MARCH 2021
Thursday 4 March 2021
Met K at Cramond for a walk. It was freezing cold and it would have been lovely to pop into the Falls Cafe for a warming bowl of soup. Haven't even a clue when that will be possible again. Non essential shops aren't due to open in Scotland until 26th April. (Who wants to shop in a non essential shop anyway.) And then Nicola is hoping that we can move into Tier 3. Whoopeee dooo, not! There's absolutely no advantage whatsoever to me being in Tier 3. I still won't be allowed to do any of my normal stuff. Though to be honest, after being locked up for almost a year, I've pretty much forgotten what my normal stuff is.
What I can't understand is................. England has been far worse affected than Scotland throughout the whole of this pandemic and yet from 12th April, it's like the whole world (ie England) is opening up again. Hospitality, hairdressers, etc. And England is aiming to be back to normal by 21 June. How can England do that but Scotland can't?
I still haven't heard when I'll be getting my vaccine and yet everyone my age (or even younger) that I've spoken to in England has already had theirs, or at least had a letter inviting them to get one. Scotland seems to be miles behind England in terms of everything in this pandemic.
A year ago I really admired Nicola Sturgeon and thought she was doing the best for the country. Now I just think that she's on a power trip!
Oh well, ho hum, I guess I'll just carry on doing what I've been doing for the last year.......... going on very long walks, drinking copious quantities of wine and watching c*** TV.
Friday 5 March 2021
Exactly a year ago I had my first 'rant' on social media about Covid. I said that I thought the world had gone mad and I couldn't understand why everybody was stock piling toilet rolls and pasta. I thought everybody was panicking about nothing. I thought that Covid was just another of the scaremongering illnesses that have popped up over the years. I had absolutely no idea how serious it was. How wrong I was. Here we are, a year on, still in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
I've just read that Edinburgh and East Lothian are the two areas in the whole of the UK to have seen the biggest change in Covid case rates in the last two weeks. Apparently no other areas in the UK have seen increases per 100,000 of population so significant. Well that's probably because most people aren't following the rules. They can't possibly be because the amount of traffic on the roads around where I live are just as busy as they would be normally. During the first lock down I could have done the whole of the dog walk down the middle of the main road, there were so few cars about.
I'm most definitely not following the rules as stringently as I was during first lock down. I go on buses, I go out in the car, I go to the supermarket more than once a week. I wouldn't have dreamt of doing any of those things in first lock down. Having said that, all the rule breaking that I'm doing, I'm doing by myself. I really don't understand why coffee shops and takeaways should be open. They're not essential and yet people are quite happy to stand in a long queue for a cup of coffee.
…...............And now Nicola is on the TV wittering on about how we might be able to meet more than one person outdoors earlier than expected. Actually she's talking about households again. The way things are going for single people, it looks like I'm only going to be able to meet one person outdoors for the foreseeable future. It would actually be nice to meet four single friends in the park, even though it's mega cold outside.
Roll on the time when I can have more than just my support bubble in my house. The way things are going that's not going to be possible for a long time yet. And yet, a household that consists of 5 adults (who are all going to work/uni etc) are going to be allowed to meet up with another big household. The world has gone mad!
Saturday 6 March 2021
I'm seriously not happy. Just spoken to my sisters who are both younger than me and live in England. They have told me that 56-60 year olds can go onto the NHS website and book themselves a vaccine. Why can we not do that in Scotland? I'm going to be 62 next week.
Sunday 7 March 2021
Broke the rules and had J round for lunch. We also went for a walk and sat down on a seat for a couple of mins. The 'rules' state that you can only meet one person for exercise and you're not allowed to sit down for any reason. The rules are stupid! Am I not going to catch Covid from J if I'm standing up next to her outside but I am if I'm sitting down next to her outside?
Monday 8 March 2021
Myself and support bubble are getting really frustrated and upset that we have absolutely no idea when we are going to get our Covid vaccines. All we're hearing from friends/family who live in England is that people our age and younger (we're in the 60-65 yr age group) have already had their first vaccine and people in the 55-60 age group can go online and book theirs. Why is Scotland so far behind England in terms of anything to do with Covid?
My support bubble, S, emailed her SMP and asked why she hadn't been vaccinated yet. It will be interesting to see if she gets a reply. I phoned my doctors surgery but got an automated reply saying to phone NHS 111 for anything to do with Covid. I phoned NHS 111 and got an automated message saying that for anything to do with Covid; go online. Grrrrr........... There's NOTHING online. It just says vaccine information for the over 50s will be available soon. How do they define soon? It's been saying that for at least a week. And why 50+? All of a sudden the 60-65 yr olds seem to have been lumped in with the 50 year olds.
