, so the Chief veterinary officers for England, Scotland and Wales have declared that from 14th December 2020 all bird keepers will be required by law to keep their flocks indoors or netted. Why from 15th December? Nobody knows. This strain is H5N8 and perhaps understandably people are a little twitchy that it might jump to humans as has been known with other bird flus and swine flu in 2009.

Last month Britain was declared an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone which means extra efforts in disinfecting equipment, changing clothing etc should be taken by captive bird owners.

Crammed.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Nottingham’s Christmas Market has been suspended just one day after it was opened because of ‘unprecedented footfall.’

A ‘Winter Wonderland' - of no toilets.

We have seen pictures and reports of thousands of people swarming together while the city is in Tier 3, a group of youths set up a ‘party’ on the steps of the Council House playing rap music and jumping around in a huge huddle.

There were also reports that some people had been defecating in doorways in the midst of the ‘Winter Wonderland’ as there were no toilets due to all the surrounding restaurants and bars being closed.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Madcap.

Author’s note. The only Wonder I have is wondering how the council were so dim as to allow the thing to go ahead. Quite why the City allowed such an event doesn’t fill one with much confidence. Everyone could see it was a madcap idea. Were they distracted by pound signs?

Later in the day a decision was made to cancel the Christmas Market permanently for this year. Similar decisions were made in Manchester and Birmingham.

Border party.

Pictures emerged on social media showing a huge party being held in the state of Western Australia to celebrate having not a single case of COVID-19 for 8 months. Many of our American friends enquired how they had managed such a feat and what had they done differently to them.

@ChampChong on Twitter who initiated the post said that Western Australia has been

?‘extremely strict since the very start. We closed our border to the country and the world. If you want to enter you have to be a resident or have very specific work, then complete a 2-week mandatory hotel quarantine before entering the public.’

He gave further details,

?‘Everyone worked from home, and we had travel zones/checkpoints within the city limits at the start. Everyone followed the new rules/laws because we figured a short-term sacrifice made sense. There has been no covid cases in the community here since April.’

Author’s note. No COVID cases in Australia but here you can crap in shop doorways if you buy a mince pie.

Brief hospitalisation.

President Trump’s legal advisor currently working on alleged voter fraud, Rudy Giuliani, aged 76, has caught COVID-19 and has been hospitalised.

?

Family life.

Jackie returned to work today at Next fashion. I know she is apprehensive because of the crowds who have seen scrambling for goods in stores all around the country.

Dream job.

She said this morning that she had been dreaming about a shoplifter and her face mask breaking. Bless her. I hope she can settle in okay and feel as safe as she possibly can. I have said that if it got too much for her, she should finish, but of course, Jackie loves the job and this virus will not be around forever. It is just a blight on normality, which I hope we will appreciate more once it is restored.

Quote of the day.

‘Fear makes us feel our humanity.’ – Benjamin Disraeli.

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