Another Christmas Tree

A sad day with the Prime Minister's announcement of changes to the Christmas arrangements.  Worse still much of the south east and London are to go back into lockdown (OK, tier 4 but there's precious little difference) AND they can't get together with people outside there household or support bubble, even on Christmas Day.  For the rest of us the 5 day Christmas relaxation has been reduced to one, Christmas Day itself.

We had already decided that this was never going to be anything like a traditional Christmas, so we will just have L's mother around on the day as she is already in a support bubble with us.  If we are lucky we might see other family members for an outdoor walk and at least the current weather forecast for the day itself is due to be sunny.  

I had a quick look at the data for the south east region of the country and it is really worrying how quickly the positive case rate is increasing in many areas.  IN some areas it has more than doubled in less than a week.  That trajectory will put the Health Service under incredible strain very quickly.  

While I am sad for those people whose plans have been impacted by the announcement, I can't help but feel it is the right decision.  At work we were already worried about the potential impact the Christmas relaxation would have on cases, hospitalisation and deaths.  Even in our area the cases and rates have begun going back up now the lockdown has ended.  We are so close to having the vaccine available for the population and the hope of a return to better times, surely it is worth this sacrifice?  The Government have been keen to talk about personal responsibility and while I know there will be people placed in a terrible dilemma with this latest change, my only hope is that everyone is as careful as possible.

L's Mum gave us this little tree today, which we have placed in the front window of the house.  I was lazy, using the phone to take the photograph but how amazing that I had to hold the phone still for 2 seconds to capture the image (Yes, I know it says 1/4 second)!