I don't think I'm going to get vaccinated until at least April, but as I'm planning on going down to Cornwall then (to do essential work on my house before it's rented out for the summer), then I think it's going to be May before I get done.
Why can't the whole of the UK just work together on this? It's an absolute nightmare keeping up with all the rules in Scotland and England. The UK is a very small country compared to the rest of the world. If we shut down anyone coming from other countries a year ago and all worked together, we'd probably be OK by now.
Tuesday 9 March 2021
Went onto the 'Omni Calculator' so see if it would tell me when to expect my Covid vaccine. Apparently I'm in priority group 7 (whatever that means) and there are between 526,935 – 729,414 people in front of me in the queue. I can expect to get the first dose of vaccine between 16/04/21 and 01/05/21. Great!
Wednesday 10 March 2021
Yesterday at Nicola's daily briefing, she said that letters would be going out soon to all 50-59 year olds re getting a Covid vaccine.
Duh, it seems like the 60-65 year olds have completely disappeared off the Covid radar. It would seem that after the 65+ people had been vaccinated, the next group was the 'vulnerable'. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the fact that there is no information out there about when the 60-65 yr olds can expect their vaccines.
Anyway, after having a rant on FB, one of my friends said her sister had phoned the Covid helpline (0800 030 8013) and got given an appointment straight away. I phoned straight away and was given an appointment next Tuesday at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Yay! Obviously I've shared this information with all my friends so they've all got appointments next week now as well.
Friday 12 March 2021
Got my official letter today inviting me to have my Covid vaccine. At last!
Sunday 14 March 2021
It's my birthday today. I'm 62 years old. It also happens to be my support bubble's birthday as well, but she's a year older. Normally we would go to 'Harvey Nics' for cocktails. Obviously that won't be happening so S is coming to mine for cocktails. This is my contribution and she's be provided the same. So instead of having a couple of expensive cocktails in 'Harvey Nics', we've drunk this lot and more. No wonder everyone is turning into alcoholics during lockdown.
Monday 15 March 2021
Well after being desperate to get my Covid vaccine for weeks; I'm now not sure I actually want it?! My sister, who is younger, thinner and fitter than me reported that she'd been really ill after hers. She couldn't get out of bed all day. Now I'm paranoid that I'm not going to have the strength to even take Trixie, the Collie pup, outside for toileting purposes. As I live in a fourth floor flat, that's going to make life pretty difficult if that's the case. I've got a couple of friends on standby to take her out for a walk but I'm not sure if they'd want to come round at 8am and 10pm which is approx when she goes out for her first thing in the morning and last thing at night wee.
Also I've just messaged a friend who had the vaccine at the same centre that I'm going tomorrow and she got the 'Astra Zenenca' one. Just watching the news and it would seem that a lot of other countries have withdrawn it because of blood clotting. Apparently it's still safe to use in the UK? ..............So why are other countries withdrawing it?
I don't feel as if I've got enough information about any of this. It's my own fault really because I gave up reading anything about the Covid statistics months ago.
All my friends/family are telling me that I should just go for it. Is that the correct thing to do? Who knows? From being really excited that life was going back to normal...................... now I'm just feeling very worried, insecure and frustrated because I've got less than 24 hrs to decide whether or not to go for the vaccine.
I guess I could spend all evening on the internet goggling stuff but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to take Trixie on a big long walk in the morning and trust my gut instinct as to whether I'll actually turn up for the vaccine in the afternoon.
Tuesday 16 March 2021
Went for my Covid vaccine today. Whoopee doo!
After having a major meltdown yesterday, re side effects and blood clots, etc I woke up this morning and realised that I had been totally over-reacting to everything.
My appointment was 2.06pm. Very precise! I arrived at 1.50pm and joined a very long queue. Just as well it wasn't raining as it snaked all the way round the outside of the EICC. The queue was moving pretty much all of the time but it still took me 55 mins to reach the cubicle where I were to be jabbed.
I was hoping to take a few photos of the whole procedure. Well we are making social history aren't we? However there were signs every few metres saying, 'strictly no filming or photos', so that was the end of that idea.
I had the 'Astra Zeneca' vaccine and the nurse who jabbed me was absolutely lovely. Having already given my details to the person who takes your details when you get to be 10th in the queue, you then get to sit down for the remainder of your wait. Then you keep moving seats until you get to the front of the queue. Not really sure if this is a good idea or not because hundreds of people must be sitting on those seats throughout the course of the day and nothing was being sanitised in between people.
