Gutter Cleaning & Tearing my Hair Out!

Just a quick record shot of some gutter cleaning today - living in a bungalow near trees and with soakaways means I have to clean them out twice a year. I wasn't out long before the rain started yet again and hasn't stopped (it wasn't forecast for this morning). A very frustrating afternoon. I was trying to buy Microsoft Office this afternoon, but had a query before purchasing so rang them. They answered the queries and then offered me a good discount so I agreed to buy. I had to set up a new account and payment card, then she had to process the order as it was discounted - at that point I was cut off after 52 mins. She didn't ring back. I rang again (30 mins), was transferred to 3 depts and ended up cancelling the call. I started again (30 mins) was told they have no discounts. I spoke to the manager who couldn't offer a discount, couldn't listen to my first call, couldn't give me a complaints email address - hopeless. As it was all a bit odd I checked my credit card transactions and the last one was for £0. I then spent 50 mins on the phone waiting to talk to someone at Barclaycard to see if this was Microsoft or a potential precursor to a fraud - then I was cut off as my home phone battery died! I then rang their fraud team direct (no. not on the cc) and got straight through and they confirmed it was Microsoft. Needless to say I haven't purchase it yet!!!

Day 226 / Day 14 of The 3 Tiers (for my record only)
UK deaths up 367 to 45,365 (revised basis), with a 22,885 rise in new daily cases, 9,199 patients in hospital and 852 in ventilator beds. Globally cases to date pass 44m, up 1m in 2 days. Deaths were the highest since the end of May. The ONS reported that 670 registered deaths in E&W mentioning Covid to w/e 16/10, up 53% in a week. Mortality rates of those with the virus have fallen though, although that is at a point where hospitals are not overwhelmed. Further research confirms earlier studies that antibodies fall quickly after recovery - late June 6% of pop'n had antibodies and in Sept it was only 4.4%. Immunity is also affected by T cells and 'immune memory', so it's not yet known how this affects re-infection. Hopefully that's an end to calls by some scientists to aim for herd immunity and those who signed up to the Great Barrington Declaration. I don't find it surprising given the common cold is another coronavirus and we can get that every 6 months or so. It might mean we need a regular vaccination as with the flu.  Researchers tested 216 CV patients and found that 82% had low levels of vitamin D (it was 47% in a control group without the virus), but there was no co-relation with the severity of the disease, but please keep taking your supplement! The no. of patients with Covid in hospitals in Leeds is higher than at the peak of the 1st wave and most non-essential operations have been cancelled as a result.