We Brits rejected the various methods trialled around the world to combat the novel coronavirus. We ultimately went for the Bumbling Boris model. A late, slow, half hearted lockdown with more loopholes in it than a Cayman Island banker could find in the British tax code. Lockdowns work if you keep it up till you’ve got cases right down, and have a contact tracing system in place when you exit from it. We did none of that.
So here we are in December, in a Covidian half way house. We can’t fully open up society, because the virus would overwhelm the health service. We can’t lock down properly again, because we can’t quite afford it. So we bumble along with a range of forever changing restrictions, and with the NHS bursting at the seams in various parts of the country.
The restrictions in our part of the country are less severe. We went to see Mrs P Snr, and could have gone inside to keep warm. The Christmas rules allow for indoor mixing, for just a few days. We chose not to. We’ve helped set up a nice little den in the carport, complete with heaters and screens. It works. It’s safer. A vaccine is on the way. A little patience has never had greater value.
The virus is closing in, hard and fast. The ticket office I work at most is down by several persons. One has confirmed Covid19, as has three other members of the family. One more case and we will be classified as having an outbreak. Close family members in Mexico are ill with the virus, one worryingly so. It’ll be a long winter. My radio will shortly cease playing Chris Rea’s song ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ and replace it with the ‘Road to Hell’. See you on the other side.
The Mexile 
Very creative! It looks rather cozy, and passably safe.
I did not get together with friends or family, as I usually do for Christmas, and New Years will be the same. I’m trying to be content with texts, pictures and Skype, but it’s just not the same is it?
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It’s not the same. And we were lucky to be able to visit at all. But still, it was just a couple of hours. In the cold. Better than nothing…
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We had an almost no-Christmas also.
Were it not for the fact we live in the same apartment building as my mother-in-law, there would have been just the two of us.
Here in Onta-ria-ria-rio our half lockdown started Boxing Day so anyone travelling in would have to quarantine after they got back home!?
Cheers to all and I pray you remain healthy.
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As from today, we’ve been moved to the highest tier, Tier 4. Which is a virtual lockdown. I knew we wouldn’t last in Tier 2. Large numbers of people have carried on as if nothing is wrong. No masks, no social distancing, acting the general idiot. I had a dig at the government in the first paragraph. Certain sections of the general public are even more to blame.
But as we also wish to remain healthy, we’re intending to stay home, stay warm and see how much value for money we can get out of Netflix. Best wishes to you. And nice to see you comment again, by the way. I think this is your normal time of year for an annual comment…!
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More coming… Have a Safe and Happy New Year
Cheers
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You too!
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That looks pretty cozy.
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There was a bit of a drought. But it worked!
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I am back in Oregon (in the heartland of the virus raging) to celebrate Late Christmas with my family — and to complete another task to keep me legal in my driving career in Mexico. We tried a beef stroganoff for Late Christmas dinner, but we could manage to get only three of the four of us to the dinner table at the same time. (We like reenacting meetings of the Socialist International now and then for our self-amusement.) The reassuring aspect of all this is that covid Christmases bear a remarkable resemblance to Cotton Christmases in any other year.
I wish you a happy new year, though, I am convinced, as you know, that in December next we will be reminiscing about The Good Old Days of 2020. And, yes, I know. I’m the guy who says everything turns out well in the end. It is just that people too often confuse the second act to be the last act in the play. I often confuse it with the exposition stage in act one.
As always,
S.
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I think it was in my previous post when I suggested that this time next year, all this will be a weird, foggy memory. Let’s hope so. Enjoy Oregon and your family Steve, and make sure you stay safe while having your adventure…!
Best wishes to you and yours for the New Year.
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Mexico in the pits of COVID Hell! We are in the most infected state of Michoacan. Our town of Patzcuaro still mostly believes that it all a government plot/scam against the population. What else can I add. We for our part are sheltering in place.
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It’s a grim situation, and getting grimmer in most places.
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