By this time I was freaking out again and I think if I'd had the option to run away, I probably would have done. That wasn't an option because I was in a one way system and no one was allowed to deviate from the route.
The nurse could see that I wasn't happy and spent time with me explaining blood clots/side effects etc. Not sure if the people in the queue behind me were happy but at least she wasn't the only nurse sticking needles in people. Lol!
And even though I had to queue for 55 mins to get the vaccine, I didn't have to wait for 15 mins afterwards because I wasn't driving.
No side effects so far so came home and walked the dog.
Wednesday 17 March 2021
No side effects of the vaccine so went on a 10 mile walk today.
Two of my friends went to the EICC to get their vaccines today. They were in and out in 10 mins so haven't a clue why there was such a queue yesterday.
Saturday 20 March 2021
Broke the rules and went to Js for lunch!
Monday 22 March 2021
One year ago, Boris announced that we would be going into lock down for three weeks from 23 March 2020. Did any of us ever think that a year later, we'd still be in the same situation? I certainly didn't. I just thought, 'OMG, it's going to be really tough staying home alone for three weeks but to keep everyone safe, I can do this'.
One year on and I think I've got mental health issues. Hasn't everyone?
Walked over to see my support bubble this afternoon. A year ago the term 'support bubble' hadn't even been invented.
…................And now there's a third wave of Covid rampaging around Europe.
Tuesday 23 March 2021
Went out onto the balcony at 8pm to do the 'light a candle/shine a torch' in memory of everyone who has died of Covid. Couldn't see much evidence of anyone else doing it. Also, it's not just people who have died from Covid that we need to remember. It's all the people who have died from other illnesses because they haven't received the treatment that they needed. For the last year the world has been totally focused on fighting Covid and everything else has just had to take a back seat.
Wednesday 24 March 2021
If anyone asked me what I've done over the last year, my answer would be; walk Trixie, the Collie pup, for miles and miles, watch hours of mindless TV and drink gallons of wine.
I HATE all the SMUG people who have learnt a new language or re-decorated the house or transformed their garden into a peaceful oasis of calm & tranquility, or danced around their living room in Lycra doing online fitness classes, or have set up an on line business and are now raking in thousands or have met the love of their life online, etc, etc, etc, etc.
............If I go to the supermarket I feel like I’ve had a day out?!!
Friday 26 March 2021
Isn't it great that restrictions are starting to be lifted soon? Well in England at least. To be honest I have totally lost track of what the rules are anywhere. I just know that as far as I am concerned nothing is going to change for me in Scotland until at least the 26th April.
However, if things go according to plan in England, hospitality is opening up on the 12th April. Whoopee dooo. Yay! Renting out my house in Cornwall is my main source of income so soon I'm going to be earning again. I only managed to spend five weeks in my own home last year due to all the lock down rules and yet I still had to pay full council tax, water rates, TV licence, wifi charges, etc. Why?
Apparently people who own second/holiday homes can visit them from 29th March to prepare them ready for letting out on 12th April. Not sure whether that's a proper rule or just a rumour but hey ho, who cares, I'm off to Cornwall next week. Yay!!!
Saturday 27 March 2021
A year ago I posted on FB that it would be really interesting to see what we were all posting a year on. No where in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that we would still be locked up.
My support bubble (correct term in Scotland is extended household) came round for dinner. Can you believe that (apart from S) I have not been allowed to have anyone else in my house since September?
Scotland doesn't seem to be going back to any sort of normality until at least 26th April, unless of course you want a haircut. I have absolutely no idea why hairdressers are opening when non-essential shops aren't. Personally I think it's because Nicola wants a haircut, but isn't interested in having a glass of wine with lunch?!!
I'm past caring. Heading down to my second home next week. Hate that description. It's not my second home. It's my other home. I lived there permanently for 20 years.
Just spent the last hour organising my social life for when I'm there. Lots of people to see. Outside of course.
Monday 29 March 2021
Escaped out of Scotland. Yay! Heading for Cornwall.
Staying overnight at my sister's. There's five of them all going out and about and doing their own thing but as they're all in the same household they count as one bubble. Not sure if you're allowed to have a support bubble in Scotland and one in England, but I'm doing it anyway.
Tuesday 30 March 2021
Back in St Ives and how lovely is this view. As soon as I arrived I popped in to see my friend H for a bottle of wine. Feeling more connected to people already.
Wednesday 31 March 2021
Spent a lovely day walking on all the beaches, painting my sun terrace walls and decking and just generally just chillaxing.
Serious socialising starts tomorrow.
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