Alice entertains new visitors

Well, summer didn’t last very long. Yesterday, the wind came round from the north-east and the temperature went down by about 14 degrees. It’s the same today, so sitting out with family (and sticking to Covid rules) will require coats and hats.

Yesterday, Margaret and I went over to Max’s. It was the first time Margaret has been able to see Alice. She has stuck to Covid rules more strictly than I have and yesterday was the earliest they have been able to meet in their garden. Of course, it was too cold to sit in the garden, so we were all inside, except for a two-hour walk around Syston with the dogs and sleeping baby.

It was nice for Margaret to finally meet her new grand-daughter and Alice was suitably charming. She was also able to catch up with Max and Inna, who she hasn’t seen for more than six months.

We stayed for four hours, including the long walk, and then Sam, Lucy and family arrived for a visit. They had been to see Sam’s university friend Dave Miodrag (I’ve probably spelled that wrong) who lives in Leicester and has two children of a similar age. They popped into Syston on their way back. There’s a lovely picture of Saoirse and Alice sitting looking at each other. Saoirse hadn’t seen a small baby before, and she was fascinated.

On Wednesday night, I watched a film called Contagion. It was made in 2011 and is about a deadly pandemic virus that starts in China and sweeps across the world – does that sound familiar? The similarities with Covid are staggering, the film could almost have been a news report on Covid. It even started with a bat in China, spread via air travel, droplets and touching surfaces; there was social distancing, food shortages, a battle to find a vaccine, delays with vaccine production – even a social media blogger who rubbished vaccines and promoted various conspiracy theories.

The only things lacking were UK government incompetence (which is an ongoing) and a US president who thought injecting the population with bleach would be a good idea. The film-makers also anticipated that the WHO (World Health Organisation) would play a heroic role. In reality, they have been side-lined due to national interests and rubbished by some leaders to play to popularist galleries in their own countries.